MOVEMENTS.
4 May 1943, completed.
29 June 1943, New Your, USA.
3 to 5 July 1943, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
22 July 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
29 July 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
2 Aug 1943, Inverness.
3 to 9 Aug 1943, Port Edgar, (Edinburgh) Scotland.
10 to 14 Aug 1943, Humber.
15 to 19 Aug 1943, Rosyth, Scotland.
31 Aug 1943, Loch Ewe.
24 April 1944, Humber.
25 April 1944, Great Yarmouth.
26 April 1944, Harwich.
6 May 1944, Portsmouth.
22 May 1944, Humber.
26 June 1944, Portsmouth.
19 July 1944, Plymouth.
8 to 23 Aug 1944, Brixham.
12 Sep 1944, Portland.
13 to 18 Sep 1944, Portsmouth.
17 to 19 Oct 1944, Portsmouth.
1 Nov 1944 Humber.
2 Nov 1944, Sheerness.
1 Jan 1945, Humber.
2 Jan 1945, Harwich.
3 Jan 1945, Dover.
9 Jan 1947, returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Dispatches.
John Henry CORAM, Lieutenant, JX198787, BYMS 2071,16 Jan 45. DSM awarded for gallantry and skill in minesweeping operations off the coast of France. Cherbourg harbour.
Robert FOUNTAIN Lieutenant, JX242462 LS, BYMS 2071, 16 Jan 45, MID awarded for gallantry and skill in minesweeping operations off the coast of France. Cherbourg and Approaches.
William MacMurray DOUGALL, Lieutenant, BYMS 2071, 16 Jan 45. DSC awarded for gallantry and skill in minesweeping operations off the coast of France - Cherbourg and Approaches.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut., W. M. Dougall, 21 Oct 43. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., R. J. Blackburn, 1 Nov 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut., W. M. Dougall, 21 Oct 43. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., R. J. Blackburn, 1 Nov 43.
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BYMS 2071
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: 159th MSF: 2032, 2052, 2055, 2070, 2071, 2157, 2173, 2211.
Based at Grimsby 1943. ANCXF 1944-45. Dover 1946.
Built by: Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, New York, USA.
Laid down: 10 June 1942.
Launched: 24 March 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 4 May 1943.
Returned to USA: 9 Jan 1947. Sold to Greece and re-named Kafallinia and used as a contraband chaser.
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.