Ham-Class

Ninety-three Ham-class minesweepers were launched between 1954 and 1959 and they cost a bob or two.

The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place names that end with -“ham”. The parent firm that was responsible for supervising construction was Samuel White of Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Unlike traditional minesweepers, they were not equipped for sweeping moored or magnetic mines. Their work was to locate individual mines and neutralise them. This was a then new role, and the class was configured for working in the shallow water of rivers, estuaries and shipping channels. (Wikipedia)

I suppose life has improved since the Cold War when invasion seemed imminent. I am sorry not to have kept in my muniment room the advice issued by the Irish government regarding personal safety and milking one’s cows in the event of nuclear attack. Not so much Reds under the bed but in Beds, Bucks, Hants and Herts. But we digress, I went to Gillingham yesterday to visit Tongham, a Ham-class minesweeper moored at the pier. Now that the Reds eschew such simple tactics as laying mines in the Thames estuary she has re-invented herself as a Pop-Up Vegan Street Food and Bar venue. What would those shipbuilders at Cowes think about this change of use?

There are not many of these minesweepers left and few with as many original fittings as Tongham. That is a polite way of saying that it is in need of restoration. As it rained incessantly yesterday I sourced this picture from the internet.

The hull is made from mahogany planking in order not to activate the mines for which it searched in vain. It still has its controls, engines, radio room, galley, fuel tanks, navigation room and accommodation for its crew of eighteen when on a peace-time footing.

It was strange to imagine it vigilantly patrolling the inland waters of south east England to counter (as it happened) a non-existent threat while Vulcan bombers were on alert on East Anglian airfields to drop nuclear bombs behind the Iron Curtain. Perhaps we do live in a slightly safer world.

If you have read this website from inception, well done, because this post is 1,111 and this is why this post is titled Ham-Class.