HMS Brigham (M2613)

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History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Brigham
NamesakeBrigham
BuilderBerthon Boat Company
Launched4 December 1953
Completed22 December 1953
FateSold 1968
General characteristics
Class and typeHam class minesweeper
TypeMinesweeper
Displacement
  • 120 long tons (122 t) standard
  • 164 long tons (167 t) full load
Length
  • 100 ft (30 m) p/p
  • 106 ft 6 in (32.46 m) o/a
Beam21 ft 4 in (6.50 m)
Draught5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 shaft Paxman 12YHAXM diesels
  • 1,100 bhp (820 kW)
Speed14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement2 officers, 13 ratings
Armament1 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
NotesPennant number(s): M2613 / IMS13

HMS Brigham was one of 93 ships of the Ham-class of inshore minesweepers.

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[edit]

  1. ^ "oldships.org.uk". www.oldships.org.uk.
  • Blackman, R. V. B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)