HMS ''Altham'' was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers. Their names were all chosen from villages ending in ''-ham''. The minesweeper was named after Altham in Lancashire. ''Altham'' (

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 ...

M2602) was a member of the first series of ''Ham''-class minesweepers, with composite wood and aluminium construction. It was built by Camper and Nicholsons of

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

, completing on 8 July 1953.Gardiner and Chumbley, 1995, p. 541.Worth 1986, p. 123. The ship commissioned at Hythe, Hampshire on 13 July 1953, serving with the 232nd Mine Sweeper Squadron 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-on- ...

in Essex from 1954 to 1956, going into reserve at

Rosneath Rosneath (''Ros Neimhidh'' in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited ...

on the Gare Loch in northwest Scotland in 1957.Worth 1986, pp. 2, 125. ''Altham'' was transferred to the Royal Malayan Navy on 1 April 1958, being renamed ''Sri Johor''.Worth 1986, p. 125. ''Sri Johor'' had its minesweeping gear removed and replaced by two more 20 mm Oerlikon cannon and four 2-pounder saluting guns,Blackman 1960, p. 82. although the minesweeping gear was later re-fitted.Blackman 1962, p. 162. ''Sri Johor'' was broken up in 1967.

References

* * * * * Ham-class minesweepers Ships built in England 1952 ships Cold War minesweepers of the United Kingdom Royal Navy ship names Ham-class minesweepers of the Royal Malaysian Navy {{malaysia-stub