HMS Neasham (M2712)

	The ship as Achilles III, 2015
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Neasham
Namesake:	Neasham
Builder:	J. Samuel White
Launched:	14 March 1956
Completed:	15 November 1957
Fate:	Transferred to Australia 1968
Notes:	Pennant number(s): M2712 / IMS49
Australia
Name:	HMAS Porpoise
Acquired:	1968
Fate:	Sold 1989
Australia
Name:	Achilles III
Acquired:	1989
Identification:	MMSI number: 503016200; Callsign: VJ9247;
Status:	In service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ham-class minesweeper
Displacement:	120 tons standard; 164 tons full;
Length:	106 ft 6 in (32.46 m)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Draught:	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Propulsion:	2 shaft Paxman 12YHAXM diesels, 1,100 bhp (820 kW)
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement:	2 officers, 13 ratings
Armament:	1 × 40 mm Bofors / 20 mm Oerlikon gun

HMS Neasham (M2712/IMS49) was a Ham-class minesweeper for the Royal Navy. The names of the Ham-class vessels were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. HMS Neasham was named after Neasham in County Durham.

Despite being completed on 15 November 1957, Neasham was held in operational reserve in a land cradle at Rosneath on the Clyde until 1967. She was then transferred to the Royal Australian Navy, arriving in Sydney as deck cargo on the merchant ship Gladstone Star on 29 July 1968.[1]

After a period at the RAN base at Garden Island, New South Wales, Neasham was converted into a diving tender and renamed HMAS Porpoise (DTV 1002/Y.280) on 13 June 1973. Porpoise was sold in 1989 to property developer Keith Williams, owner of Sea World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. She was later converted into a luxury motor yacht and renamed Achilles III.[2]

References

Lind, Lew (1986) [1982]. The Royal Australian Navy: Historic Naval Events Year by Year (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed Books. p. 263. ISBN 0-7301-0071-5. OCLC 16922225.
"MCDOA News Archive 12: 'Spotters' Corner' - Ham Class Inshore Minesweepers transferred to the RAN". Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officers' Association. Retrieved 24 September 2015.

Blackman, R.V.B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)

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[1] Lind, Lew (1986) [1982]. The Royal Australian Navy: Historic Naval Events Year by Year (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed Books. p. 263. ISBN 0-7301-0071-5. OCLC 16922225.

[2] "MCDOA News Archive 12: 'Spotters' Corner' - Ham Class Inshore Minesweepers transferred to the RAN". Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officers' Association. Retrieved 24 September 2015.