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HMS Durweston - Dorset Built

 

Not many Dorset villages can claim they have had a Royal Navy vessel named after them. Yet despite the ship’s incredibly short Royal Navy commission, the village of Durweston can make that claim. While despite the county not being renown for building warships, HMS Durweston was Dorset built.

She was launched by the Dorset Yacht Company from its Hamworthy Yard in August 1955. HMS Durweston was designed to combat the threat of mines laid in coastal waters. The Dorset Yacht Company had been founded in 1938 and in 2013 celebrated its 75th anniversary.

HMS Durweston was a Ton Class minesweeper. All Royal Navy ships of this class were given the names of towns and villages with names that ended –ton. Unfortunately however, HMS Durweston had one of the shortest ever commissions in the Royal Navy. The vessel was  sold to the Indian Navy in 1956 and renamed the Kakinda. She remained in the service of the Indian Navy until 1981.

(Illustrations: Minesweeper HMS Durweston & crest)




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