The heavy lift contract that carried the minehunter HMS Bangor back to Britain from Bahrain cost £4.13million, and the ship arrived on 29 November last year, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked for the date of the return and the cost of the replacement heavy lift contract, following an answer of 8 September.
Luke Pollard, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “HMS Bangor returned to the UK on 29 November 2025 via heavy lift. The cost of the heavy lift contract to bring her back to the UK was £4.13 million.”
Heavy lift means the ship was carried home aboard a semi-submersible transport vessel instead of sailing under her own power, an arrangement the Royal Navy uses for its mine countermeasures vessels on long passages.
Obese-Jecty had asked about a replacement heavy lift contract, and the £4.13 million figure covers the contract used; no explanation was given for why the original arrangement fell away.
HMS Bangor is a Sandown class single role minehunter, one of a class built with glass reinforced plastic hulls to keep their magnetic signature low enough to work safely in a minefield. The ships displace around 600 tonnes, carry a crew of roughly forty, and hunt mines with sonar, remotely operated vehicles and clearance divers. Several of the class spent years forward deployed to Bahrain as part of the Royal Navy mine countermeasures force in the Gulf, and the class is being paid off as the role moves to uncrewed systems operated from motherships.
HMS Bangor was repaired in a Bahrein yard following her collision with HMS Chiddingfold in Bahrein on 19/1/24. She was also struck by USS Gladiator also some time in 2024 and received more repairs. Towed to the UK at a cost of £4.13m and returned to HNNB Clyde for structural repairs in late November 2025 – April 2026.
Did anyone consider scrapping this 24 year-old vessel in Bahrein in 2024 and bringing forward its replacement? Might have been cheaper.