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Globetrotting Ledbury
For a vessel of her size, mine countermeasures vessel
HMS Ledbury is a well-travelled ship.
She has seen service in the Gulf and South Atlantic, and this
year visited the Baltic twice on exercise - with a third trip
on the cards.
Ledbury, the second of the Hunt-class ships, is an all-rounder
in the field of mine warfare in that she is capable of both
minesweeping and minehunting.
The traditional art of minesweeping involves the destruction
of mines using a towed wore to sweep them up, whereas minehunting
has come into its own as technology has advanced.
The modern RN minehunter uses high-definition sonar to identify
a mine, and then deploys a robotic miniature submarine or
divers to place explosive charges.
Cameras carried by the RCMDS (Remote Controlled Mine Disposal
System) Vehicle means the sea bed can also be scanned, and
suspicious objects identified at a safe distance.
Portsmouth-based Ledbury is only the second ship of her name,
but her predecessor had an eventful career, winning six battle
honours.
Hunt-class destroyer HMS Ledbury was ordered two days after
the outbreak of the war, part of the second series of Hunt-class
ships, and she was laid down at the Southampton yard of J.
Thornycroft in January 1940.
Air raid damage delayed her completion until September 1941,
and the 1,580-ton destroyer soon took up escort duties between
Scapa Flow and Iceland.
In June 1942 she was attached to the ill-fated Arctic convoy
PQ17 from which 24 ships were lost.
Only two months later she was close escort in the Pedestal
convoy to Malta, and her defiance of Axis aircraft and submarines
was a crucial factor in the successful defence of the island.
During the fierce attacks which dogged the convoy, Ledbury
claimed three enemy aircraft destroyed and five damaged, and
was one of three destroyers which helped the crippled tanker
Ohio into Grand Harbour.
The ship added to her impressive battle honours during the
Allied landings in Sicily and Salerno, and in the Adriatic
and Aegean. She was scrapped in 1958.
Her modern counterpart was one of the largest in the world
to be built with a glass-reinforced plastic hull, which is
non-magnetic and strong enough to withstand shocks associated
with mine clearance.
Great care had been taken to reduce the ship's magnetic and
noise signatures - main machinery is tuned and matched, and
special attention payed to mountings.
The ship's main engines are two Deltic diesels, with a third
used for slow-running while working with mines.
A hydraulic bow thruster does away with the need for an activated
rudder system.
Ledbury was awarded the Redifon Trophy in April for communications
excellence.
(Ship of the Month September 1997)
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