The Royal Navy’s only ocean survey ship HMS Scott (H131) has reached the halfway point of her through life support (TLS) programme in HM Naval Base Devonport in Plymouth, UK.
Multinational support services company Babcock Marine began the first extensive refit in the ship’s 17-year life in November 2013.
HMS Scott commanding officer commander Pat Mowatt said: "We are well over halfway through, and the ship’s company have worked relentlessly alongside Babcock Marine to allow the great progress we have made so far."
The refit programme includes upgrading all accommodation, an overhaul of the engines, and essential work to upgrade vital sonar equipment to enable HMS Scott to scan the deep ocean seabed.
Babcock will provide fleet time engineering support, which includes rectification of operational defects, planning and delivery of fleet time support periods, equipment spares management and design services as part of the TLS contract awarded by the UK ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2013.
Additionally, the company will provide management of all maintenance requirements using the unit system database, and provision of an electronic shared working environment for the exchange of technical information.
Fitted with a modern multibeam sonar suite, the 13,500t Appledore Shipbuilders-built vessel is propelled by two Krupp nine-cylinder diesel engines and can cruise at a maximum speed of 17.5k.
Capable of accommodating a crew of 63, the vessel also features an integrated navigation suite to perform surveying operations as well as a towed proton magnetometer, gravimeters and a Sonar 2090 ocean environment sensor.
Image: HMS Scott in dry dock. Photo: Royal Navy.
