MOVEMENTS.
7 September 1943, completed.
11 Dec 1943, Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
15 to 22 Nov 1943, Bermuda.
25 Nov 1943, Horta, Azores.
9 to 19 Dec 1943, Gibraltar.
21 Dec 1943, Malta.
16 Jan 1944, Malta.
19 to 22 Jan 1944, Alaxandria, Egypt.
12 Feb 1944, Port Said, Egypt.
13 t0 19 Feb 1944, Haifa, Palestine, (today Israel)
28 Feb 1944, Port Said, Egypt.
29 Feb to 1 March 1944, Suez, Suez Canal, Egypt.
7 to 10 March 1944, Aden, Yemen.
24 March 1944, Bombay, India.
27 March to 2 April 1944, Mandapam, India.
6 April 1944, Visaagapatam, India.
8 April to 8 Aug 1944, Colombo, Ceylon, (Today Sri Lanka)
10 Aug 1944, Visaagapatam, India.
17 pril 1945, Colombo, Ceylon, (Today Sri Lanka)
26 June 1945, Colombo, Ceylon, (Today Sri Lanka)
3 September 1946, returned to USA.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut., R. O. Tyrer, 6 Oct 44. (In Command).
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., H. L. Lacey, 9 Nov 43.
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., S. R. Tucker, 3 Jan 45.
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., D. C. Rendell, 20 Nov. 44 R.N.Z.N.V.R.
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Contact: johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk
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BYMS 2168
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: 166th MSF, South-east Asia: 2060, 2162, 2168, 2181, 2203, 2204, 2232 2236.
Built by: Daschel-Carter Shipbuilding Corp., Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States. (On Lake Michigan).
Laid down: 14 September 1942.
Launched: 4 July 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 7 September 1943.
Returned to USA: 3 September 1946.
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.