The ''Sandown'' class is a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of fifteen

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 ...

s built primarily for 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 ...

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 ...

. The ''Sandown'' class also serve with the

Royal Saudi Navy The Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), or Royal Saudi Navy, is the maritime arm of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and one of the five service branches of the Ministry of Defense of Saudi Arabia. Its primary role is monitoring and defending Sa ...

, the

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 ...

, and the

Ukrainian Navy The Ukrainian Navy (), is the Navy, maritime force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, service branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The naval forces consist of five components: surface forces, submarine forces, Ukrainian Naval ...

. The first vessel was commissioned into Royal Navy service on 9 June 1989 and all the British ships were named after coastal towns and cities. Although the class had a primary mine countermeasures role, they have had a secondary role as offshore patrol vessels. As of early 2024, only one vessel of the class (HMS ''Bangor'') remains in active service with the Royal Navy.

Development

These small ()

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 ...

vessels are single role mine hunters (SRMH) rather than minesweepers. Twelve ships were built for the Royal Navy and three ships were exported to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Three Royal Navy vessels were decommissioned following the

Strategic Defence Review Strategic Defence Review may refer to several different British policy documents: * Strategic Defence Review (1998) *Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 *Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 The National Security Strategy and Strategic ...

in 2003; ''Sandown'' (January 2005), ''Inverness'' (April 2005) and ''Bridport'' (July 2004). A further ship, ''Cromer'', was decommissioned and transferred to a training role at the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

in Dartmouth in 2001 as ''Hindostan''. The three decommissioned vessels were sold to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

in September 2006. They were re-equipped with TCS (Tactical Control System) and the

Atlas Elektronik Atlas Elektronik GmbH is a naval/marine electronics and systems business based in Bremen, Germany. It is involved in the development of integrated sonar systems for submarines and heavyweight torpedoes. The company was a subsidiary of BAE Syste ...

Seafox

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for mine disposal. The sonar system was also updated. The first ship (ex-''Sandown''), delivered in 2007, has been named , the second (ex-''Inverness''), was delivered in 2008 and named and the last (ex-''Bridport'') named in 2009. In the 1990s, the design of the ''Sandown''-class was adapted by Spanish company Izar (later

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding enterprise dedicated to civil and military naval construction, the design of deep-tech systems and the manufacture of structures for the renewable energy sector, such as offshore wind or hydrogen. ...

) for the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

's six-ship ''Segura''-class minehunters.

Future

The 2021 defence white paper announced that all mine countermeasures vessels in the Royal Navy would be retired during the 2020s and replaced by automated systems. It was indicated that the remaining ''Sandown''-class ships would be retired first with the entire class to be withdrawn from service by 2025. They will be replaced with autonomous minehunting systems and specialized "motherships" deployed by the Royal Navy. While experiencing some delays, the first command and support vessel for trialling autonomous systems (

RFA Stirling Castle RFA ''Stirling Castle'' is a ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated by the Ministry of Defence. Acquired in 2023, the ship entered drydock at HMNB Devonport for modification into a trials platform for autonomous minehunting systems that ar ...

) entered service, initially with the RFA in Spring 2024, though in 2025 it was indicated that she would be transferred to the navy. In June 2021, during a visit by to

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, it was revealed that an agreement had been reached for two Sandown class ships to be transferred to the

upon decommissioning. ''Ramsey'' and ''Blyth'' were decommissioned on 4 August 2021 and following a refit by Babcock, were to be transferred to the

Romanian Navy The Romanian Naval Forces () is the principal naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces and operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on ...

instead. In September 2023 it was reported that the transfer of ''Blyth'' had occurred and that HMS ''Pembroke'' would also be transferred to the Romanian Navy in the following year. In September 2022, was spotted operating around

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

carrying the name ''Cherkasy'' (Ukrainian: Черкаси) and the pennant number M311. Though still reportedly in commission with the Royal Navy, she was now training sailors of the

prior to also being handed over to that Navy. In October 2022 it was reported that ''Shoreham'' had been decommissioned from Royal Navy service. She, and her sister ship ex-HMS ''Grimsby'' (now ''Chernihiv''), were formally commissioned into the Ukrainian Navy in July 2023.

Ships in class

References

Bibliography

External links