HMS Brigham (M2613)
HMS Brigham was one of 93 ships of the Ham-class of inshore minesweepers.
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Brigham |
Namesake | Brigham |
Builder | Berthon Boat Company |
Launched | 4 December 1953 |
Completed | 22 December 1953 |
Fate | Sold 1968 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ham class minesweeper |
Type | Minesweeper |
Displacement |
|
Length | |
Beam | 21 ft 4 in (6.50 m) |
Draught | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
Complement | 2 officers, 13 ratings |
Armament | 1 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
Notes | Pennant number(s): M2613 / IMS13 |
Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Brigham in Cumbria.
The ship's bell is now in St Bridget's Church of England Primary School, Brigham, where it was used as a fire alarm until a more modern fire alarm system was installed.
Brigham was sold to Australian interests in 1968 and renamed MV Brigham. Refitted in Southampton as a prospective ferry she sailed with a crew of ten (via Las Palmas, Monrovia, Cape Town, Durban, Mauritius, and Albany) to Port Lincoln, South Australia, arriving on 24 December 1969 after a 16-week voyage, including a lengthy stop in Cape Town.
Sold in 1970 to the Australian company Southern Concrete, and taken to Adelaide for a full refit. Whilst in Adelaide the company experienced financial difficulties and the vessel had the distinction of being the first vessel in many decades to have a warrant pinned to her mast for non-payment of harbour dues.
Sold to NT fishing company sometime after and last heard of in the late 1970s being used as a prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria.[1]
References
- "oldships.org.uk". www.oldships.org.uk.
- Blackman, R. V. B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)