HMS Hecate (A137)
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HMS ''Hecate'' (A137) was a
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 ...
deep ocean
survey vessel 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 ...
of the . She was present at the "presentation of fleet colours" review in
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on 29 July 1969. The ship was decommissioned in 1990.


Design and construction

The ''Hecla'' class were designed as combined hydrographic and
oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...
survey ships, built to merchant ship standards and of similar design to . She 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
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'
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shipyard on 26 October 1964, was launched on 31 March 1965 and was commissioned on 20 December 1965. She had the
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
A137. ''Hecate'' was long, with a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
of and a draught of .
Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
was light and full load, with a
gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...
of 2,898. She had diesel-electric propulsion, with three Paxman Ventura 12-cylinder
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
s rated at powering two electric motors, rated at a total of and driving one propeller shaft, giving a speed of . She had a range of at a speed of and at . The ship had a complement of 127 officers and other ranks. She was fitted with a hangar and helideck aft to allow operation of a single
Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine-powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same Saunders-Roe P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the ea ...
helicopter, while two surveying launches were carried.


History

On 21 April 1971, two launches attached to HMS ''Hecate'' were towed out to sea and bombed by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
while the vessels were moored at
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,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
. One of the launches, ''Stork'', was wrecked, while the other boat, ''Puffin'', survived with minor damage. HMS ''Hecate'' was carrying out a hydrographic survey in collaboration with the government of the Republic. In the mid-1970s HMS ''Hecate'' was 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 ...
surveying the entrance areas in the event of conflicts while based in
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, Iran. In November 1981 while on a routine visit to Nantes, France, an attempt was made to sink the vessel using a bomb placed on the hull by divers. The detonator went off in the early hours of the morning, but the explosive failed to detonate. calling themselves "the Bobby Sands Committee" later claimed responsibility. Hecate was undamaged and conducted North Atlantic surveys for the next 4 months, visiting Gibraltar, Tangiers, Madeira and Lisbon. In June 1982, during the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
, while 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 ...
were used as hospital ships, ''Hecate'' was painted grey and given an armament of two 20 mm guns and Blowpipe surface-to-air missiles. On 23 July, after the ceasefire had ended the fighting, ''Hecate'' was sent to the South Atlantic to relieve as Ice Patrol Ship while ''Endurance'' returned to Britain for a refit. ''Hecate'' conducted patrols and surveys in the South Atlantic. A survey was made at Mare Harbour in East Falkland, which later became the port facilities for RAF Mount Pleasant. A survey was also made of the Bay of Isles, South Georgia. ''Hecate'' visited
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bases and spent Christmas in
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,
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, where the crew attended a candlelit Christmas mass in the settlement's old whaling church. The New Year was spent at the Falkland Islands before ''Hecate'' became the first Royal Navy ship to visit South America following the hostilities. ''Hecate'' embarked a Chilean pilot at
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before sailing to
Talcahuano Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile. ...
, Chile via the Patagonian Channel. Following a brief visit, ''Hecate'' took passage through the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
for a four-day visit to
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. ''Hecate'' returned to the UK in February, 1983.


Notes


References

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External links


Hydrographic Survey Work in the Royal Navy up to the 1980s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hecla (A137) Hecla-class survey vessels Maritime incidents in 1971