- Source: HMS Shoreham (M112)
HMS Shoreham was a Sandown-class minehunter of the British Royal Navy. She was the fifth vessel to bear the name. From 2018 to 2021, Shoreham was deployed at UKNSF Bahrain together with three other mine countermeasures ships as part of 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron on Operation Kipion. In 2022 she was decommissioned and was transferred to Ukraine.
Operational history
= Royal Navy (UK)
=2001–2010
Shoreham was accepted into service on 28 November 2001 and commissioned in a ceremony in her namesake port on 20 July 2002.
2011–2022
In 2012, Shoreham deployed to the Persian Gulf to join the 9th Mine Countermeasures squadron based in Bahrain. She returned to Faslane on 28 August 2015 after three years away.
Shoreham entered refit in Rosyth in 2016 for repair work to her hull. Other work carried out included installing a new galley, fitting a new fire detection system and improving the high-pressure air system. She was handed back to the Royal Navy in January 2017.
In spring 2017, Shoreham deployed with NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1), operating around Northern Europe. During the course of this deployment Shoreham, the last of the Sandown class to be built, took part in naval exercises with the former HMS Sandown, now operated by the Estonian Navy as Admiral Cowan.
From 2018 to 2021, Shoreham served with 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron operating from HMS Jufair in the Persian Gulf. In August 2021, Shoreham returned to the U.K having been relieved by her sister ship HMS Bangor.
In May 2022, Shoreham embarked on a final short tour of the UK ahead of her planned decommissioning including a final visit to her namesake port during which 1,500 members of the public toured the ship.
In September 2022, she was spotted operating around Firth of Forth carrying the name "Черкаси" (Ukrainian: Cherkasy) and the pennant number M311. Though still reportedly in commission with the Royal Navy, she was now training sailors of the Ukrainian Navy prior to her planned handover to that Navy. In October 2022 it was reported that she had been decommissioned.
= Ukrainian Navy
=The ship was commissioned into the Ukrainian Navy as "Черкаси" (Ukrainian: Cherkasy) on 2 July 2023. The ceremony was held in Glasgow. In April 2024, it was indicated that Cherkasy and her sister ship Chernihiv were to be based at HMNB Portsmouth for the "foreseeable future as they prepare for exercises with the Royal Navy alongside the US Navy in UK waters, which will help Ukraine understand how to operate with NATO navies".
References
External links
Official website