A former UK Royal Navy minehunter vessel is due to be towed from Appledore shipyard, England, on 22 August without its planned refurbishment completed after the collapse of Harland & Wolff in 2024 left the project unfinished.
The last of the Hunt-class minehunters, HMS Quorn (M41), was sold to Lithuania and renamed Sūduvis. The vessel, built in 1988 by Vosper Thornycraft, had been undergoing a £55m upgrade contract at Appledore in North Devon under the direction of the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD).
However, the North Devon Gazette understands that some local suppliers involved in the contract to renovate the 740 displacement tons ship to an operational state may not have yet been paid.
A view expressed to the Gazette is that they fear that the UK government’s priorities have been misplaced and that the Baltic State of Lithuania, a NATO ally, has been left without the refurbished vessel it was promised.
It has been confirmed to the Gazette from the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania that the 60m vessel had been prepared for safe tow, but that the modernisation will now be completed at its home port. Afloat adds as of Friday August 23rd, the vessel is under tow of the Dutch tug Eems Wrestler and is bound for Klaipėda, a city port of the nation on the Baltic Sea.
More from the newspaper on the shipyard, which is playing a role as part of Navantia UK's contract from the MoD to build the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme as the bow sections for a trio of Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s next-generation replenishment vessels will be constructed at the North Devon facility.
The FSS ships will serve the Royal Navy.
