Babcock completes upgrades of Estonian Navy flagship EML Admiral Cowan

Estonian Navy minehunter EML Admiral Cowan received a series of upgrades during a dry dock period in Fife, Scotland, Babcock International – the company in charge of the upgrades announced.

Admiral Cowan is the Estonian Navy flagship and the first of three Estonian Navy minehunter vessels scheduled to receive capability upgrades at Babcock’s Rosyth facilities.

Under contract by Thales UK, an upgraded mission package was carried out by Babcock on the Sandown-class minehunter, which included fitting the Thales Sonar 2193, an upgraded navigation system, as well as the Thales M-CUBE command and control system – along with several other upgrades and defect rectifications.

A team of 20 Babcock employees, including electricians, engineers, designers and glass reinforced plastic specialist shipwrights, undertook the work – working alongside Thales and ship’s staff to deliver the scope.

Admiral Cowan will now return to Estonia prior to undergoing trials in the North Sea in May to demonstrate full operational capability.

The second Estonian Navy minehunter vessel, EML Sakala, arrived at the Babcock Rosyth site in December 2018 to undergo the same package of work.

This will be followed by EML Ugandi in late Spring 2019.

“We were delighted to upgrade EML Admiral Cowan for the Estonian Navy and look forward to carrying out the same package of work on her fellow minehunters, EML Sakala and EML Ugandi,” Sean Donaldson, managing director of the Babcock Rosyth site, said.

Admiral Cowan, Sakala, and Ugandi are former Royal Navy Sandown-class minehunters decommissioned in 2005 and acquired by Estonia from the UK in 2006.