HMS Enterprise (A71)

The ninth HMS "Enterprise" (A 71) of the Royal Navy was an "Echo" class inshore survey ship built by M.W. Blackmore & Sons of Bideford and commissioned in 1959.

With her sister ships "Echo" and "Egeria", "Enterprise's" career was spent in hydrographic surveys of the seas, sandbanks, and coastlines of the East Coast and Eastern English Channel. She was well-known around the harbours of Eastern England, and showed the flag on many official visits to Belgian, Dutch, and German ports on the North Sea coast, and as far up the Rhine as Cologne. After the American television series became popular, "Enterprise" inevitably became known throughout the Navy as "the Starship." She was put up for disposal by sale in 1985.

General characteristics

* Displacement: 120 tons standard, 160 tons full
* Length: 32.6 m
* Beam: 7.0 m
* Draught: 2.1 m
* Propulsion: Twin diesels
* Endurance: 4500 nautical miles (8300 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
* Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h)
* Complement: 2 officers, 16 enlisted
* Armament: none

See HMS "Enterprise" for other Navy ships of this name.