HMS
Echo
, 2011
|
Class overview
|
Builders
| Appledore Shipbuilders
,
Bideford
(Subcontracted from
Vosper Thornycroft
)
|
Operators
|
Royal Navy
|
Built
| 2000?2003
|
In commission
| 2003?2023
|
Completed
| 2
|
Retired
| 2
[1]
|
General characteristics
[2]
|
Type
| |
Displacement
| 3,740 t (3,680 long tons)
[3]
|
Length
| 90.6 m (297 ft 3 in)
|
Beam
| 16.8 m (55 ft 1 in)
|
Draught
| 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)
|
Propulsion
| |
Speed
| 15
knots
(28 km/h; 17 mph)
|
Range
| 9,300 nmi (17,200 km; 10,700 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
|
Endurance
| 35 days
|
Boats & landing
craft carried
| Survey motor boat
|
Complement
| 72
|
Sensors and
processing systems
| Integrated survey system
[N 1]
|
Armament
| |
The
Echo
class
was a class of multi-purpose
hydrographic
survey ships in commission with the
Royal Navy
. The ships were primarily tasked with conducting survey work in support of submarine and amphibious operations, however, the class also has a secondary role in
mine countermeasures
. The two vessels of the class were the most recent additions to the Royal Navy's
Hydrographic Squadron
. Each ship displaced approximately 3,700 tonnes, and was equipped with a state of the art suite of equipment. The lead ship of the class, HMS
Echo
, was retired in 2022 and her sister ship in 2023.
[6]
Design
[
edit
]
Echo
and
Enterprise
were the first Royal Navy ships to be fitted with
azimuth thrusters
. Both azimuth thrusters and the bow thruster can be controlled through the integrated navigation system by a joystick providing high manoeuvrability. Complete control and monitoring for power generation and propulsion, together with all auxiliary plant systems, tank gauging and damage control functions is provided through the integrated platform management system (IPMS), accessible through workstations around the ship. The range of equipment carried includes the following:
[2]
- Multi beam echo sounder
- Single beam echo sounder
- Survey Planning and Processing Systems
- Side-scan sonar
- Oceanographic Probe and sensors
- Undulating Oceanographic Profiler
- Doppler Current Log
- Sub-bottom Profiler
- Bottom Sampling Equipment
- Survey motor boat
fitted with multi-beam sonar and sidescan sonar
The vessels were armed. They carried a GAM-B01 20 mm cannon (a naval version of the
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
), two
miniguns
and four
General Purpose Machine Guns
.
[3]
Role
[
edit
]
The vessels were designed to conduct survey tasks in support of submarines or amphibious operations. They provided almost real-time tailored environmental information, and also have a secondary role as a mine countermeasure tasking authority platform, for which they were capable of embarking a dedicated mine counter measures command team, and supporting other
mine warfare
vessels.
[4]
Manning
[
edit
]
The two ships followed the same type of crew rotation pattern as
HMS
Scott
, in that two-thirds of their crew was needed to keep the ship operational, with the remaining one-third ashore. This allowed each ship to be available for deployment for up to 330 days a year.
[7]
The ship's crew consisted of 72 personnel, with 48 on board at any one time, working a cycle of 75 days on, 30 days off. The ships were able to accommodate 81 personnel if necessary. In support of this high availability, all accommodation and recreational facilities were designed for an unusual (in a warship) degree of comfort. All personnel shared double cabins with private facilities, except the captain and executive officer who both had single cabins.
[8]
Ships in the class
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Side-scan sonar; Multi-beam echo sounder; Single-beam echo sounder; Undulating oceanographic profiler; Doppler current log; Sub-bottom profiler; Bottom sampling equipment
- ^
Secondary role as a mine countermeasures command vessel. Capable of embarking a dedicated mine countermeasures team and supporting other MCM vessels.
[4]
[5]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]