River class minesweeper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other naval ship classes of the same name, see River class.

River-class minesweeper
General Characteristics
Displacement:	850 tons standard / 890 tons full
Length:	47 metres
Beam:	10.5 metres
Draught:	3.1 metres
Propulsion:	2 shafts, Ruston 6RKC diesels, 3,040 bhp
Range:
Speed:	max. 14 knots
Complement:	7 officers / 23 ratings
Armament:	*1 x Bofors 40mm gun Mark 3 2 x 7.62 mm GPMGs

The River class was a class of minesweeper built for the British Royal Navy in the 1980s, designated Fleet Minesweepers (MSF).

The Rivers were built with a traditional steel hull to a design based on a commercial offshore support vessel. The class was designed to be operated as deep sea team sweepers, to combat the threat posed to submarines by Soviet deep-water buoyant moored mines. Operating in pairs, they would use towed wires to cut the mooring wires of buoyant mines, which could then be destroyed on the surface with gunfire. For this, they were equipped with the Wire Sweep Mark 9 (WS 9), capable of performing Extra Deep Armed Team Sweeping (EDATS). The complement was seven officers and 23 ratings. They were armed with a single 40 mm Bofors gun on the manually operated World War II-era Mark III mounting, and two GPMGs.

A total of twelve vessels, all named after rivers, were constructed by Richards Shipbuilders at Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth at an approximate unit cost of £4.6 million. The class was designed to operate in deep water and ocean environments, if necessary for long periods of time without support. Upon entering service they joined the 10th Mine Countermeasures Squadron based at Rosyth and eleven were assigned to various Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) divisions around the United Kingdom. The twelfth, Blackwater, entered service with the regular Royal Navy. Following defence cuts, Helmsdale and Ribble were paid off in 1991 and were laid up at Portsmouth. Further cuts followed when the future of the RNR was reviewed in 1993 and as a result the entire class was withdrawn from RNR service.

Blackwater, Spey, Arun and Itchen were subsequently assigned to the Northern Ireland Squadron where they replaced Ton-class vessels patrolling the province's waterways and participating in counter-terrorist operations in support of the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Orwell replaced Wilton, the last Ton-class vessel in service, as the Dartmouth Training Ship in 1994. Ultimately, the entire class was sold to overseas navies.