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Echo Past Meets Echo Present
It is a rare occasion when two ships perpetuating the same illustrious name have a chance meeting on the high seas but just such an incident took place recently when the British Royal Navys former , a 160 tonne inshore survey vessel commissioned in 1958, met her modern namesake in the English Channel.
The former HMS Echo Earl of Romney waspurchased by The Marine Society in 1985 and refitted as a training ship. In her new incarnation as the she has steamed some 140,000 miles and offered over 9,000 young people their first taste of life at sea in the waters off the UK south coast.
The Royal Navy’s present HMS Echo , the 12th Royal Navy ship to bear the name, is the fleet’s most modern warship, having entered service only weeks before the chance encounter.
HMS Echo Echo is a 3,470 tonne multi-role hydrographic/ oceanographic survey vessel, with support capability for mine countermeasures and amphibious operations.
The two vessels’ chance meeting at sea provided an opportunity to exchange greetings and steam in company, much to the delight of the embarked company of sea cadets in the older of the two ships.
It is hoped that firm links between the vessels will now be established and that planned meetings, both at sea and ashore, will take place in future.
MJ Information No: 17505
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