THE HISTORY
BRONINGTON was laid down on 30 May 1951 by Cook, Welton and Gemmel in Beverley, Yorkshire.
She was launched 2 years later on the 19 March 1953 by Mrs W G John, wife of the Director, Naval Constructors.
She was completed in June 1954 and named after a village near Wrexham.
Built on the River Hull, a tributary of the River Humber, she was to remain in that area for four years.
She entered service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve’s Humber Division and was renamed HMS HUMBER, assigned for 4 years to 101st Minesweeping Squadron based in Hull. During this period she won the Thornycroft Trophy for minesweeping excellence, against competition from both regular and reserve units.
In the 1980s, in her final active years, HMS BRONINGTON was deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the 2nd Mine Counter Measures Squadron, and spending the last five months of 1983 detached in the NATO Standing Naval Force Channel, and was employed for a time as a member of the Fishery Protection Squadron.
She entered Portsmouth to pay off on 23 June 1988.
In January 1989, Parliament was informed that HMS BRONINGTON had been purchased by The Bronington Trust, a charity dedicated to her preservation and display to the public and on 24 January, she left Portsmouth for Manchester.
She was opened to the public at Salford Quays on 28 October 1992.
HMS BRONINGTON became part of the Warship Preservation Trust collection in 2002 and was moved to Vittoria Dock, Birkenhead, alongside HMS PLYMOUTH (Cert No 620) and LANDFALL (LCT-7074 Cert No 713).
She was open to the public until the Trust closed in 2006, when she became the property of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, following which she was laid up and deteriorated rapidly, particularly her wooden deck.
On March 18th 2016 she was found to have sunk at her moorings.
THE EXPLORE
This was a very rushed explore, while visiting Liverpool, I had about half hour while the Mrs got ready for our night out.
I had a quick scout on google maps, and quickly found this site.
The ship is in pretty bad condition with most of it under water now, also the lean made it very tricky to walk around, as the floor was very slippy and covered in pigeon poop.
Still worth the 10 min drive to have a look.
BRONINGTON was laid down on 30 May 1951 by Cook, Welton and Gemmel in Beverley, Yorkshire.
She was launched 2 years later on the 19 March 1953 by Mrs W G John, wife of the Director, Naval Constructors.
She was completed in June 1954 and named after a village near Wrexham.
Built on the River Hull, a tributary of the River Humber, she was to remain in that area for four years.
She entered service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve’s Humber Division and was renamed HMS HUMBER, assigned for 4 years to 101st Minesweeping Squadron based in Hull. During this period she won the Thornycroft Trophy for minesweeping excellence, against competition from both regular and reserve units.
In the 1980s, in her final active years, HMS BRONINGTON was deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the 2nd Mine Counter Measures Squadron, and spending the last five months of 1983 detached in the NATO Standing Naval Force Channel, and was employed for a time as a member of the Fishery Protection Squadron.
She entered Portsmouth to pay off on 23 June 1988.
In January 1989, Parliament was informed that HMS BRONINGTON had been purchased by The Bronington Trust, a charity dedicated to her preservation and display to the public and on 24 January, she left Portsmouth for Manchester.
She was opened to the public at Salford Quays on 28 October 1992.
HMS BRONINGTON became part of the Warship Preservation Trust collection in 2002 and was moved to Vittoria Dock, Birkenhead, alongside HMS PLYMOUTH (Cert No 620) and LANDFALL (LCT-7074 Cert No 713).
She was open to the public until the Trust closed in 2006, when she became the property of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, following which she was laid up and deteriorated rapidly, particularly her wooden deck.
On March 18th 2016 she was found to have sunk at her moorings.
THE EXPLORE
This was a very rushed explore, while visiting Liverpool, I had about half hour while the Mrs got ready for our night out.
I had a quick scout on google maps, and quickly found this site.
The ship is in pretty bad condition with most of it under water now, also the lean made it very tricky to walk around, as the floor was very slippy and covered in pigeon poop.
Still worth the 10 min drive to have a look.
This is a mixture of phone and dslr pics.
THANKS FOR LOOKING
