EML ''Admiral Cowan'' (M313) is a ''Sandown''-class

minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destroys individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines. A vessel that combines both of these roles is known as ...

. Formerly HMS ''Sandown'', lead ship of her class of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, she is now an

Estonian Navy The Estonian Navy () are the unified naval forces among the Estonian Defence Forces. With only six commissioned ships and displacement well under 10,000 tonnes, the Estonian navy is one of the smallest navies in the world. Its ship prefix is EM ...

ship. Renamed EML ''Admiral Cowan'', she is the flagship of the Estonian Navy and part of the Estonian Navy's mine sweeping flotilla. ''Admiral Cowan'' is the lead vessel of the Estonian Navy Mineships Division and also the first of the three modernised ''Sandown'' class minehunters received.

History

HMS ''Sandown'' was built by

Vosper Thornycroft VTG (formerly VT Group) is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VTG was integrated into Babcock Interna ...

and was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

at their

Woolston, Southampton Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston. The area has a strong maritime and aviation history. The former hamlet gr ...

shipyard on 2 February 1987 and was launched on 18 April 1988 by the

Duchess of Gloucester Duchess of Gloucester is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Gloucester. There have been five titles referring to Gloucester since the 14th century. The current duchess is Birgitt ...

, as the lead ship of the 12-ship class of ''Sandown'' class minehunters. ''Sandown'' entered service a year later on 9 June 1989. After commissioning, ''Sandown'' carried out an extensive programme of trials, and was not fully operational until December 1992, having suffered problems with her

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

outfit. She participated in a number of operations in support of the British fleet, including operating as part of a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-led operation between 12 June - 26 August 1999, along with the Hunt class

Mine countermeasure vessel A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mines which combines the role of a minesweeper and minehunter in one hull. The term MCMV is also applied collectively to minehunte ...

and the

survey ship A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the pu ...

. The operation was intended to clear the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

of bombs jettisoned during the Kosovo campaign. Together ''Sandown'' and ''Atherstone'' accounted for about 20% of the 93 bombs and missiles that were located and destroyed. On 16 January 2000 ''Sandown'' located the wreck of the sunken scallop dredger, the ''

Solway Harvester ''Solway Harvester'' was a scallop dredger from Kirkcudbright, Scotland, which sank off the coast of Douglas, Isle of Man, in heavy seas on 11 January 2000 with the loss of all seven crew members. Following salvage, the damaged ship was taken t ...

''. ''Sandown'' spent July 2002 on a Joint Maritime Course, after which she deployed to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

to take part in the Argonaut 02 exercises, which lasted until Christmas. ''Sandown'' was also deployed as part of

Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

, to clear mines in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, and sweep passages into

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i ports. The

decommissioned HMS ''Sandown'' and two of her sisters and in 2005 and, on 9 October 2006, sold the vessels to the

. After refitting in

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

, ''Sandown'' was formally handed over to the

in April 2007. Her new name comes from Admiral Sir Walter Henry Cowan who led the British naval forces in the Baltic in their intervention in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, providing naval support to Estonia during the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

. Between July and December 2018, the ship went through a modernization programme at Babcock's Rosyth facilities. It was fitted with the Thales Sonar 2193 navigation system and Thales M-CUBE command and control system. Its composite hull and electrical systems received repairs and upgrades. Her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s and will also be modernized for a total cost of around 30 million euros.

Crest

The vessel's crest was presented by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

on 20 October 2006 in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. The crest is a red

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a Heraldry, heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French , Medieval Latin ("stirrup"). From its use as field sign, the saltire cam ...

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

on a silver

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

and above, a red

fleur de lys The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the ( stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis ...

(lily). The shield is placed into a blue ring which is surrounded by a golden ship's

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

. The ship's crest is based on Walter Cowan's family arms. The ship's motto in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

is: ''Ad Omnia Paratus'' - which in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

means: "Prepared for Anything". The crest was designed by Priit Herodes.

Notes

Citations

References

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External links