EAW037832 ENGLAND (1951). Blue Town, Sheerness, 1951

It is also worth mentioning that from May 27th to June 5th, 1940 - R/Adm. Taylor, [a/Commodore re-employed for the Duration],temporarily appointed Officer in Command, Small Vessels Pool,Sheerness, with a small staff of Commander Troup, and Lieut. Commander Holland-Martin plus a small office staff of temporarily assigned Clerks, - ran the local collection and then dispersal of the "little ships" requisitioned for use at Dunkirk from this building, which was unoccupied by any other Doockyard Department at the time. The little ships were temporarily moored in the nearby basin as they arrived from their "take-up points" - the Middle Camber, while Captain T.E. Docksey [the Fleet Engineer Officer] his small staff, and an ad-hoc group of engineers co-opted from the two Dockyards, worked to get the many different little marine engines reliable enough for the little ships to be sent to the Dunkirk beaches to act as ferries between the French sands and the bigger ships anchored a mile offshore [due to the shallow-shelving beach like at Southend across the River]. If for no other reason, considering the status of the Dunkirk evacuation and it's little ships in the national consciousness, that use of Admiralty House as S.V.P. Offices for those 9 days, ought to have ensured the protection of the building. Today, in 2015, It would be Grade I listed!

Quite definitely a Landing Craft of WW2 Design, though this one may have been built and launched after May 9th, 1945. This Type was designated an 'LTC' or 'Landing Craft Tank' - because it could carry a Grant, Lee, or Sherman Tank, as well as a number of Infantry.

Messrs John I. Thornycroft built a number of these LTC's [as well as LCA's(Landing Craft Assault) and LCI's (landing Craft,Infantry)] at their Thames Boatyard, as well as at their Isle of Wight Yard, though the Cowes Yard tended to build the larger-size vessels for the War Effort. the LTC's were almost certainly the largest Landing craft built by the Thames Boatyard.

Sheerness railway station was opened in 1883, the station it partly replaced, in Blue Town, remained open to passengers until 1922. There was no explosion on board a ship at the quayside. Neither station was destroyed.

Perhaps John Wass is relating a corrupted "urban-folk-tale" arising from the collateral damage cause by either the nearby explosions of the battleship HMS Bulwark or of the minelayer HMS Princess Louise, during WW1? Blast damage was caused to many buildings in the area, including within and around the Dockyard.