[2] The ship was built by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon, with engines provided by Thornycroft of Woolston.

In June 1939 she was sent to survey St. Lewis Inlet, Newfoundland, but in August was ordered home in anticipation of the outbreak of World War II.

Edmund George Irving,[3] she was deployed off the French coast, following the Normandy landings, surveying ports as they fell to Allied forces.

[2] Following VE Day on 8 May 1945, she carried out wreck and mine clearance surveys in German ports, finally returning to the UK in October 1945.

Franklin remained in service, mainly operating off the eastern coast of England, until decommissioned in January 1953.