HMS ''Bassingham'' was one of 93 ships of the of inshore

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s, of which was the first. Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after

Bassingham __NOTOC__ Bassingham is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,425. The village is situated approximately south-west of Lincoln. Bassi ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. She was built by Vospers Ltd. of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, which later became Vosper-Thorneycroft and was commissioned in October 1953. She displaced 164 tons fully laden and was armed with one 40 mm Bofors gun. The engines of this class were Paxman diesels, some of which were built under licence by

Ruston and Hornsby Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

. She was long overall by beam. Jane's and the ''Bassingham'' website are not consistent about the building material. Jane's says the Ham class, numbered in the 2601 series was of wood. According to the web site, ''Bassingham'' was of composite wood and "non-metallic material" construction but Jane's 1953 says that the composite vessels were numbered in the 2001 series and named after places ending in -ley (). It seems likely that policy changed after Jane's 1953-4 was published.

Service history

Initially based at Plymouth, in December 1954 she joined the 232nd Minesweeping Squadron of the Inshore Flotilla based at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

, Essex. In 1956 ''Bassingham'' sailed to the

Mediterranean Sea 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 Eur ...

to take part in operations in Egypt during the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. Subsequently, she was transferred to the

Royal East African Navy The Royal East African Navy was a unified naval force of the former United Kingdom, British colonies of Kenya Colony, Kenya, Tanganyika Territory, Tanganyika, Uganda Protectorate, Uganda, and Sultanate of Zanzibar, Zanzibar. It was the colonial for ...

, based in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

, Kenya. After two years, she returned to Royal Navy service. She was eventually sold to Pounds shipbreaking yard in Portsmouth in 1966, remaining there for the next 14 years, being used to provide spare parts for other ships of her class until she was

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

in late 1980.

References

*Blackman, R.V.B. ed. ''Jane's Fighting Ships'' (1953)

External links

HMS ''Bassingham''
Ham-class minesweepers Royal Navy ship names 1952 ships {{UK-minesweeper-stub