Sandown-class minehunters fit the modern functional definition of sloops. The comparison rests on mission rather than the label applied to the ship. Earlier sloops often served as minesweepers, and the Halcyon class was formally described as a minesweeping sloop. Mine-countermeasure vessels therefore belong in the same low-cost security and presence lineage as the Flower family.
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Sandown minehunters continued the minesweeping-sloop role
Sandown-class minehunters are functional sloops because mine warfare had long been one of the type's defining missions.