Welcome to HMS Hurworth's website. We were launched by Lady Halifax in 1985 and are one of the Royal Navy's Hunt Class Mine Counter Measure vessels based in Portsmouth.
The Second ship to carry the name, Hurworth’s namesake, a Hunt Class Destroyer, won battle honours in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The Ship gained another battle honour in the Gulf in 1991 helping to clear minefields off Kuwait. For this action the Commanding Officer at the time, Lt Cdr Richard Ibbotson, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Hurworth was the first Royal Navy ship to be fitted with the latest mine hunting sonar, command system and mine disposal system. This state of the art equipment ensures that the Royal Navy remains a world leader in mine countermeasures, helping to safeguard the maritime trade routes which carry 95% of our imports and exports.
We are affiliated to the village of Hurworth near Darlington and have strong links with the Hunt, the local Primary School and Rockcliffe care home, whom we try to visit as often as we can. We are also affiliated to Sea Cadet Units in Chichester and Folkestone and the Chichester Royal Naval Association.
Since early 2008 two Hunt class ships have been permanently stationed in the Gulf. In order to support their operations the 2nd Mine Countermeasures Squadron (MCM2) adopted a crew rotation system, swapping crews in turn between between the ships in the Gulf and the remaineder in the UK. MCM2 Crew 7 returned from a Gulf deployment in the summer of 2009 to become the Ship’s Company of HMS Hurworth.
