The ''Sandown'' class is a

class Class 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 differentl ...

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 a ...

s built primarily for 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 ...

Vosper Thornycroft 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 VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

. The ''Sandown'' class also serve with the Royal Saudi Navy and the

Estonian Navy The Estonian Navy ( et, Merevägi) 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 sh ...

. The first vessel was commissioned into Royal Navy service on 9 June 1989 and all the British ships are named after coastal towns and cities. They have a secondary role as offshore patrol vessels.

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 clo ...

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 Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. Three Royal Navy vessels were decommissioned following the

Strategic Defence Review The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the Labour Government that had gained power a year previously. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of ...

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 (BRNC), commonly 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, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

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

Atlas Elektronik Atlas Elektronik 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 System ...

Seafox ROV 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.

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. In June 2021, during a visit by to Odessa, it was revealed that an agreement had been reached for two Sandown class ships to be transferred to the

Ukrainian Navy The Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Військо́во-морські́ си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни, ВМС ЗСУ) is the maritime forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Ar ...

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

Romanian Navy The Romanian Navy ( ro, Forțele Navale Române) is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it 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 flo ...

instead. In September 2022, was spotted operating around Firth of Forth 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

Development

Future

Ships in the class

See also

References

External links