Ukrainian military sailors master two minesweepers of the Sandown type in Scotland, which the British Navy is to hand over to Ukraine.
The BBC writes about it.
The Ukrainian military practices exercises with weapons, mechanisms and ship control. The sailors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are assisted in this by more than a thousand British servicemen.
Ukraine and Britain agreed on these ships last year. Minesweepers were planned to arrive in Ukraine in August this year, but these are still pre-war agreements. Currently, all movements of these vessels are not disclosed.
- Ships of the Sandown type are designed for demining sea mine barriers and mining sectors. They have a displacement of 450 tons, a length of 52.6 meters and a width of 10.5 meters. The speed of minesweepers of this type is up to 13 knots (24 km/h) on diesel traction and up to 6.5 on electric traction. The crew consists of 34 people, and three 12.7 mm machine guns are armed.
- According to the contract, Ukraine will receive mine hunters HMS Blyth and HMS Ramsey — the ships will undergo a full overhaul, repair, modernization and re-equipment. They were withdrawn from the Royal Navy in August 2021.