Royal Navy survey ship joins search for unexploded ordnance off Lithuania

By Baird Maritime - January 22, 2021.

*HMS Echo (foreground) and LNS Kursis conducting HODOPS in the Baltic Sea (Photo: Lithuanian Naval Force)*

The Royal Navy survey ship HMS Echo has been in the Baltic Sea with the Lithuanian Naval Force on operations to hunt for unexploded ordnance, some of which date back to before the First World War.

Echo was joined by the former British Hunt-class minehunter HMS Dulverton, which now belongs to the Lithuanian Naval Force as LNS Kursis. The two ships worked together on historical ordnance disposal operations (HODOPS).

Echo‘s advanced sonar suite, which is normally utilised for gathering oceanographic data and supporting submarine operations, is being used to locate and detect munitions lying on the seabed.