SOLARGLIDE TEAM INVITED ONBOARD HMS BLYTH

HMS Blyth

Solarglide had the honour of being invited on board ‘HMS Blyth’ during her stay in the North East this week. Solarglide travelled over to Blyth Harbour to see the vessel and its crew, it was great to see how much Blyth Harbour has changed in preparation for the Tallships event in August 2016.

We received a guided tour of this magnificent MCMV (Mine Countermeasures Vessel), chatted with the crew and enjoyed food and drinks on deck with other companies from the maritime sector. Despite the rain everyone was in good spirits and it was nice to hear stories of the vessels operations including the recent First World War torpedo explosion off the coast of Sunderland last week.

The crew carried out a controlled explosion to render a WWI torpedo safe; they had known about the position of the torpedo for a long time however further corrosion of the submarine had alerted them to fresh concerns, so they decided to act.

The purpose of the explosion was to make the area safe for other commercial vessels including local fishermen. The operation was a success and the controlled explosion was carried out by divers from HMS Blyth, using a specialist technique to preserve the structure, and to limit the damage to this historic war wreckage.During the tour we were introduced to The SeaFox, a mine disposal unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) The semi-automatic UUV is primarily used for the disposal of mines and other identified objects in the sea. It can detect and classify mines and sea objects. The SeaFox which is guided by a fibre-optic cable, can also be used in damage estimation, intelligence, route survey, maritime boundary control and harbour surveillance missions.HMS Blyth is one of seven Sandown-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels (MCMV) based at Clyde Naval Base in Faslane, Scotland.

The small, but perfectly formed ship boasts a glass-reinforced plastic hull to conceal their presence from the threat of sea-mines. The ship clears the way of mines to allow safe passage for larger forces, swiftly detecting and destroying any hidden dangers.

A big thank you to the crew for their hospitality on the night, and for the incredible job they do protecting our shores from mines and underwater obstructions.