HMS Bodenham was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers. Completed in 1953 for use in the British Royal Navy, she served as a tender to between 1954 and 1955 before being placed in reserve. In 1967 she was transferred to the newly-independent country of South Yemen renamed Al Saqr. She was renamed Jihla in 1975 and discarded in 1984.
Construction and design HMS Bodenham (originally planned to be named Green Chaffinch) was ordered from Brooke Marine of Lowestoft on 29 September 1950 as part of the first series of Ham-class inshore minesweepers.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 541.Worth 1986, p. 123. The ships of the first series of the Ham class were long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and draught of .Blackman 1962, p. 283. They had hulls of composite wood-and-aluminium construction and displaced standard and deep load. They were propelled by two Paxman diesel engines, with a total of , giving a speed of . 15 tons of oil were carried, giving an endurance of at . Armament consisted of a single Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun or Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, although the ships armed with Bofors guns were usually rearmed with Oerlikons. The ships had a complement of two officers and 13 ratings.Blackman 1971, p. 368.
Bodenham was launched on 21 August 1952,Colledge and Warlow 2006, p. 43. and was completed on 23 September 1953.
Service The Ham class were too small to carry modern minesweeping equipment and in particular, lacked the electrical generating capacity to power acoustic and magnetic sweep gear, so saw little active use with the Royal Navy. Bodenham served as tender to between 1954 and 1955, then going into operational reserve at Rosneath, which lasted until 1963.Worth 1986, p. 126. In 1967, South Yemen became independent from the United Kingdom, and three Ham-class minesweepers (Bodenham, and ) were transferred to the newly established nation's navy.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 641.Blackman 1971, p. 280. Bodenham was renamed Al Saqr on transfer and Jihla in 1975, and was discarded in 1984.
References Citations
Sources
Blackman, V.B. Jane's Fighting Ships 1962–63. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1962. Blackman, V.B. Jane's Fighting Ships 1971–72. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1971. . Gardiner, Roger and Stephen Chumbley. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. . Worth, Jack. British Warships Since 1945: Part 4 Minesweepers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books, 1986. .