HMS Scott (H131)
Template:Short description Template:Other ships Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS Scott is an ocean survey vessel of the Royal Navy, and the only vessel of her class. She is the third Royal Navy ship to carry the name, and the second to be named after the Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott. She was ordered to replace the survey ship Template:HMS.<ref name="Janes">Template:Cite book</ref>
Construction
The ship was ordered from BAeSEMA in 1995 to replace the ageing Template:HMS. She was built at the Appledore Shipbuilders in North Devon and launched on 13 October 1996 by Mrs Carolyn Portillo,<ref name=RN1/> wife of Michael Portillo, the then-Secretary of State for Defence. She was commissioned on 20 June 1997. Not only is she the largest vessel in the Royal Navy's Hydrographic Squadron, and the fifth largest in the entire surface fleet, but she is also the largest survey vessel in Western Europe.
Role
Scott is the Royal Navy's only ocean survey vessel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She can remain at sea for up to 300 days a year, thanks to her crew rotation system. Her complement of 78 is divided into three sections: two sections are required to keep the ship operational, with the third on shore on leave or in training.<ref name=RN1>Template:Cite web</ref> When the ship returns to port, one crew section on board is replaced by the section on shore. The ship can then deploy again almost immediately. As with all of the Royal Navy's large survey vessels, Scott has an auxiliary role in support of mine countermeasure vessels.<ref name="Janes" />
Service
In February 2005 Scott surveyed the seabed around the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which varies in depth between Template:Convert and Template:Convert. The survey, conducted using a high-resolution, multi-beam sonar system, revealed that the earthquake had made a huge impact on the topography of the seabed.
In September 2006, Scott was granted the Freedom of the City of Swansea.<ref name=free>Template:Cite web</ref> From August 2008 until June 2009 she was refitted in Portsmouth.<ref name=JTEOE/>
On 26 October 2009<ref name=JTEOE>Template:Cite web</ref> and again on 25 November 2010<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the ship deployed to the South Atlantic and Antarctic to cover for the non-availability of the Royal Navy icebreaker Template:HMS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2010, Scott hosted artist Rowan Huntley for a month in Antarctica, in a new artist-in-residence programme for the Royal Navy inaugurated by the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In June 2010, the ship visited Cardiff to mark the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott's departure from Cardiff on 15 June 1910 for the South Pole, at the start of the Terra Nova Expedition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In February 2011, Scott hosted Dafila Scott, Scott's granddaughter, in Antarctica for a month as the Friends of the SPRI's second artist-in-residence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The ship returned to Devonport in April 2011.<ref name=bbc1>Template:Cite news</ref> With the task of Antarctic patrol taken over by Template:HMS in that year,<ref name=nimmo>Template:Cite news</ref> Scott left Devonport in September to resume deep-water surveying, initially in the Atlantic.<ref name=bbc1/> From November 2013 to June 2014 her most extensive refit to date took place, in Devonport. This included coating the hull with Hempasil X3 non-toxic anti-fouling paint, which is expected to increase her fuel efficiency.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Ministry of Defence stated in October 2017 that the planned out-of-service date for Scott was to be 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2022, it was indicated that the out of service date would be extended to 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2023, and in advance of her purported decommissioning, the Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) listed HMS Scott as for sale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, in May 2023 it was reported that she would receive a major life extension refit and her service life would now be extended up to 2033 when she is likely to be replaced by the second Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship which may be a new-build vessel for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the interim, HMS Scott underwent a shorter maintenance period in Gibraltar to continue operations during 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
She visited the United States in 2023 participating in US Navy Fleet Week from the 24th to the 29th May.[1] From there she visited Portsmouth, New Hampshire where her ship's company participated in the Portsmouth 400th anniversary celebrations. The ship's company also visited the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Cemetery. On 3rd June, 2023 they participated in a Remembrance Service organised by the British & Commonwealth Remembrance Project<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Failed verification laying a wreath at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Royal Navy graves at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Cemetery.
It has been reported that Scott would now carry at least one of the new 11-metre survey module variants of the Sea-class workboats being procured for various tasks in the Royal Navy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In late 2024, Scott entered refit at A&P Falmouth to extend her service life to the early 2030s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Affiliations
- 42 Engineer Group (Geographic), Royal Engineers<ref name=RNA>Template:Cite web</ref>
- City and County of Swansea<ref name=free/><ref name=RNA/>
- Plymouth Child Development Centre (Scott Hospital, Plymouth)<ref name=RNA/>
- TS Scott - Maidstone Sea Cadets<ref name=RNA/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Captain Scott Society<ref name=RNA/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators<ref name=RNA/>
- Newcastle-under-Lyme School CCF