A minesweeper purchased in Great Britain will be renovated for the Lithuanian Navy

A deal for the restoration of the minesweeper, purchased by Lithuania from Great Britain, was signed.

The Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported about this.

The formerly British Hunt-class HMS Quorn minesweeper purchased by the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania will be restored and fully prepared for service in the Lithuanian Navy.

The restoration works will be conducted under the agreement signed by the UK Defense Equipment Sales Agency (UK DESA) with the contractor.

British shipbuilder Harland & Wolff Group was announced to be the winner of UK DESA’s tender on July 12, with UK DESA signing a £55 million (US$65 million) deal.

The regeneration of the mine-hunting ship, which will last 18 to 24 months, will be carried out at the Appledore yard in southwest England.

“This is a particularly important deal. After its implementation, the mine-search and search-and-rescue capabilities will be restored, which will significantly strengthen the Naval Forces in performing both peacetime and wartime assignments,” shared Vilius Semeshka, Deputy Minister of National Defense of Lithuania.

The Ministry of National Defense has acquired the decommissioned HMS Quorn minesweeper from the UK Ministry of Defence. The minesweeper was launched on January 23, 1988, as the last ship of its class and decommissioned in December 2017.

The same deal stipulated that the tender to restore the ship would be run by the Defense Equipment Sales Agency of Great Britain.

It covers the installation of new engines, sonar, weapons, and upgrades of other systems. According to preliminary plans, the minesweeper will use the Thales Sonar 2193 sonar system and the Thales M-CUBE mine control system. The plan is for the ship to be handed over to the Lithuanian Navy in 2024.

In 2008, the Lithuanian Navy already purchased two Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels from Great Britain: M53 Skalvis (ex-HMS Cottesmore) and M54 Kuršis (ex-HMS Dulverton).

The Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels are 750-tonne active minesweeper vessels built by Vosper Thornycroft and Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited for the Royal Navy of Great Britain since 1979.