| Ships of the Sandown
class have proved their value in recent years, and HMS Bangor
has been at the forefront of that demonstration.
In September 2002 HMS Bangor deployed to the Gulf and became
engaged in Operation Telic, conducting mine clearance operations
in the Khawr Abd Allah (KAA) ahead of humanitarian aid shipments
which were ferried into the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
By the end of Op Telic, her deployment of ten months had seen
Bangor visit 17 ports in 14 countries, steaming a total of
18,000 miles.
Since returning in June last year, the pace has not relented
– Bangor has gone through an extensive refit in Portsmouth,
conducted trials in Scotland, completed Basic Operational
Sea Training (BOST) and taken part in Plymouth Navy Days.
She is currently conducting route surveys in the Thames, and
will shortly begin preparations for a 2005 deployment to the
Baltic.
HMS Bangor is the ninth of the Sandown-class of Single Role
Minehunters (SRMH) to be accepted into service by the Royal
Navy.
Built by Vosper Thornycroft at Woolston in Southampton, the
glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) ship was launched on April
16, 1999 by Mrs Lisa Spencer, and was accepted into RN service
on December 8, 1999.
Bangor is the first ship to be closely affiliated to Northern
Ireland for over fifteen years.
The history of the name begins more than 60 years ago when
the current ship’s sole predecessor, a Bangor-class
minesweeper, was commissioned on October 29, 1940.
Built at Govan by Harland and Wolff, the warship was involved
in Operation Jubilee in August 1942 – the raid on Dieppe.
Bangor was part of the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla, which carried
out their work with efficiency and precision.
In 1944 she took part in Operation Neptune – the Normandy
Landings. She was part of Force J and in the post-assault
phase, Bangor was part of Task Force 129 during the bombardment
of Cherbourg on June 24.
The task force, followed closely by the bombarding ships,
came under heavy fire from the Germans and minesweepers were
forced to withdraw northwards.
In May 1945 Bangor was involved in operations around Norway,
and was one of five of her class of minesweeper loaned to
the Royal Norwegian Navy.
On November 11 1945 she was permanently transferred and renamed
the Glomma.
Britain’s dependence upon maritime trade is as great
today as it has ever been, which means the threat of the mine
– perhaps the most cost-effective of naval weapons –
is taken seriously by the Admiralty.
Mines can inflict immense damage on shipping, cutting off
the lifeblood of a country’s maritime trade and seriously
hampering the use of naval power.
In the past ten years the RN has been involved in numerous
mine clearance operations around the world, including the
Gulf and the Baltic.
During World War II mines were cleared by Mine Countermeasures
(MCM) vessels that towed sweep wires astern, armed with cutters
to cut the mooring wires of buoyant mines or simulated the
influence of a passing ship to trigger the simple ground mines.
The 1950s saw the development of the Ton-class minesweeper,
refining this technology, but the advent of high-definition
sonar led to the development of minehunting.
The commissioning in the early 1980s of the Hunt-class mine
countermeasures vessel combined the most advanced sweeping
and hunting techniques, using computer technology.
But the development of sophisticated – and cheap –
mines meant they were capable of targeting a specific ship
signature, and hunting was the safest way of dealing with
these devices.
Such emphasis has led to the development of the Sandown class.
Bangor and her sisters use sonar 2093 to locate mines ahead
of the ship, targeting even the most sophisticated devices
at a safe distance before there is any risk to the minehunter
itself.
NAUTIS M (Naval Autonomous Tactical Information System) manages
the data from the ship’s sensors and manual inputs from
the ship’s company while minehunting.
Then specially-trained clearance divers or the RCMDS 2 (Remotely
Controlled Mine Disposal System – a bright yellow unmanned
submersible with its own sonar and video camera capable of
carrying an explosive charge or cutting cables) – are
sent to investigate more closely and, if necessary, lay a
disposal charge which is remotely detonated.
(Ship of the Month November 2004)
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