HMS Walney (M104)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Walney.

HMS Walney (M104) was a Sandown-class minehunter of the British Royal Navy. She was the fourth of the Sandown-class minehunters, and the second ship to carry the name, which comes from the island off Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria on the north-west coast of England.

HMS Walney docked at Liverpool in May 2006
History
United Kingdom
Name	Walney
Builder	Vosper Thornycroft
Launched	25 November 1991
Commissioned	19 February 1993
Decommissioned	15 October 2010
Homeport	HMNB Clyde
Identification	Pennant number: M104 IMO number: 4906733 MMSI number: 234640000 Callsign: GACT
Status	Awaiting disposal
General characteristics
Class & type	Sandown-class minehunter
Displacement	600 tonnes
Length	52.5 m (172.2 ft)
Beam	10.9 m (35.8 ft)
Draught	2.3 m (7.5 ft)
Propulsion	2 shafts Voith-Schneider propulsors diesel-electric drive Paxman Valenta diesels, 1,500 shp (1,100 kW)
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) diesel 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph) electric
Complement	34 (7 officers, 27 ratings)
Sensors & processing systems	Type 1007 navigation radar Type 2093 variable-depth mine hunting sonar
Armament	1 × Oerlikon 30 mm KCB gun on DS-30B mount 2 × 7.62 mm L7 GPMG machine guns Wallop Defence Systems Barricade Mk. III countermeasure launchers Irvin Aerospace Replica Decoy launchers
Notes	Mine Counter-Measures Equipment: SeaFox mine disposal system Clearance divers

Construction and design

HMS Walney was one of four Sandown-class minehunters ordered from Vosper Thornycroft on 27 July 1987.^[1] She was laid down at Vosper Thoneycroft's Woolston, Southampton shipyard in May 1990, launched on 25 November 1991 and commissioned on 20 February 1993.^[1][2]

Operational history

On 15 May 2006, HMS Walney and HMS Atherstone discovered a 1,000 lb (450 kg) World War II bomb whilst conducting a survey of the River Mersey.^[3]

It was announced on 16 December 2009 that Walney would be decommissioned sometime in 2010.^[4] She was decommissioned in a ceremony on 15 October 2010 at her homeport, HMNB Clyde. Walney called in at her affiliated town of Barrow-in-Furness on her way to her final port of call, Portsmouth Naval Base where she remains laid up in 3 Basin. In 2014 the ship was listed for sale via the Disposal Services Authority.^[5][6]

Affiliates

• Barrow-in-Furness
• The casualty department at Furness General Hospital
• TS Quantock, Sea Cadet Corps in Ashton-under-Lyne