HMS Glasserton

Ship: HMS GLASSERTON
Pennant No: M1141
Laid Down: 17th March 1953
Built By: J. S. Doig (Grimsby) Ltd
Completed: 31st December 1954
Time to Build: 22 months
Commissioned: 23rd February 1955 for 50th MSS (Trials) based Port Edgar
Years Fully Operational: 26

Outline of Operational Career:

• 16th March 1955 Joined 50th MSS at Port Edgar
• 1955–1959 Minesweeping Trials. Frequent docking at Rosyth
• 15th June 1959 50th MSS transferred to Portland as 3rd MSS
• 1961–1964 3rd MSS Trials of Osborne experimental towed combined acoustic and magnetic sweep
• 1964–1978 3rd MSS based Portland. MCM trials
• June 1979 Joined 10th MCMS as sea going tender for London Division RNR, based at Chatham 
• Spring 1981 Badly damaged straboard side aft in berthing incident at Ramsgate. Gunwhale distorted and raised  by 18 inches.

 Records on this ship are very sparse. We would welcome any information on Glasserton’s movements & activities from 1955 to 1980's. 

There is some confusion / contradiction about the last years of Glasserton, as her decklogs were not available to researchers when TCA book Jacks of All Trades, on which the Ship Histories are based, was compiled.

• January 1981 towed from Chatham to London, then as alongside HMS Chrysanthemum at the Embankment as static training vessel for London Division RNR, possibly until 1985  -  Confirmed by Scott Steele, Patrick Thompson & Alan Eyres and photographs.
• However, Bob Jeffrey, Derek Anderson & Michael McGill recall her being towed from Chatham to Dundee for TAY Division RNR early in 1980's to possibly 1985 

Laird William Cochran Matthew provided the photo below of her being ready for scrap at Dundee - date to be confirmed.

Can anyone clarify dates when she arrived and left Dundee ?

Significant Events:

• December 1959 Badly damaged in a gale alongside at Gibraltar. Crew commissioned HMS Floriston in record time
• November 1972 HRH Prince Charles joined Glasserton for 2 weeks MCMS Experience while serving in HMS Minerva

Paid Off: July 1981

Disposal: 11th December 1987 sold to Pounds of Portsmouth then to Andover Shipping. Broken up by San Esteban de Pravia, Spain

Ship's Bell: Presented to HMS President. believed to be currently in off-site storage.

VILLAGE

A small parish in Dumfies and Galloway on the Machars peninsula in South West Scotland.

The name may derive from the Saxon "Bare Hill".  Nearby  are the remains of a neolithic hill fort and several groups of standing stones which may date to 2000BC.