Dates: 1958 - 1987
H.M.S. Crofton M1216
Displacement: 360 Tons
Built by: Thorneycroft
Launched: 7 March 1958
Fate: Broken up in 1987
On September 20, 1976, after completing a Nato exercise, H.M.S Fittleton a Ton Class Minesweeper was heading towards Hamburg with six other British minesweepers, when she was ordered to take part in a mail transfer with the 2500 ton frigate, H.M.S. Mermaid, 80 miles north of the Isle of Texel, in the Frisian group.
At about 15.30, in fine weather and a visibility of 5 to 7 miles and a light sea with waves of about 3 ft high, H.M.S Fittleton commenced the operation by moving toward H.M.S. Mermaid’s port side.
It was an unusual feature of H.M.S. Mermaid in that she had an exceptionally short fo’c’sle deck of only 68 ft, compared to other frigates of similar displacement. This meant that H.M.S Fittleton, being about One Fifth of the displacement of the larger ship, was required to approach to Heaving-Line distance (about 50 ft) with the longitudinal operation between stems at the waterline of about 25 ft.
As H.M.S Fittleton closed in on H.M.S. Mermaid from abeam, increasing water pressure between the hulls caused the smaller ship to drop about 40 ft astern into a position which, although was stable and close enough to H.M.S. Mermaid, made it impossible to conduct the transfer at the RAS (Replenishment At Sea) position. It was therefore necessary for the H.M.S Fittleton to make a second attempt.
Once the RAS position had been realigned, H.M.S Fittleton commenced her second approach and, in doing so, began to experience acute forces of interaction between the ships, in particular, the ’Resistance Barrier’ emanating from the Bow of the larger ship.
On this occasion, instead of dropping astern down the barrier, H.M.S Fittleton was forced ahead and, at the same time, sucked inward towards the MERMAID. A reduction of speed did not slow down the forward movement, and increased rudder, in a way, accelerated the rate of closing, so that H.M.S Fittleton crunched alongside H.M.S. Mermaid approximately bridge to bridge. In spite of further speed reductions, she continued to move ahead under the flare of H.M.S. Mermaid’s port bow.
Because of his ships forward movement down the resistance barrier, at some 3 kts faster than the shaft revolutions would normally have produced, H.M.S Fittleton’s Commanding Officer decided not to stop engines (the clutch disengaged at 7-8 kts) and run the risk of damage and possible injury to the fo’c’sle party at the guardrails, but to utilise the sweepers noted acceleration from its twin Napier Deltic diesels, and drive her out of further trouble.
At first, with the rudder hard to port and with both engines Full Ahead, H.M.S Fittleton’s stern came into line with H.M.S. Mermaid’s stern, and it was thought that she would break away safely.
It was not to be, for, no sooner had the ships cleared one another, the the bow pressure wave from the H.M.S. Mermaid, acting on underwater stern and fitments of the H.M.S Fittleton, forced the stern to port and the bow to starboard so that the H.M.S Fittleton was driven across the path of H.M.S. Mermaid.
In spite of prompt action by the H.M.S. Mermaid’s, in putting her controllable pitch propellers astern, the bow of the frigate struck the H.M.S Fittleton’s starboard side in the region of the minesweeping Store and, whilst pushing her sideways, so that there was a reaction on the keel, rolled her completely over through 180 degrees.
The time between the initial crunch and capsizing was not more than a minute; the time to actually capsize the ship was about five seconds.
As H.M.S Fittleton began to list, some of her crew managed to jump overboard, but many were still onboard when she capsized. H.M.S. Crofton (Solent Division), was the first on the scene, and by a remarkable feat of seamanship, succeeded in placing her stern against the upturned hull, from where she was able to rescue, not only those who were thrown clear and subsequently surfaced, b
