HMS ''Quorn'', the third ship of this name, was a of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was launched on 23 January 1988, as the last ship of her class.

Operational history

On 18 March 2007, she was presented with the ''Freedom of the Borough'' scroll in Melton Mowbray,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. From May 2011 to September 2014, ''Quorn'' was deployed to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

as part of the Royal Navy's permanent presence in the region. Based in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, ''Quorn''s crew changed every eight months enabling the ship to remain on station for a prolonged period without the costs associated with returning to the United Kingdom. During the deployment, ''Quorn'' was "twinned" with American minehunter . ''Quorn'' spent the late spring and summer of 2015 on deployment in northern European waters, including the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

as part of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1). During the deployment, she took part in Exercise Joint Warrior off Scotland, BALTOPS 2015 alongside HM Ships and and Kiel Week before returning to Portsmouth in July. After spending a period alongside in extended readiness, ''Quorn'' was lifted out of the water into the "Minor War Vessels Centre of Specialisation"; the former shipbuilding hall at

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

in December 2016. However, in October 2017 it was revealed that her planned refit would not take place, and ''Quorn'' would be decommissioned on 14 December 2017.

Lithuanian Navy

On 30 April 2020 Defence Equipment Services announced she had been sold for £1 million to the

Lithuanian Navy The Lithuanian Navy ( lt, Lietuvos Karinės jūrų pajėgos) is the naval arm of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Though formally established on 1 August 1935 its roots stretch back as far as naval engagements on the Baltic Sea in the Medieval perio ...

. In July 2022 the Ministry of Defence announced that Harland & Wolff Appledore had been awarded the £55 million contract to renovate and restore the ship to an operational state.

Affiliations

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

* Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire * Quorn, Leicestershire * The Quorn Hunt

References

External links

* * Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels 1988 ships {{UK-minesweeper-stub