Inverness was built by Vosper Thornycroft and launched on 27 February 1990 as one of the 12 ship class of Sandown-class minehunters.

During Exercise Saif Sareea II, Inverness formed part of a minehunter group with her sisters Walney, and the Hunt-class mine countermeasure vessels Quorn and Cattistock, supported by RFA Diligence.

[3] In July 2004, the UK Ministry of Defence announced that as part of the restructuring of the Navy, the three oldest Sandown-class minehunters would be retired by April 2005.

After refitting in Rosyth Inverness was formally handed over to the Estonian Navy in April 2007, and renamed EML Sakala.

The arms are a black shield which represents the rich soils of Sakala and ethnic Estonian men's clothing.