Britain took the Sandown-class minehunter HMS Cromer out of service last fall as a budget-cutting move (which reduced the force of 12 Sandowns and 13 of the smaller Hunt-class minesweepers to 11 of each). Greece bought the two Hunt-class ships, but nobody wanted HMS Cromer since the special training and support needed wasn't worth the trouble for a single ship. The ship will now be docked and used as a floating classroom. HMS Sandown served only nine years before being decommissioned.--Stephen V Cole