BYMS 2185
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: 160th MSF, Levant, (Eastern Mediterranean): 2065, 2066, 2067, 2074, 2185, 2186, 2191, 2229.
Built by: Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Long Island, New York, USA.
Laid down: 29 May 1942.
Launched: 8 August 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 9 February 1943.
Returned to USA: 12 August 1944, transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy and re-named Afroessa (M 209).
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.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Not on Navy Lists.
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Contact: johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk
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MOVEMENTS.
9 February 1943, completed.
15 April 1943, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
17 Aril to 3 May 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
11 May 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
16 May to 24 July, 1943, Humber.
28 July 1943, Portsmouth.
7 to 10 Aug 1943, Gibraltar.
20 Aug 1943, Tripoli, Libya.
1 Sep 1943, Alaxandria, Egypt.
9 June 1944, Alaxandria, Egypt.
15 June to 18 July 1944, Bizerte, Tunisia.
20 to 27 July 1944, Naples, Italy.
22 Aug 1944, Naples, Italy.
25 Aug 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
6 to 10 Sep 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
27 Sep 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
8 and 9 Oct 1944, Malta.
21 Nov to 13 Dec 1944, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
15 to 22 Dec 1944, Malta.
4 Feb 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
25 March 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
6 to 12 April 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
8 and 9 May 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
31 May to 10 June 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
24 June to 2 July, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
5 July 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
12 August 1944, returned to USA.
BYMS 2185 after she was transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy and re-named Afroessa (M 209).