HMS Houghton

Ship: HMS HOUGHTON
Pennant No: M1211
Laid Down: 3rd February 1956
Built By: Camper & Nicholson, Gosport. Yard Number 811
Completed: 6th June 1958
Time to Build: 28 months
Commissioned: 18th September 1958 for 108th MSS based Malta
Years Fully Operational: 11

Outline of Operational Career:

• 29th September-9th October 1958 Passage to Malta
• 25th October-4th November 1958 Deployed to Aqaba to cover withdrawal of British Troops from Jordan
• 22nd January-10th March 1959 First Cyprus Patrol (stand off in Beirut)
• 9th September 1959 Transferred to 104th MSS as Senior Officer
• 21st October-30 November 1959 Passage to Singapore with Woodbridge Haven
• 1960-1961 Exercises and visits in South China Sea
• May & August 1961 Anti-Piracy Patrols off North Borneo
• December 1961-July 1963 Confrontation Patrols Brunei & Sarawak
• 1964 5 Patrols in Sarawak and 2 in Singapore Straits
• 1965 11 Singapore Straits Patrols, 1 in Sarawak and 1 in Tawau
• 1966 3 Singapore Straits Patrols, 2 Sarawak and 1 Tawau
• 1967-June 1969 Exercises and Visits in South China Sea Area
• July-December 1969 Return to UK Eastabout with Wilkieston via Darwin, New Guinea, Solomon Islands (4 visits), Vanauatu (5 visits), Fiji (14 visits), Tonga, Tawawa, Pearl Harbour, California (3 visits), Mexico, Panama Canal, Jamaica, Bermuda, Azores, Oporto, UK (22,000 miles in five & a half months)

Significant Events:

• 14th-20th April 1961 Live Mine Clearance Operation off North Borneo
• April-May 1963 Embarked 60 Gurkhas & 2 Landrovers at Kapit for 160 mile passage down River Rajang
• 11th February 1965 Arrested one fishing craft in Singapore Straits

Paid Off: 22nd December 1969
Disposal: 29th January 1971. Brought by Kitson Vickers, Fleetwood for break up