(November 2001)
HMS Cromer Decommissions
Sandown Class minehunter HMS Cromer has decommissioned after just under ten years active service.
Her decommissioning ceremony was held in Great Yarmouth (the nearest port to the town of Cromer) and took place on the same jetty as she commissioned on in 1992.
Cromer has steamed over 110,000 miles in her lifetime, visiting 81 ports in 14 countries, as far a field as the United States and Norway.
However he career was cut short when the 1998 Strategic Defence Review advocated reducing the number of minesweepers from 25 to 22. HMS Cromer was one of the three vessels deemed surplus to requirements.
She will now await her fate at Portsmouth Dockyard. Plans for her disposal, including alternative Ministry of Defence use or sale, are currently under consideration.