Bulldog class coastal survey vessel
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bulldog class |
| Builders: | Brooke Marine, Lowestoft |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
|
| Preceded by: | Hecla class |
| Succeeded by: | Echo class |
| Built: | 1967–1968 |
| In commission: | 1968–2002 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Retired: | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Survey vessel |
| Displacement: | 1,050 long tons (1,067 t) |
| Length: | 189 ft 6 in (57.76 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 5 in (11.40 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
2 × 9.5 m survey boats |
| Complement: |
|
| Sensors and processing systems: |
1 × 1007 |
| Armament: | None (fitted for 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon GP) |
The Bulldog class was a four ship class of survey vessels in service with the Royal Navy from the late 1960s until the start of the 21st century. Initially designed with service overseas in mind, they spent most of their careers off the British coast. A fifth ship was subsequently built to a modified design to support them in their activities. Decommissioned and sold off at the end of the 20th and start of the 21st centuries, they have continued in service as civilian vessels, with some being converted to private yachts and others entering other commercial sectors.
The Bulldogs were designated as coastal survey vessels, and were a smaller variant of the earlier Hecla-class designs. All four ships were built by Brooke Marine utilising merchant hulls. The resulting design was stable in a variety of sea conditions, and the class was considered to be good seakeepers, with an all-welded construction, a bulbous bow and a high flared forecastle. Anti-rolling tanks and twin rudders were also fitted. The ships used eight-cylinder Lister Blackstone diesel engines powering two variable-pitch propellers and were fitted with precise navaids, specialised echo-sounders, magnetometer and a variety of sonar and radar. Bulldog was retrospectively fitted with Marconi Hydrosearch sector scanning sonar. In addition they carried two small surveying boats (18 ft/35 ft), fitted with an array of equipment and capable of conducting surveys in shallow water.
They were intended to serve overseas in pairs, with four ships being ordered in the late 1960s: Bulldog and Beagle; Fawn and Fox. Despite the original intention to use them overseas, the growth of the exploitation of the oil and gas reserves in the North Sea from the 1960s onwards led to them spending most of their time engaged in survey work off the British coast. The increased demand for their services led to the Admiralty ordering a fifth ship to a modified design in the 1980s, which became HMS Roebuck.
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