Two retired Royal Navy minehunters sold to Romania
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Sandown-class Mine Counter Measure Vessels, HMS Blyth and HMS Pembroke, have been sold to Romania, one of the UK’s NATO allies, by the Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA), which disposes of vehicles and equipment no longer needed by UK Armed Forces.
On behalf of Navy Command, the Ships Support team at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) have been working with Babcock to refurbish the minehunters before they are transferred to their new owners.
The Royal Navy will provide individual operator and maintainer training via Navy International Defence Training (IDT), and collective training via Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST).
DESA Head Richard Whalley said: “Our dedicated sales team continue to find new homes for the retired Royal Navy Sandown class ships and I am pleased to see HMS Blyth and HMS Pembroke preparing to provide a new capability for the Romanian navy.
“This agreement highlights the strong relationship we have with our allies and feeds into NATO’s collective mission of supporting global security in the Black Sea.”
The former Sandown Class ships are 52.5m long, weigh 485 tonnes and have a range of more than 2,500 nautical miles without refuelling.
Blyth was decommissioned in 2021 and Pembroke will be retired early next year.
Both use high-definition sonar to scour the world’s seabeds for mines and lost explosives, which are then safely destroyed by the ship’s clearance diving teams or the ATLAS Seafox mine disposal system.
They also worked closely with regional and coalition partners to maintain the security of the sea lanes of communications, crucial to international shipping and the global economy.
HMS Blyth was one of four Navy mine-hunters permanently stationed in the Gulf. She was also deployed in the Baltic Sea and for domestic tasking.
One of HMS Pembroke’s most notable successes was the discovery and safe disposal of a Russian mine from the First World War. A remote underwater vehicle was deployed to identify the device off the coast of Lithuania before it was safely disposed of.
The outgoing Sandown class will be replaced by autonomous mine-hunting systems operating from RFA Stirling Castle, the new “mothership” bought by DE&S as a commercial vessel from Norwegian company Island Offshore before being modified for her future role.
HMS Blyth was transferred to the Romanian Navy this month, while HMS Pembroke will be transferred next spring. An estimated £1.5m of disposal costs for UK MOD have been avoided by selling the two ships.
It follows other minehunter sales made by DESA, including HMS Quorn, Dulverton and Cottesmore to Lithuania, HMS Sandown, Inverness and Bridport to Estonia, HMS Berekeley and Bicester to Greece, and HMS Atherstone to maritime contractor Harland & Wolff.
DESA has two former Royal Navy minehunters to sell in the form of HMS Penzance and HMS Bangor.