HMS Atherstone (M38)

HMS Atherstone is a Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1 March 1986 and commissioned on 17 January 1987, the tenth ship of her class.

The present Atherstone is the third ship to bear the name. She was built by Vosper Thornycroft shipbuilders at Woolston, Southampton. She was launched on 1 March 1986 by Mrs Amy Jarvis, the wife of Mr Pat Jarvis, CB, the Deputy Controller of the Navy at the Ministry of Defence.

She was accepted into service on 28 November 1986 and commissioned in Portsmouth in early 1987. The ship has a close association with the town of Atherstone, Warwickshire, and is currently part of the 2nd Mine Countermeasure (MCM) Squadron based at Portsmouth, England.

Atherstone has recently returned from the Gulf as part of Operation Telic in the Middle East, in support of Coalition operations to promote and maintain peace in the Persian Gulf. She helped to provide assurance to merchant shipping, by conducting mine-countermeasure surveys in the main shipping routes throughout the region.