HMS Bassingham
{{short description|Minesweeper of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{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 Bassingham |Ship namesake=Bassingham |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= Vosper & Company |Ship original cost= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 24 June 1952 |Ship christened= |Ship completed= 1 October 1953 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Pennant number(s): M2605 / IMS05 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= Sold 1966. Broken up in September–October 1980. |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|Ham|minesweeper}} |Ship displacement=*{{convert|120|LT|t|0}} standard
|Ship length=*{{convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}} p/p
|Ship beam= {{convert|21|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= {{convert|5|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship propulsion=*2 shaft Paxman 12YHAXM diesels
|Ship speed= {{convert|14|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=2 officers, 13 ratings |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament= 1 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Bassingham was one of 93 ships of the {{sclass2|Ham|minesweeper|4}} of inshore minesweepers, of which {{HMS|Inglesham}} was the first. Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Bassingham in Lincolnshire. She was built by Vospers Ltd. of Portsmouth, which later became Vosper-Thorneycroft and was commissioned in October 1953. She displaced 164 tons fully laden and was armed with one 40 mm Bofors gun.
The engines of this class were Paxman diesels, some of which were built under licence by Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. She was {{convert|32.5|m|ftin}} long overall by {{convert|6.4|m|ftin}} beam. Jane's and the Bassingham website are not consistent about the building material. Jane's says the Ham class, numbered in the 2601 series was of wood. According to the web site, Bassingham was of composite wood and "non-metallic material" construction but Jane's 1953 says that the composite vessels were numbered in the 2001 series and named after places ending in -ley ({{sclass2|Ley|minehunter|4}}). It seems likely that policy changed after Jane's 1953-4 was published.
Service history
Initially based at Plymouth, in December 1954 she joined the 232nd Minesweeping Squadron of the Inshore Flotilla based at Harwich, Essex. In 1956 Bassingham sailed to the Mediterranean Sea to take part in operations in Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Subsequently, she was transferred to the Royal East African Navy, based in Mombasa, Kenya. After two years, she returned to Royal Navy service.{{Cite web
|url=http://www.withamstaple.com/GArchive/CArchiveHistory.htm#HMS%20Bassingham
|title=HMS Bassingham
|work=withamstaple.com
|access-date=18 December 2010
|archive-date=8 May 2005
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050508164507/http://www.withamstaple.com/GArchive/CArchiveHistory.htm#HMS%20Bassingham
|url-status=dead
}}
She was eventually sold to Pounds shipbreaking yard in Portsmouth in 1966, remaining there for the next 14 years, being used to provide spare parts for other ships of her class until she was broken up in late 1980.
References
{{reflist}}
- Blackman, R.V.B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)
External links
- [http://www.withamstaple.com/GArchive/CArchiveHistory.htm#HMS%20Bassingham HMS Bassingham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050508164507/http://www.withamstaple.com/GArchive/CArchiveHistory.htm#HMS%20Bassingham |date=8 May 2005 }}
{{Ham class minesweeper}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassingham}}
Category:Ham-class minesweepers
Category:Royal Navy ship names
{{UK-minesweeper-stub}}