HMS Wilton (M1116): The World's First Plastic Warship

A World First in Shipbuilding

HMS Wilton holds a remarkably unique distinction in naval history: she was the first warship in the world to be constructed from glass-reinforced plastic.

Built to the Ton-class minesweeper design and incorporating recovered equipment from the decommissioned HMS Derriton, her GRP hull gave her a dramatically reduced magnetic signature, making her far more resistant to magnetic mines than any conventional steel-hulled minesweeper could ever be.

Clearing the Suez Canal

Assigned to the 2nd Mine Counter Measures Squadron at Portsmouth, Wilton took part in Operation Rheostat in 1974, an international effort to clear mines from the Suez Canal following years of conflict in the region, putting her innovative construction to important practical use.

HMS Tupperware

Wilton's unusual construction earned her a string of affectionate nicknames among her crew and the wider fleet, including HMS Tupperware, HMS Indestructible, the Plastic Duck and the Plastic Pig, a fond bit of naval humour for a serious piece of engineering innovation.

Jubilee Review and NATO Service

Wilton took part in the Silver Jubilee Review at Spithead in 1977 and served with NATO's Standing Naval Force Channel during 1977 and 1980, and in August 1979 was involved in a collision with the Belgian vessel BNS Breydel near Ostend, part of the routine hazards of a busy operational career.

A Yacht Club on the Thames Estuary

HMS Wilton was retired by the Royal Navy in 1994, and after some years in storage was sold in August 2001, converted into the headquarters of the Essex Yacht Club at Leigh-on-Sea on the Thames Estuary, a fitting retirement for a ship whose entire existence had proven that plastic could do a steel ship's job just as well.