BYMS 2280 after she was sold to Italy and renamed Verbena 5415
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut., N. F. Beaver, 3 Nov 43, R.A.N.V.R. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., H. W. F. McKechnie, 3 Nov 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut., E. J. Selby, 12 Feb 45. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., H. W. F. McKechnie, 3 Nov 43.
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BYMS 2280
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: 168th MSF: 2042, 2062, 2063, 2234 2253, 2254, 2279, 2280.
Based at: Portsmouth/ANCXF 1944. East Indies 1945. (Note, ANCXF is the Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force, leading up to D-day and beyond.)
Built by: Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, Illinois, United States (On Lake Michigan).
Laid down: 25 January 1943.
Launched: 12 August 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 30 October 1943.
Returned to USA: 28 August 1947. Sold to Italy and re-named Verbena.
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.
MOVEMENTS.
30 October 1943. Completed.
21 to 29 Dec 1943, Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
3 to 8 Jan 1944, Bermuda.
16 to 22 Jan 1944, Horta, Azores.
27 and 28 Jan 1944, Falmouth.
29 Jan 1944, Portsmouth.
14 Sep 1944, Southend.
16 Sep 1944, Portsmouth.
29 Nov 1944, Aberdeen.
30 Nov 1944, Methil.
1 and 2 Dec 1944, Humber.
3 Dec 1944, Thames Estuary, a major Convoy anchorage.
6 to 8 Dec 1944, Portsmouth.
21 to 26 Dec 1944, Portsmouth.
9 to 14 Jan 1945, Portsmouth.
12 May 1945, Dover.
12 May to 5 June Ostend, Belgium.
5 and 6 June 1945, Harwich.
7 June 1945, Aberdeen.
9 June 1945, Portsmouth.
10 June 1945, Cromarty.
28 August 1947, returned to USA.
Tuesday, 7 November 1944. BYMS.2280
MITCHELL, Albert, Seaman, RNPS, LT/JX 532435, accident, died