HMS Brigham (M2613)
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Brigham |
| Namesake: | Brigham |
| Builder: | Berthon Boat Company |
| Launched: | 4 December 1953 |
| Completed: | 22 December 1953 |
| Fate: | Sold 1968 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ham class minesweeper |
| Type: | Minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 120 long tons (122 t) standard 164 long tons (167 t) full load |
| Length: | 100 ft (30 m) p/p 106 ft 6 in (32.46 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 21 ft 4 in (6.50 m) |
| Draught: | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft Paxman 12YHAXM diesels 1,100 bhp (820 kW) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2 officers, 13 ratings |
| Armament: | 1 × Bofors 40 mm gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
| Notes: | Pennant number(s): M2613 / IMS13 |
HMS Brigham was one of 93 ships of the Ham-class of inshore minesweepers.
Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Brigham in Cumbria.
The ship's bell is now in St Bridget's Church of England Primary School, Brigham, where it was used as a fire alarm until a more modern fire alarm system was installed.
Brigham was sold to Australian interests in 1968 and renamed MV Brigham. Refitted in Southampton as a prospective ferry she sailed with a crew of ten (via Las Palmas, Monrovia, Cape Town, Durban, Mauritius, and Albany) to Port Lincoln, South Australia, arriving on 24 December 1969 after a 16 week voyage, including a lengthy stop in Cape Town.
Sold in 1970 to the Australian company Southern Concrete, and taken to Adelaide for a full refit. Whilst in Adelaide the company experienced financial difficulties and the vessel had the distinction of being the first vessel in many decades to have a warrant pinned to her mast for non-payment of harbour dues.
Sold to NT fishing company sometime after and last heard of in the late 1970s being used as a prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria.[1]
References
- Blackman, R.V.B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)
