Sandown

The Sandown class was developed as a single-role minehunter rather than a traditional minesweeper. Built primarily by Vosper Thornycroft, the class gave the Royal Navy small, specialized vessels for locating, identifying, and destroying mines. Export vessels also served Saudi Arabia and transferred ships later served Estonia, reflecting the class's practical mine-countermeasure value.

Technically, Sandown-class ships are designed to survive and work around mines. Royal Navy material emphasizes non-magnetic materials, shock resistance, ship-position control, high-resolution sonar, and underwater remotely controlled mine-disposal vehicles. They are small and slow compared with combatants, but their specialist sensors and control systems make them valuable in deep-water mine-hunting tasks.

Operationally, Sandown vessels protect access to ports, chokepoints, and shipping lanes. Their work includes mine clearance, ordnance disposal, exercises with allied navies, and support to freedom of navigation. As autonomous mine-countermeasure systems expand, Sandown ships have increasingly operated alongside remote and unmanned tools rather than relying only on traditional ship-based mine hunting.