HMS Etchingham (M2625)

History
Name:	HMS Etchingham
Namesake:	Etchingham
Builder:	Ailsa Shipbuilding Company
Launched:	9 December 1957
Completed:	27 June 1958
Fate:	Sold for breaking 1967
General characteristics
Class & type:	Ham class minesweeper
Type:	Minesweeper
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
Beam:	21 ft 4 in (6.50 m)
Draught:	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Propulsion:	2 shaft Paxman 12YHAXM diesels 1,100 bhp (820 kW)
Speed:	14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement:	2 officers, 13 ratings
Armament:	1 × Bofors 40 mm gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Notes:	Pennant number(s): M2625 / IMS27

HMS Etchingham 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 Etchingham in East Sussex. In the 1960s Etchingham and a similar ship, Cardinham were in service with the Hong Kong Royal Naval Reserve, until the unit was disbanded on 31 March 1967.^[1]

References

1. Personal knowledge, ex-member, HKRNR

• Blackman, R.V.B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships (1953)