The first truly
European supply vessel was probably designed by
the Dutch company Smit-Lloyd, who were
incredibly innovative in 1965. They had a 60
metre ship built by Scheepswerft DE Hoop of
Lobith. This vessel had two tall funnels set
just aft of the bridge, keeping them well clear
of the sea. It was fitted with two 1500 bhp
engines, making it extremely powerful. It was
the Smit-Lloyd 1. The company continued to build
identical ships until they got to 18 in 1969,
and there-after the first numeral of the name
usually designated horsepower, so the next class
when they were built started with the figure 4.
(Extract from "The History of the Supply Ship").
Smit-Lloyd
continued to build until well into the 1980s,
and possibly the last ships to join their fleet
were two UT 704s in 1985. The company was
purchased in its entirity by Seacor who operated
some of the ships for a while. They also
disposed of a number of the fleet and some
became pat of the Smit organisation.
While it is the
intention of this site to include comprehensive
history of as many vessels as possible in the
future, and some of the Smit-Lloyd fleet have
already appeared as part of other people's
operations, for today we are limiting the
information to a fleet list of the ships as it
was in 1985, plus photographs where they are
available. There are one or two later ships and
they are included too.