Mine Countermeasures vessels

12th May 2008

A Warm East Coast Welcome For Grimsby’s Affiliated Warship

Royal Navy mine hunter HMS Grimsby will sail into Grimsby this Wednesday (14-19 May 2008) in a visit designed to reaffirm the strong links the Royal Navy warship already enjoys with her affiliated town.

All ships and submarines of the Royal Navy are affiliated or ‘twinned’ to different towns, cities and regions. This strengthens the Royal Navy’s ties with important communities, including organisations such as naval associations, youth groups and charities.

The Sandown Class mine hunter is no different and since her Commissioning Ceremony almost a decade ago in Grimsby town, the ship has maintained strong links with her home port and local affiliations. These include TS Grimsby Sea Cadet Corps, Cleethorpes and Grimsby Royal Navy Association (RNA), Old Clee RNA, the Royal British Legion and The Child Development Centre at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital.

Over the five-day visit, a number of local school and cadet organisations, including TS Grimsby Sea Cadets, will enjoy a guided tour of one of the Royal Navy’s most impressive warships, and a chance to meet and talk to her crew.

And members of the ship’s company will visit St Andrew’s Hospice on Sunday, where they will meet the Mayor and Mayoress of Grimsby, Councillor Stewart and Councillor Karen Swinburn, before heading on to Grimsby Town Hall.

HMS Grimsby’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Adam Parnell, said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring HMS Grimsby to her affiliated town for such a high profile visit. This visit will allow my ship’s company to share their experiences of life at sea with a wide variety of visitors.

“The ship has enjoyed excellent links with Grimsby since her commissioning and our welcome is always warm and friendly. We relish the opportunity to reaffirm our strong affection for the region and her people and help reinforce the strong relationship the Royal Navy enjoys with the people of Lincolnshire.”

HMS Grimsby has recently undergone a multi-million pound refit in Rosyth dockyard in Scotland. She is fitted with ‘Seafox’, the Royal Navy’s new Mine Disposal System, and the digital navigation system ‘WECDIS’, making her one of the most technologically advanced mine hunters in the world.

HMS Grimsby and her ship’s company have been hard at work preparing for their forthcoming deployment to the Northern Arabian Gulf, as part of Operation Aintree, which involves two Royal Navy mine hunters based permanently in the Gulf, with crews rotating every six to eight months.


HMS Grimsby [Photo : Royal Navy]

Source: Royal Navy

17th Jun 2008

HMS Ledbury wins the Soberton Trophy

HMS Ledbury has been awarded the prestigious Soberton Trophy. This award is given out annually to the Hunt Class Minehunter engaged on Fishery Protection Operations, that has made the most significant contributions to fishery protection around the UK coastline.

Ledbury has been awarded the Trophy in recognition of her sterling efforts on ‘fish’ throughout 2006 and 2007. Whilst employed on operations in the Irish Sea, Channel, and North Sea, Ledbury carried out hundreds of boardings of fishing vessels by night and day, in rough and calm weather. She found numerous vessels infringing UK and EU fishery rules, and detained over 10 vessels into UK ports for major rule-breaks. In doing so, Ledbury was taking a lead role in the enforcement of fisheries legislation which is designed to sustain fish stocks and ensure the long-term future of the UK fishery industry in British waters.

The Captain, Lt Cdr Paul Russell, greeted the news “It is always gratifying to have your achievements recognised, and the Soberton Trophy is a great acknowledgement of a hard, but nevertheless rewarding, year of Fisheries Protection Patrols for the Ship’s Company of HMS Ledbury. We are very flattered to receive this award.”

Demonstrating the inherent flexibility of Royal Navy warships, Ledbury has now re-roled back to her designed task of Mine Warfare operations and is preparing to deploy on a far-reaching patrol in European Waters.


HMS Ledbury [Photo : Royal Navy]

Source: Royal Navy

4th Jul 2008

Hurworth returns home

Royal Navy minehunter HMS Hurworth returned home on Thursday (July 3) after a six-month deployment which included major exercises and operations in the Baltic, North Sea and Atlantic.

The Portsmouth-based ship sailed in January to join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1) – a multinational force of five warships from Nato member states. The Task Group, embarked in the Plymouth-based survey ship HMS Roebuck, included ships from Germany, Belgium and Latvia and periodically from Poland, France, Holland and Denmark.

The deployment has taken Hurworth on a busy tour of the North Sea and the Baltic, with visits to Scotland, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, France and Spain. Notably she has taken part in five multi-national exercises which combined minehunting with surface and anti-air warfare and served to strengthen international bonds and improve the operational capability of the NATO Response Force.

The NATO group also undertook two major operations to clear historic WWII ordnance from the North Sea and Baltic. A large number of bombs, mines and torpedoes were successfully destroyed by the group including four by Hurworth, helping to safeguard fishermen and the maritime community.

Hurworth has steamed 11,140 nautical miles through three time zones over a deployment which spanned twice the usual duration for a ship of her size.

Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Andy Woolhead said: “This deployment is a benchmark for minehunters. Hurworth has successfully completed six months away from her base port, without organic support and without any dedicated maintenance periods. The measure of that success must be attributed to the ship’s company whose dedication, ingenuity and persistence has meant that the ship has been able to effectively contribute to this important NATO commitment. The majority of the crew have not seen their loved ones for six months and we are all very excited about our return.’

The ‘Happy H’ is now due an extensive upkeep period but not before she opens to the public during Meet Your Navy where visitors will have a chance to meet some of the crew and hear stories from the deployment.


HMS Hurworth returns home [Photo : Royal Navy]

Source: Royal Navy

l'ancien dragueur de mines HMS Bronington (M1115) a coulé !

https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/805026284556480512

le chasseur de mines HMS Grimsby (M108) a quitté Portsmouth, ce matin

https://twitter.com/PortsmouthProud/status/807543163829309440

Safer, faster, cheaper (to run), ‘minehuntier’ and now wetter.

After 18 months out of the water veteran minehunter HMS Brocklesby (M33) is back where she belongs, with the waters of Portsmouth Harbour lapping at her 196ft hull.
The ship is the latest Hunt-class vessel to undergo a massive overhaul, chiefly focused on replacing old Deltic diesels engines, which powered her successfully for 33 years, with much more efficient, modern Caterpillar motors which should significantly cut her fuel bill.
Other systems have been serviced and, where necessary, replaced, a new chilled water plant installed (better able to cope with temperatures in the Gulf) and her decks and hull have been treated, repaired and re-painted – some 9,000 maintenance tasks in all, requiring 190,000 ‘man hours’ (or the equivalent of one person working solidly for more than 21 years).
“It was important for us to achieve this key milestone on time to make sure that Brocklesby will complete her regeneration and return to the Fleet,” said marine engineer PO John Benson.
“We are looking forward now to getting onboard and continuing with that process.”
To date most of the work has been carried out in the cavernous ship hall in Portsmouth – erected to build sections of the Type 45 destroyers and extended for giant segments of the Navy’s new carriers.
The refit, carried out jointly by staff from BAE and the ship’s company, continues afloat in the dockyard, ahead of harbour and sea trials, Operational Sea Training in the summer and active duties once again in the autumn.

Timelapse video: BAE System

Les chasseurs de mines HMS Quorn (M41) et HMS Atherstone (M38) débutent leur modernisation dans hangar.

https://twitter.com/RoyalNavy/status/808680655169159168

le chasseur de mines HMS Shoreham (M112) prêt pour son retour dans la flotte après la rénovation de sa coque en fibre de verre

https://twitter.com/navaltoday/status/811915668882853890

Royal Navy, Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel, HMS Hurworth (M39), Portsmouth 10/02/2017


by Matthew Mckie, sur Flickr