HMS Stirling Castle (M01)
Stirling Castle alongside at Oslo with its previous name Island Crown in 2013 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Island Crown |
| Owner | Island Offshore |
| Port of registry | |
| Builder | Vard Brăila, Romania |
| Yard number | 784 |
| Laid down | 17 October 2011 |
| Launched | March 2013 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Stirling Castle |
| Namesake | Stirling Castle |
| Acquired | 14 February 2023 |
| In service | 11 April 2024 (in RFA service); 21 July 2025 (in RN service) |
| Home port | HMNB Portsmouth (in RN service as of 2025) |
| Identification | |
| Status | In active service |
| Badge | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | VARD UT 776 CD |
| Type | Mine Countermeasures Maritime Autonomous Systems (MCM MAS) |
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | 6,000 tonnes |
| Length | 96.8 m (317 ft 7 in) |
| Beam | 20.0 m (65 ft 7 in) |
| Draught | 6.0 m (19 ft 8 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Complement | 100 |
| Aviation facilities | Helipad |
HMS Stirling Castle (formerly RFA Stirling Castle) is a ship of the Royal Navy. Originally acquired by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the ship was transferred to, and commissioned by, the Royal Navy in July 2025. After being acquired for the RFA in 2023, the ship entered drydock at HMNB Devonport, Plymouth for modification into a trials platform for autonomous minehunting systems that are to operate from a larger mother ship. The ship was formerly named Island Crown, and used as an offshore supply vessel operated by Island Offshore. The vessel was sold to the Ministry of Defence in January 2023 for £40 million.
Stirling Castle is one of two new commercial vessels acquired for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 2023, the other being RFA Proteus, a multi-role ocean surveillance ship to protect seabed infrastructure and communications. Up to three additional ships performing the role of mine countermeasures command and support vessel are also planned for acquisition. These will either be converted former commercial vessels, similar to Stirling Castle, or new purpose-built ships, as reportedly preferred by the navy. These vessels will fill a gap left as a result of the retirement of the Royal Navy's Sandown-class minehunters, all of which had been scheduled to leave service by 2025, though one vessel of that class (HMS Bangor) was subsequently extended in service to 2030.