BYMS 2056
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: 156th MSF, Mediterranean: 2031, 2056, 2068, 2072, 2073, 2187, 2190, 2209.
Built by: Westergard Boat Works, Inc., Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.
Laid down: 1 May 1942.
Launched: 24 December 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 21 June 1943.
Returned to USA: 27 April 1946. Loaned to Greece and re-named Paxi.
22 July 1952, Transferred to Greece.
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.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
No officers listed on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
No officers listed on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
No officers listed on Navy Lists.
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Contact: johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk
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MOVEMENTS.
21 June 1943, completed.
28 Aug 1943, New York, USA.
2 and 3 Sep 1943, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
10 Sep 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
17 to 20 Sep 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
25 Sep to 29 Oct 1943, Humber.
2 Nov 1943, Milford Haven.
9 to 12 Nov, Gibraltar.
9 to 14 Nov 1943, Bizerte, Tunisia.
20 Nov 1943, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
29 Feb 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
1 March 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
11 March to 11 May 1944, Brindisi, Italy, Adriatic.
11 to 14 May, 1944, Taranto, Italy.
15 and 16 May 1944, Messina, Sicily.
27 June to 25 July, Naples, Italy.
27 July 1944, Taranto, Italy.
23 Aug 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
10 Sep 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
26 Oct 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
14 Nov 1944, Taranto, Italy.
2 March 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
23 to 25 May 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
28 May to 5 July 1945, Venice, Italy.
5 June to 30 June 1945, Taranto, Italy.
30 June 1945, Venice, Italy.
27 April 1946, returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Despatches.
Walter Leonard PLATTEN, LT/JX170553, LS. BYMS 2056. 15 May 45. DSM awarded for gallantry, perseverance and devotion to duty in minesweeping operations under enemy fire in the Adriatic.