HMS Clacton (J151)

HMS Clacton was a turbine-engined Bangor class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. So far she has been only the second ship of the Royal Navy named after the Essex town of Clacton-on-Sea.

She was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., at Troon, Scotland and launched on 18 December 1941.

HMS Clacton was in the Mediterranean off the east coast of Corsica, on passage from La Maddalena to Bastia on 31 December 1943. She struck a mine at 0832 hours and sank immediately. Three officers and 29 ratings were killed, with the survivors being rescued by HMS Polruan.

The original HMS Clacton was a royal navy Minesweeper, launched in 1904. She weighed 820 tons gross. The HMS Clacton was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine at Chai Aghizi, in the Levant, on 3 August, 1916.