Romanian Navy Commissions First Sandown Class Mine Hunter
The first Sandown-class Mine Countermeasures Vessel (MCMV) purchased by Romania from the United Kingdom under the “Mine Hunter” program, Sublocotenent Ion Ghiculescu, arrived at the Port of Constanta on December 19. The minehunter’s journey to the port of Constanta began on November 15, at the Rosyth shipyard in the Firth of Forth and lasted more than a month. The ship sailed roughly 4,500 nautical miles during this time in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Sea of Marmara, and Black Sea.
Sublocotenent Ion Ghiculescu, formerly serving in the Royal Navy as HMS Blyth, is the first of two minehunters purchased under an agreement between Romania and the United Kingdom. HMS Blyth, which was decommissioned by the Royal Navy in 2021, was handed over to the Romanian Navy on September 27, 2023, at a ceremony held at the Rosyth shipyard in Scotland. Before the transfer, the ship was renovated by British shipbuilder Babcock. During this process, the Royal Navy provided individual care and training support to the Romanian crew of 40 sailors via International Defense Training (IDT). Mass training was also provided through Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST).
The second ship of the agreement, HMS Pembroke, will be decommissioned from the Royal Navy in early 2024 and transferred to the Romanian Navy in the same year. The two former mine hunters will join the Romanian Navy’s 146th Mine Countermeasures Division. As a result, the Romanian Navy will improve its capacity to respond effectively to the existing mine threat in order to safeguard existing or developing waterways and important infrastructure in its jurisdiction.
As is well known, naval mines released in the Black Sea during the Russia-Ukraine war pose a serious threat to the territorial waters of Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Georgia. These four Black Sea coast countries have for some time now been vulnerable to the threat posed by stray sea mines. For this reason, in the first month of 2024, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria intend to sign an agreement on a joint plan to clear floating mines in the Black Sea.