BYMS 2021, with other minesweepers of Mine Sweeping Flotilla 154th at Copenhagen, Denmark. From the collection crew member Ian Appleford.
MOVEMENTS.
3 August 1942. Completed.
22 Feb 1943, Seattle, USA.
23 to 28 Feb 1943, San Francisco, USA.
9 March 1943, Cristoba, Panama Canal.
14 June to 2 July 1943, Trinadad.
9 July 1943, Belem, Brazil.
3 August 1943, Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
25 July 1944, Gibraltar.
5 August 1944, Safi, (Marrakesh) Morocco.
9 to 13 August 1944, Gibraltar.
Sent to Great Britain to prepare for service in South-East Asia.
August 1947. Returned to USA.
Friday, 6 July 1945. BYMS.2021
SUTHERLAND, Gordon B L, Stoker 1c, RNPS, LT/KX 529519, illness, died
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943
Skipper Lieut., W. W. Cockrill (act) 12 Mar 42
Tempy. Skipper. F. Brown 22Apr 42.
Tempy. Skipper, J. Clark 22 Apr 42 .
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Skipper Lieut., W. W. Cockrill (act) 12 Mar 42
Tempy. Skipper. F. Brown 22Apr 42.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Skipper Lieut., W. W. Cockrill (act) 12 Mar 42
Skipper, S. J. King, 15 Dec 44
Tempy. Skipper, A. Mawat, DSM (act) 15 Dec 44
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BYMS 2021 at Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, from the collection of Robert Hurst.
BYMS 2021
British Yard Mine Sweeper
BRITISH YARD MINE SWEEPERS
BYMS’s were built in the United States and transferred the Royal Navy under the Lend-lease Programme. “British Yard Mine Sweepers” are so called because they were built to the same design as the US Navy’s “Yard Mine Sweepers”.
Crews for the BYMS’s would sail to the United States, often on the Queen Mary, which could sail unescorted because of her greater speed, to collect their vessel. They would then have the formidable task of sailing their small vessel back across the Atlantic Ocean, often in winter.
In 1944 BYMS 2021 was meant to go to South-East Asia but did not go.
BYMS 2021 was amongst the first vessels to enter Copenhagen, Denmark.
MINE SWEEPING FLOTILLA: 154th MSF, West Africa.: 2010, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2025, 2149, 2244, 2261.
Built by: Seattle Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Seattle, Washington, USA. (West Coast)
Laid down: 11 August 1941
Launched: 28 February 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 3 August 1942.
Returned to the USA: August 1947.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Wooden hull. Length, 130 feet. Beam, 25 feet 6 inches. Depth, 12 feet I inch. Draft, 8 foot 10.5 inches. Displacement 207-215 tons.
Engine: Two 800 bhp General Motors diesel engines.
Speed: 14.6 knots. 10 knots while sweeping. (Eight knots with double Oropesa sweeps)
Range: 2,500 at ten knots.
Compliment: 3 officers and 27 men.
Armament: One 3-inch HA/LA gun and two Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns.
BYMS’s were fitted with a drum on the stern with LL (double L) cables for sweeping magnetic mines, an acustic hammer on the bow for sweeping acustic mines and Oropesa floats for sweeping tethered mines.
All YMS and BYMS were built to the same design, the only variation was in the number of exhaust stacks. Minesweepers 1 to 134 had two sacks, 135 to 480 had one stack, 466 to 479 had no stacks.