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Quorn Joins The Pack
Thirteenth and final ship of the Hunt class mine countermeasures
vessels, HMS Quorn has spent the past year in trials and
exercises prior to taking up full operational duties.
Built by Vosper Thornycroft shipbuilders at Woolston, Southampton,
the Quorn was launched in January 1988 by Lady Rosemary Thompson,
wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Thompson. Lady Thompson was
guest of honour again a year later when the Quorn was accepted
into service and three months after that when the ship was
commissioned.
Unforunately, Lieut.-Cdr. Nigel Williams, the commanding
officer, made history by missing his own ship’s commissioning
due to an untimely attack of appendicitis!
Hunt class MCMVs are the world’s largest ships to be
built of glass reinforced plastic, measuring 60m in length
and 10m in breadth. They have a draught of three metres and
displace 685 tonnes.
The Quorn, like her sister ships, can both sweep and hunt
mines. She destroys mines by sweeping them with towed wire
or influence sweeps, both magnetic and acoustic, and hunts
them using high definition sonar.
Any mines detected by sonar are identified and destroyed
either by diver or by the ship’s remote controlled
mine disposal system (RCMDS).
A 30mm gun, which fires 600 rounds per minute, enables the
ship to operate in her secondary role as patrol craft.
The Quorn is powered by two Deltic diesel engines and has
a top speed of 15 knots. The slow running necessary for mine
warfare is carried out on a third Deltic, providing power
via hydrostatic transmission systems, air clutches and main
gearboxes.
Manoeuvring at low speed is facilitated by use of a hydraulic
bow thruster.
The Computer Assisted Action Information System is fed details
by the radars, gyro compasses, log, sonar, Decca, Hyperfix
and other navigational systems and in turn gives a display
of information required for accurate mine clearage.
The RCMDS includes two unmanned submersibles, controlled
from the ship, which can survey the sea bed and lay explosive
charges to detonate mines.
During the summer the Quorn went through the process of degaussing – to
achieve and maintain a low magnetic signature; obviously
very important when dealing with a magnetically-influenced
mine! It is crucial that an expensive (£35m) GRP vessel
such as Quorn retains her non-magnetic advantages.
The Quorn has joined her sister ships of the First Mine Countermeasures
Squadron and is based at Rosyth. Her affiliations include
the Quorn Hunt, after which she is named, Quorn village,
Melton Mowbray, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Queen Alexandra’s
Royal Naval Nursing Service, TS Venomous, Leicestershire
County Council and the Melton Mowbray branch of the Royal
Naval Association.
(Ship of the Month November 1989)
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