In the early 1950s, the Royal Navy had a requirement for large numbers of minesweepers to counter the threat to British shipping from Soviet mines in the event of a conventional Third World War.

As the navy did not have sufficient manpower to operate all the required ships in peacetime, it was planned to lay a large number up in reserve, so they could be manned by reservists (in may cases the crews of the fishing boats which would previously have been used in the same role) in time of emergency.

[5] Two Paxman 12-cylinder diesel engines gave a total of 1,100 brake horsepower (820 kW) and drove two shafts, giving a top speed of 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h), which corresponded to a speed when sweeping of 9 knots (10 mph; 17 km/h).

[8] In June 1967, HMS Puttenham, equipped with twelve divers under the command of Engineer-Lieutenant Roy Graham, sailed to the Isles of Scilly in search of the wrecks of the great naval disaster in 1707.

She continued serving in Greece as the passenger ferry Eleftheria until she was finally dismantled in Crete in November 2006, after 50 years at sea.