Dates: 1948 - 1979
HMS Reclaim was a deep diving and submarine rescue vessel of the Royal Navy. Originally intended to be a King Salvor Class Ocean Salvage Vessel (HMS Salverdent), she was built by William Simons & Company, Renfrew and commissioned on 1 June 1948. Complement: 92 including 12 divers.
HMS Reclaim was initially employed as a diving tender attached to HMS Vernon, Portsmouth. She supported a succession of record-breaking deep dives in the 40’s and 50’s.
On June 14th 1951 Reclaim discovered the wreck of the submarine Affray, lost since April 17th, using her new underwater television equipment. Over a 3
month period, Reclaim’s divers investigated the site and on July 1st, Affray’s snorkel mast was recovered. This had snapped at the base due to a structural weakness and provided evidence of the cause of the tragedy.
Reclaim was assigned to HMS Lochinvar, Port Edgar in 1960 for service as a Mine Counter Measures Support Ship and Diving Trials Ship. From January and May 1961 she carried out diving trials in the Canary Isles.
The RN Deep Diving Trials programme resumed after an interval, during which deep diving had been suspended on economic grounds, culminating in 10 dives to 600 ft. off Toulon in 1965.
In June 1966 Reclaim helped recover a Buccaneer Mk II that had crashed, soon after take-off from HMS Victorious, in 270 feet of water 10 miles south of the Lizard. This was the deepest salvage operation performed by the Royal Navy to date. In 1968, she helped locate and recover wreckage from an Aer Lingus Viscount that had crashed into the Irish Sea off Tusker Rock with the loss of all on-board.
1979: Reclaim (by then the oldest ship in the Navy) was paid off and replaced by the new Seabed Operations Vessel HMS Challenger
Memories of HMS Reclaim
HMS Reclaim in 1953Written by Frank Clifton
"Does any one remember the fatal accident that killed six divers using the decompression chamber on the Reclaim. when it was in Malta alongside HMS Forth, these divers died as a result of a fault in the Reclaims decompression chamber.I was serving on the Forth at the time and one of my mates Shipwright Ben Thomas was killed in this accident.
Frank Clifton"
