Hecla class survey vessel
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The Hecla class formed the backbone of the Royal Navy's ocean survey fleet from the mid-1960s. Three units, HMS Hecla, HMS Hecate and HMS Hydra, were ordered in the early 1960s to replace the aging survey ships Scott and Shackleton. They were built to commercial standards, and carried two small survey craft, a launch, a Land Rover and a Wasp helicopter. A fourth unit, HMS Herald was ordered in the early 1970s. All four saw service in the Falklands War, while Herald also served in the Gulf War and as a temporary Antarctic Patrol Ship in 1991 and 1992. Hydra was sold to Indonesia in 1986 and renamed Dewa Kembar; Hecate decommissioned in 1990 and was broken up, while Hecla paid off in 1997 and was sold to an Irish private company, to be replaced by HMS Scott. Herald was finally decommissioned in 2001, and was replaced the same year by HMS Echo.