HMS Abdiel (N21)
{{short description|Royal Navy minelayer (1967)}}
{{other ships|HMS Abdiel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Abdiel (N21) |Ship ordered=June 1965 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Thornycroft |Ship laid down=23 May 1966 |Ship launched=22 January 1967 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=17 October 1967 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=1988 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit=1977, 1981 |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Scrapped 1988 |Ship homeport= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 542. |Ship class= |Ship displacement=*1375 t standard
|Ship length= {{convert|265|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|38|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|10|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion=*2 shafts, 2 eighteen-cylinder Paxman Ventura diesels
|Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=98 |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors=Type 978 radar |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun (from 1984Couhat and Baker 1986, p. 202)
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Abdiel was a Royal Navy minelayer that saw service during the Cold War.
Abdiel was ordered from Thornycroft in June 1965. She was laid down at Thornycroft's Woolston shipyard on 23 May 1966Moore 1985, p. 630. and launched 22 January 1967. She was commissioned on 17 October 1967. Her pennant number was N21.
Minelayer
Abdiel was designated by the Ministry of Defence as an "exercise minelayer" and her official role was to train Royal Navy personnel in minelaying operations using test/dummy naval mines, not to lay offensive mines operationally. She was fully capable of laying offensive mines during wartime.{{hansard|1988/mar/22/mine-laying-vessels#S6CV0130P0_19880322_HOC_44|title=Statement on Royal Navy mine-laying capability|access-date=29 April 2020}}
MCM support ship
Abdiel fulfilled an additional role as a support ship for mine countermeasure vessels. She served in this capacity with the Armilla Patrol from 1987 to 1988. During this deployment, the air conditioning units aboard ship proved insufficient for the climate and additional units had to be dispatched.{{hansard|1987/oct/28/second-days-debate#S6CV0121P0_19871028_HOC_228|title=Debate on 1987 Defense Estimates|access-date=29 April 2020}}
Refits
- 1977
- 1981
Paid off
Abdiel was paid off in 1988 and sold for scrapping. After her disposal, the Royal Navy had no dedicated minelaying vessel, although provisions were made for "suitably modified vessels" to undertake the work as required.{{hansard|1988/jun/29/hms-abdiel#S6CV0136P0_19880629_CWA_218|house=written|title=Statement regarding paying off of HMS Abdiel|access-date=29 April 2020}} In 1987 her commanding officer spoke with Raymond Baxter at the 1987 Festival of Remembrance in a segment about Royal Navy modes of communication{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXkhmpxULTw | title=Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance 1987 | website=YouTube | date=31 May 2020 }}
Media
Abdiel appears in the Royal Navy instructional film 'Minelaying' (Admiralty catalogue no. A2788) produced in 1976. Classified as restricted at the time of its release, the film is now unrestricted and available on archive DVD collections and the Internet.
References
{{reflist}}
- Couhat, Jean Labayle and A.D. Baker. Combat Fleets of the World 1986/87. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-85368-860-5}}.
- Gardiner, Robert and Stephen Chumbley. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. {{ISBN|1-55750-132-7}}.
- Moore, John. Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1985. {{ISBN|0-7106-0814-4}}.
External links
- [https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154678451966 HMS Abdiel Facebook page]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110318114520/http://www.tca2000.co.uk/supportships.htm MCM Support Ships]
- [http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1987/09/29/AS290987016/ "British Minesweepers" TV news report] ITN, 29 September 1987
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Category:Minelayers of the Royal Navy
Category:Cold War mine warfare vessels of the United Kingdom