HMS Iveston (M1151)

Iveston was ordered on 19 March 1952,[1] was laid down at Philip and Son's Dartmouth yard on 22 October 1952, was launched on 1 June 1954 and completed on 29 June 1955.[2][3]

She was 152 feet (46.33 m) long overall and 140 feet (42.67 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 28 feet 9 inches (8.76 m) and a draught of 8 feet 3 inches (2.51 m). Displacement was 360 long tons (370 t) normal and 425 long tons (432 t) deep load.[4] As built, Iveston was powered by two Mirrlees diesel engines, giving a total of 2,500 shaft horsepower (1,900 kW). These engines gave a speed of 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h).[5] 45 tons of fuel were carried, giving a range of 3,000 nautical miles (3,500 mi; 5,600 km) at 8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h).[4][5]

Armament consisted of a single Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun forward and two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon aft.[4][5] Minesweeping equipment included wire sweeps for sweeping moored contact mines and acoustic or magnetic sweeps for dealing with influence mines.[6] The ship had a crew of 27 in peacetime and 39 in wartime.[5]

From 1956 to 1962 Iveston was laid up in operational reserve at Hythe, near Southampton. On 3 January 1963 she was towed to Devonport dockyard where she was refitted and converted to a minehunter.[7] Her magnetic sweep gear was removed and Type 193 Sonar was fitted to detect mines which could then be destroyed by divers[1] while active rudders incorporating electric motors were fitted to aid slow speed manoeuvrability,[8] and the ship's engines replaced by two Napier Deltic diesel engines rated at 3,000 brake horsepower (2,200 kW).[9][10] She was recommissioned on 16 October 1964, joining the 1st Mine Counter Measures Squadron based at Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth.[11]

There was a mutiny on board HMS Iveston at Ullapool on 5 July 1970. This was the most recent mutiny in the Royal Navy.[12] Five of the crew were tried by court martial at Rosyth and convicted. The group were sentenced to detention for terms ranging from 12 to 21 months, and dismissed from the Royal Navy "with disgrace". One of the ratings was convicted of an additional charge of striking a superior officer [13][14]

T.S. Iveston was berthed in the Tilbury Docks and used by the Sea Cadet Corps as a training base mostly by Thurrock Sea Cadets but also by Sea Cadets from Essex, Greater London and Southern and Eastern areas between 1993 and 2014.[15] The training available encompassed marine engineering, seamanship, canoeing, pulling, sailing, powerboating, cook/steward and instructors’ courses.[15]

Due to health and safety requirements plus the increasing costs to maintain the structural and internal integrity of the vessel Thurrock Sea Cadets were unable to keep her and in March 2015 the vessel was sold to a breakers yard at Erith on the River Thames.[16]

• Pictures
• Iveston in the news
• A visit from the Duke of York

• Blackman, Raymond V. B. (1962). Jane's Fighting Ships 1962–63. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
• Blackman, Raymond V. B. (1971). Jane's Fighting Ships 1971–72. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-354-00096-9.
• Brown, D. K.; Moore, George (2012). Rebuilding the Royal Navy: Warship Design Since 1945. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-150-2.
• Couhat, Jean Laybayle; Baker, A. D., eds. (1986). Combat Fleets of the World 1986/87: Their Ships, Aircraft and Armament. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85368-860-5.
• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen, eds. (1995). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
• Moore, John, ed. (1979). Jane's Fighting Ships 1979–80. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-354-00587-1.
• Worth, Jack (1986). British Warships Since 1945: Part 4: Minesweepers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-12-2.