All Aboard MGB 81 — The Supreme WW2 Motor Gun Boat | with Al Murray & James Holland

MGB 81 was a British WW2 Motor Gun Boat of the Royal Navy, often described as the Spitfire of the Seas – fast, lightly built and brutally effective. Designed for speed and striking power, boats like MGB 81 were used to hunt enemy E-boats, protect convoys and carry out aggressive coastal operations in some of the most dangerous waters of the war.

In this film, James Holland and Al Murray visit MGB 81 at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard before taking her out into the Solent for an unforgettable high-speed run. As the engines are opened up and the boat shows what she was truly capable of, they explore how motor gun boats were designed, how they fought, and why vessels like MGB 81 came to embody the Royal Navy’s wartime blend of innovation, courage and sheer audacity.

From the claustrophobic reality of life aboard to the raw power on display when she’s pushed to her limits, this is a rare chance to experience one of the fastest and most lethal small warships of the Second World War exactly as she was meant to be seen — at full throttle.

Thanks to the Portsmouth Historic Quarter

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Archival footage credited to Imperial War Museums. © Crown copyright IWM.

Additional Footage of Ready 4 Duty taken by Adam Simpkins, Skytrain Media