HMS Hodgeston (M1146)

HMS Hodgeston was a Ton-class minesweeper which saw service with the Royal Navy during the Cold War. Built by Fleetlands Shipyard, she was launched on 6 April 1954 and broken up in 1988.

Construction and design
Hodgeston was ordered on 14 February 1952, was laid down at Fleetland Shipyard's Gosport yard on 22 September 1952, was launched on 6 April 1954 and commissioned on 17 December 1954.

She was 152 ft long overall and 140 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 28 ft and a draught of 8 ft. Displacement was 360 LT normal and 425 LT deep load. Hodgeston was initially powered by a pair of 12-cylinder Mirrlees diesel engines, driving two shafts and giving a total of 2500 shp, giving the ship a speed of 15 kn, but these were later replaced by two Napier Deltic engines, giving a total of 3000 shp. 45 tons of fuel were carried, giving a range of 3000 nmi at 8 kn.

Armament consisted of a single Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun forward and two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon aft. Minesweeping equipment included wire sweeps for sweeping moored contact mines and acoustic or magnetic sweeps for dealing with influence mines. The ship had a crew of 27 in peacetime and 39 in wartime.

Service
Hodgeston spent many years attached to the 10th Mine Counter Measure (MCM10) Squadron manned by the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR).

Between 1954 and 1960 she was renamed HMS Northumbria whilst attached to the Tyne Division of the RNR HMS Calliope (shore establishment) based at Gateshead. On 30 May 1955, Northumbria was in collision with the Cypriot ship MV Cyprian Prince off Newcastle upon Tyne and was holed. Cyprian Prince towed her into port. On 24 July 1960, Northumbria ran aground at Lindisfarne, Northumberland. Between 1961 and 1975 she was renamed HMS Venturer whilst attached as sea-going tender to the Severn Division of the RNR at HMS Flying Fox (shore establishment) based in Bristol.

On 1 January 1976, the ship joined the South-West group of the 10th Mine Counter Measures Squadron, reverting to her original name Hodgeston. She attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead when she was part of the 10th Mine Countermeasures Squadron. In 1979, she was attached to the Clyde division of the RNR, while later that year, she transferred to the Fishery Protection Squadron. On 21 June 1979, the commercial tanker Tarpenbek, carrying a load of lubricating oil, collided with the landing ship RFA Sir Geraint off Selsey Bill in thick fog, holing the tanker. Hodgeston went to the assistance of Tarpenbek, and when the tanker capsized in heavy seas, helped to co-ordinate with salvage vessels, which managed to recover the oil, preventing major ecological damage, and salvaged the tanker, righting her by Parbucking. Later that summer, she went to the aid of the trawler Excellent, which had caught a mine in her nets, escorting the trawler to Penzance Bay where bomb disposal squads dealt with the mine.

On 23 June 1982 she was part of the North West group of the RNR, and was attached to the Clyde division again in 1983. She was de-commissioned in 1985 following the acquisition of the River-class minesweeper HMS Dovey (M2005) as her successor as tender to HMS Graham.

Following this she spent time attached to the Fisheries Protection Squadron of the Royal Navy before being sold in September 1988. She was broken up at Bruges by 29 December 1988.

She is the only ship of the name to serve in the Royal Navy to date.