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Further Reading

HMS Bulldog Coastal Surveying vessels

Progress towards a modern Surveying Fleet continued with tile launching of the Coastal Surveying vessels HM Ships Bulldog, Beagle and Fox in 1967. The fourth of the class HMS Fawn was launched early in 1968, and when all four vessels are in commission by the end of 1968 they completed a well balanced and modern surveying fleet.

HMS Bulldog, the first of four new Coastal Survey Ships, was commissioned on 21 March 1968 at Brooke Marine Limited's shipyard at Lowestoft. She is 1,030 tons and is fitted with four Lister-Blackstone Diesel Engines which develop 2,640 H.P. giving her a to speed of 15 knots, she is &o fitted with the latest electronic surveying equipment. With a range of 4,000 miles Bulldog is capable of carrying out prolonged survey in any part of the world. Ship's company livlng accommodation is of a very high standard and the shi is fully air conditioned. She has a crew of 4 Officers and 34 Ratings. The Officers are specialists 1n Hydrographic Surveying as are 5 of the Ratings.

She is the eighth ship in the Royal Navy to bear this name. The first such was a 317 ton, 16-gun sloop built at Dover in 1782. The last, a Beagle Class destroyer was built in 1930 on the Tyne and saw service in the Atlantic and Arctic during the Second World War, and was broken up in 1946. During her service she was responsible for sinking 2 U-boats and capturing one intact. The surrender of the German Garrison of the Channel Islands was effected aboard HMS Bulldog. After a working up programme, the Bulldog began Surveys in the North Sea, making new charts for the increasing number of deep draught bulk carriers and tankers which will be using European Ports.

The Coastal Survey Vessels continued in the early 1970s to operate in pairs, Bulldog and Beagle in West Africa and Indian Ocean, and Fawn and Fox in the North Sea. This class of four vessels, all commissioned in 1968, each with a displacement of 1000 tons and a complement of about 40 proved a most reliable and valuable working force. They were withdrawn from service between 2001 and 2002.