HMS Middleton

I like your photograph of the Middleton very much.
Never been able to capture a photo of a naval vessel sailing from Eastham but it
is impressive to see particularly passing a merchant vessel inward bound.

Regards
Keith

Why is she called Middleton ?

She is a Hunt class mine-hunter, and there is a Hunt called Middleton in Yorkshire, all the class are named after Hunts.
Thirteen of these little ships were built with eight remaining in service with the RN, although classed as Minehunters they also I believe still carry sweeping gear.
Middleton was built by Yarrow's in 1983-4 and remains in service
L 60 B 10.5 Dr 2.2 Dispt 750 tonnes, they were at one time the worlds largest GRP ( glass re-inforced Plastic) warships.

Machinery : twin screws, Ruston-Paxman deltic 9-58K diesels 1900hp, 1 Deltic 9-59 diesel for pulse generation and auxiliary drive. also fitted with a bow thruster.

Armament : single 30mm gun, two BMarc 20mm guns and two General Purpose Machine Guns crew about 45

Hi Keith,
Glad you like the photo,still have not got to meet you at Eastham yet.

shipmate17,nice photo i remember the hunts very well i joined HMS Bleasdale L50 a hunt destroyer as a 2nd class stoker in 1944 ,as you might know there were many in flottillas around the the coast & abroad ,the mine hunters that were built later like Middleton were of the same name but there was only so many built ,do you look on ships of the royal navy they list every hunt built in the war years,

Hi George,

Can't get up to Eastham as much as I want to.
Looking after my mum she's not very well.
One of these days will bump into you.

Regards
Keith

The current Hunts are still wearing sweeping cables and cable drums but no swimmers or cutters to complete the sweeping gear. So seen on HMS Brocklesby in early 2007 and on HMS Hurworth 2 weeks ago.

rgds
Matze