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HMS Stirling Castle sails for the first time as Royal Navy warship
23 October 2025
A specialist mine hunting ship has sailed for the first time as a Royal Navy warship after leaving Merseyside.
Four months after she was handed over from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, HMS Stirling Castle departed West Float, Birkenhead, yesterday for sea trials and training, marking a significant achievement for her sailors.
HMS Stirling Castle, which will be based at His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, is the first mine countermeasures mother ship acquired to provide a floating base for autonomous technology.
Commanding Officer, Commander Phillip Harper, praised the crew for their determination and professionalism in getting the ship to sea.
“Taking Stirling Castle out of lay-up and getting her back into service in just four months has demanded extraordinary things from my team,” said Cdr Harper.
“Fortunately, the Royal Navy is blessed with incredible people at every level, and it is their dedication, work ethic and comradeship that has got us to this point and allows Stirling Castle to join the Fleet under the White Ensign.”
Stirling Castle had formerly operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary since 2023 but was formally commissioned into Royal Naval service in July.
Since then, her 55 crew have worked tirelessly alongside RFA personnel to prepare the ship for sea, conducting essential maintenance, safety checks, and training to ensure she was ready for operations.
Having now completed those checks and sea safety training, Stirling Castle will undertake a series of trials and assessments.
This will be followed later this year by operational sea training as both ship and sailors prepare to take their place on front-line duties, carrying high-tech equipment, including autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, for specialist mine hunting operations, primarily in UK waters.
HMS Stirling Castle helps extend the reach and effectiveness of Royal Navy mine hunting operations and to make it safer for those sailors whose job it is to locate and destroy mines.
The ship marks a move away from traditional minehunting, embracing cutting-edge technology as she acts as a ‘mother ship’ for an array of remotely-operated and autonomous systems which will scour home waters looking for mines.
The ship began life as the offshore support vessel MV Island Crown but was snapped up by the Ministry of Defence in 2023 and underwent conversion at HM Naval Base Devonport to transform her into a vessel dedicated to support mine hunting.
She spent 18 months in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s care, helping the Royal Navy to keep pace with the evolving threat from naval mines – proving her worth to mine hunting operators.
Stirling Castle will continue to work closely with the Royal Navy’s mine hunting warships, but primarily the Mine & Threat Exploitation Group – the Navy’s experts in operating autonomous technology and assessing and destroying threats beneath the waves.
That work will continue as a commissioned ship and there are plans in the future to have the ship repainted in grey from her current, striking blue and white livery.
Imagery by Sam Cranham from Stratus Imagery