HMS ''Bangor'' is a commissioned by 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 ...

in 2000, which was designed to hunt

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s in depths of up to using the Sonar 2093 Variable Depth Sonar (VDS). This means that she can conduct mine clearance operations throughout the continental shelf. She is named after the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

seaside city of the same name, and the second Royal Navy vessel to bear the name. As of January 2024, she was the last vessel of her class in active Royal Navy service.

History

Through October 2011 ''Bangor'' conducted maritime security patrols off

Misrata Misrata ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

during the

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 ...

military intervention in Libya. ''Bangor'' participated in the 2013

Exercise Joint Warrior Exercise Joint Warrior is a major wikt:biannual, biannual multi-national military exercise which takes place in the United Kingdom, predominately in north west Scotland. It is the successor of the Neptune Warrior exercises and Joint Maritime C ...

. She was stationed on the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in Glasgow. For the duration of the games the general public were allowed on board for a free tour. In mid-2021, ''Bangor'' deployed with to join the vessels of 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron operating out of in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Both vessels were upgraded with the Oceanographic Reconnaissance Combat Architecture (ORCA) system which assists vessels with a higher level of mine detection at greater stand-off distances. ''Bangor'' and ''Middleton'' were to relieve their sister vessels and , which returned to the UK. In January 2024, her

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

hull, designed to minimise risk from magnetic mines, was damaged in a collision with in Bahrain whilst the latter was attempting to moor. There had been speculation that the ship might not be repaired given her planned decommissioning by 2025. However, as of August 2024, she was dry-docked for repair having suffered some further damage in a subsequent collision with .

References

External links

Sandown-class minehunters Ships built in Southampton 1999 ships Minehunters of the United Kingdom {{UK-minesweeper-stub