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HMS Sandown (M101)
Encyclopedia
HMS Sandown (M101) was a Sandown-class
Sandown class minehunter
The Sandown class is a class of minehunter originally built for the British Royal Navy). Sandown-class vessels also serve with the Royal Saudi Navy and the Estonian Navy...
minehunter
Minehunter
Minehunters are mine countermeasure vessels that actively detect and destroy individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines...
of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. She was decommissioned in 2005.
Career
HMS Sandown was built by Vosper ThornycroftVT Group
VT Group plc was a British defence and services company, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. The Company had diversified from shipbuilding into various engineering and support services, becoming involved in many areas of provision through five main operating groups: VT Communications, VT...
and launched on 16 April 1988 by the Duchess of Gloucester, as the lead ship of the 12 ship class of Sandown class minehunters. She participated in a number of operations in support of the British fleet, including operating as part of a NATO-led operation between 12 June - 26 August 1999, along with the Hunt class
Hunt class MCMV
The Hunt class is a class of thirteen mine countermeasure vessels of the Royal Navy. They combine the separate role of the traditional minesweeper and that of the active minehunter in one hull...
Mine countermeasure vessel HMS Atherstone
HMS Atherstone (M38)
HMS Atherstone is a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1 March 1986 and commissioned on 17 January 1987, the tenth ship of her class....
and the survey ship HMS Bulldog
HMS Bulldog (A317)
HMS Bulldog was one of four Bulldog class hydrographic survey ships of the Royal Navy. She was built by the yacht builder Brooke Marine and launched in 1968....
. The operation was intended to clear the Adriatic of bombs jettisoned during the Kosovo campaign
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
. Together Sandown and Atherstone accounted for about 20% of the 93 bombs and missiles that were located and destroyed.
On 16 January 2000 Sandown located the wreck of the sunken scallop dredger, the Solway Harvester
Solway Harvester
The Solway Harvester is a scallop dredger from Kirkcudbright, Scotland which sank off the coast of Ramsey, Isle of Man in heavy storms on 11 January 2000. Following salvage, the damaged ship was taken to Douglas, Isle of Man, where she remains as of August 2011.-Career and sinking:The Solway...
. Sandown spent July 2002 on a Joint Maritime Course, after which she deployed to the Mediterranean to take part in the Argonaut 02 exercises, which lasted until Christmas. Sandown was also deployed as part of Operation Telic
Operation Telic
Operation TELIC was the codename under which all British military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the Invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011...
, to clear mines in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, and sweep passages into Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i ports.
In July 2004, the UK Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
announced that as part of the restructuring of the Navy, the three oldest Sandown class minehunters would be retired by April 2005. HMS Sandown was decommissioned in January 2005 and was then laid up awaiting a buyer or disposal. In September 2006, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
signed a contract to acquire the three vessels.
After refitting in Rosyth
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
Sandown was formally handed over to the Estonian Navy in April 2007, and renamed EML Admiral Cowan
EML Admiral Cowan (M313)
EML Admiral Cowan is a Sandown-class minehunter, the former HMS Sandown lead ship of her class of the Royal Navy, now of the Estonian Navy. She is part of the Estonian Navy's Mineships Division. The commanding officer of the vessel is Lieutenant Commander Johan-Elias Seljamaa...
in recognition of the British Admiral Walter Cowan
Walter Cowan
Admiral Sir Walter Henry Cowan, 1st Baronet, KCB, MVO, DSO & & Bar , known as Tich Cowan, was a British Royal Navy admiral who saw service in both World War I and World War II; in the latter he was one of the oldest British servicemen on active duty.-Early days:Cowan was born in Crickhowell,...
's support during the 1918 Estonian War of Independence.