HMS Shoreham: 'A Small But Mighty Ship'

A Royal Navy minesweeper has returned to her home port after a successful three-month deployment with NATO, during which she operated primarily in the Baltic.

HMS Shoreham is a Sandown-class minehunter of the British Royal Navy.

The Sandown-class is a class of fifteen minehunters built primarily for the Royal Navy.

The small but mighty ships feature glass-reinforced plastic hulls, making them invisible to sea-mines.

The Numbers

Pennant: M112

Displacement: 600 tonnes

Complement: 34 personnel

Length: 52.5 metres

Beam: 10.5 metres

Draught: 2.3 metres

Top speed: 13 knots

Range (nautical): 2,500 nautical miles

Launch date: 09/04/01

Commissioned date: 02/09/02

Minehunters clear the way of mines to allow safe passage for other vessels, swiftly detecting and destroying any hidden dangers.

Shoreham is the fifth vessel to bear the name, and was launched on 9 April 2001.

In 2012, Shoreham joined the 9th Mine Countermeasures squadron in the Gulf, returning to Faslane three years later.  

In spring 2017, Shoreham deployed with NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 as she operated around Northern Europe.

During the course of this deployment Shoreham, the last of the Sandown Class to be built, exercised with the former HMS Sandown, the first of its kind.