HMS Sandown Mine Warfare ship

1988 HMS SANDOWN Leader of a class of 12 state-of- the-art minehunters constructed for the Royal Navy (and also supplied to Saudi Arabia) from the late 1980s onwards.

THE SANDOWN CLASS

The single-role minehunters (SRMHs) were conceived as a more economical alternative to the Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs), which not only search for mines actively, but also sweep channels. In fact, they proved to be rather more expensive than projections suggested, at 40 million each (the MCMVs cost 60 million), and the production programme was (temporarily) halted as a result, to be re-instated in the light of experience gained in the Persian Gulf. HMS Sandown (M 101) was constructed, like all her sisters, by Vosper Thornycroft at Woolston. Launched on 18 April 1988, she was commissioned on 9 June 1989 but only declared fully operational on 9 December 1992, due to problems with the Type 2093 variable- depth sonar.

ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT

The Sandowns are amongst the most lightly-armed ships of the fleet, mounting just one 30mm cannon, developed from the RARDEN, as fitted to armoured vehicles. Her minehunting systems are much more impressive, foremost amongst them being the Type 2093 sonar, with its associated com pute and the RCMDS 2 remotely-controlled mine disposal system, a small unmanned vehicle equipped with its own sonar and TV cameras and a manipulator arm, and carrying explosive charges and cable cutters. The two form the executive components of the NAUTIS information system.

TECHNICAL DATA

Type: Minehunter
Machinery: 2650bhp diesels driving cycloidal propulsion units
Dimensions (overall): Length, 52.7m (172.9ft); beam, 10.5m (34.5ft)
Displacement: 450t standard, 480t deep load
Draught: 2.1 m (6.9ft) deep load
Complement: 34
Speed: 13 knots (24km/h)