OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943
Skipper Lieut., J. R. Clark (Act) 11 June 42
Tempy. Skipper, G. Cook, 11 June 42
Tempy. Skipper, J. Flett (Act) 11 June 42.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Skipper Lieut., J. R. Clark (act) 11 June 42
Tempy. Skipper, G. Cook , 11 June 42.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Skipper Lieut., W. S. Dosdale, (In Command) 2 Dec 44
Skipper, M. MacInnes, Dec 44.
If you, your father or your grandfather have any additional information about this ship, crew lists, stories, photographs, please send copies of them to be added to our records and this website.
Thank you.
Contact: johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk
RETURN TO SHIP DATABASE.
Click here.
RETURN TO FRONT PAGE.
Click here.
MOVEMENTS.
29 October 1942, Completed.
20 April 1943, Cristobal, Panama Canal.
21 May 1943, Recife, Brazil.
29 May to 20 June 1943, Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
10 to 14 July 1943 Gibraltar.
21 July, 1943, Bizerte, Tunisia.
21 Aug 1943, Malta.
10 and 11 Sep, Augusta, Sicily.
2 Oct to 21 Dec 1943, Malta.
29 Jan 1944, Malta.
25 to 29 July 1944, Malta.
5 August to 12 Sep 1944, Gibraltar.
16 to 23 Sep 1944, Naples, Italy.
25 Sep to 8 Oct 1944, Taranto, Italy.
2 Nov to 6 Dec 1944, Taranto, Italy.
13 Dec 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic coast.
19 Nov 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic coast.
15 to 26 March 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic coast.
7 and 8 Feb 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic coast.
11 Feb 1945, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
8 to 18 March 1945, Malta.
23 and 24 March 1945, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
25 and 26 April 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
3 May 1945, Italy, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
8 to 20 May 1945, Trieste.
25 May to 4 June 1945, Venice, Italy.
25 June 1945, Trieste.
May 1947, Returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Dispatches.
John Richard CLARK, 2833WS, Skipper Lieutenant, BYMS 2028, 12 Jun 45. MID awarded for gallantry, outstanding skill and devotion to duty in minesweeping operations over dense and shallow minefields in opening up of Greek ports of Patras and Ithaca, in the Gulf of Corinth.
BYMS 2028.
BYMS 2028
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.
MINE SWEEPING FLOTILLA: 152nd MSF, West Africa/Mediterranean: 2013, 2014, 2024, 2028.
Built by: Ballard Marine Railway Co., Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA. (West Coast)
Laid down: 24 February 1942.
Launched: 27 June 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 29 October 1942,
Returned to USA: May 1947, sold to Egypt and re-named Darfur.
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.