HMS Altham

HMS Altham was one of 93 ships of the Ham class of inshore minesweepers.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Altham
Namesake: Altham, Lancashire
Builder: Camper and Nicholsons
Launched: 2 December 1952
Completed: 8 July 1953
Fate: Transferred to Malaysia 1 April 1959.
Notes: Pennant number(s): M2602 / IMS02
Malaysia
Name: KD Sri Johore
Acquired: 1 April 1959
Fate: broken up 1967.[1]
General characteristics [2]
Class and type: Ham-class minesweeper
Displacement:
  • 120 long tons (122 t) standard
  • 159 long tons (162 t) full load
Length:
  • 100 ft (30 m) p/p
  • 106 ft 6 in (32.46 m) o/a
Beam: 21 ft (6.4 m)
Draught: 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 shaft Paxman diesels
  • 1,100 bhp (820 kW)
Speed: 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement: 14
Armament: 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Altham in Lancashire.

Altham (pennant number M2602) was a member of the first series of Ham-class minesweepers, with composite wood and aluminium construction. It was built by Camper and Nicholsons of Gosport, completing on 8 July 1953.[2][3]

The ship commissioned at Hythe, Hampshire on 13 July 1953, serving with the 232nd Mine Sweeper Squadron at Harwich in Essex from 1954 to 1956, going into reserve at Rosneath on the Gare Loch in northwest Scotland in 1957.[4]

Altham was transferred to the Royal Malayan Navy on 1 April 1958, being renamed Sri Johor.[5] Sri Johor had its minesweeping gear removed and replaced by two more 20 mm Oerlikon cannon and four 2-pounder saluting guns,[6] although the minesweeping gear was later re-fitted.[7] Sri Johor was broken up in 1967.

References
  1. Ham Class Minesweepers
  2. Gardiner and Chumbley, 1995, p. 541.
  3. Worth 1986, p. 123.
  4. Worth 1986, pp. 2, 125.
  5. Worth 1986, p. 125.
  6. Blackman 1960, p. 82.
  7. Blackman 1962, p. 162.
  • Blackman, Raymond V.B., ed. Jane's Fighting Ships 1952–1953. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953.
  • Blackman, Raymond V. B. (1960). Jane's Fighting Ships 1960–61. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
  • Blackman, Raymond V. B. (1962). Jane's Fighting Ships 1962–63. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen (1995). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • Worth, Jack (1986). British Warships Since 1945: Part 4: Minesweepers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-12-2.
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