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MOVEMENTS.
15 Aug 43 Completed.
2 Nov 43, Boston.
4 to 7 Nov 43, Halifax.
11 Nov 43, St John’s. Crossed Atlantic Ocean from Canada to the U.K. via the Azores.
16 to 22 Nov 43, Horta,
23 Nov 43, Azores.
4 Dec 43, Falmouth.
6 Dec 43, Portsmouth.
13 Nov 43 Lowestoft.
13 Nov 43 Harwich.
25 April 44, Harwich.
13 May 44 Portsmouth.
15 May to 7 June 44, Harwich.
9 June 44, Humber.
18 Sep 44, Le Havre. (Next to the D-day beaches)
15 Oct 44 Humber.
16 to 27 Oct 44, Harwich.
27 Oct to 6 Nov 44, Dover. BYMS 2040 helped clear the Scheldt the most vital and dangerous minesweeping operation of WW2.
9 Nov 44, Ostend.
16 November 1944. BYMS 2040 and 2057 are credited with mine number 206. Signalman Robert Kay claims the mines were so numerous they were “like peas”. When the 2040 dropped her otter board into the sea it detonated one of the mines which resulted in a gaping hole in her port quarter. She had to return the England for repairs.
26 Nov 44, Humber.
13 June 45 to 8 July 45, Humber.
9 July 28 Aug 45, Bremen, Germany. Clearing mines from Dutch and German ports to allow ships carrying humanitarian aid, for people close to starvation, to discharge their cargoes.
20 Aug, Cuxhaven, Germany.
21 to 23 Aug 45, Lowestoft.
27 Aug 45, Grimsby.
7 Sep 45, Dover.
7 Sep 45, Lowestoft.
1 Sep 1947 returned to USA and sold to Greece.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944,
Temp. Lieut, R. N. V. R., G. T. Page, 16 Aug 43 (In Command)
Temp. Sub-Lieut, R. N. V. R., A. J. P. Puddephat, 16 Aug 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945,
Temp. Lieut, R. N. V. R., J. M. Anderson (In Command) 11 Sept 44
Temp. Lieut, R. N. V. R., D. C. Wallace 11 Sept 44
Temp. Sub-Lieut, R. N. V. R., C. M. Tenneson 29 Jan 45.
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.
BYMS 2040
British Yard Mine Sweeper 2040.
Nore Command, World War Two 1939 to 1945.
Watch these short videos about the Wildfire III Minesweepers.
Minesweepers: https://youtu.be/aTsYiZFzv5M
D-day minesweepers: https://youtu.be/ZjlA5LxCAsg
Clearing the Scheldt: https://youtu.be/8ELsc9T3Lbw
The Relief of Holland: https://youtu.be/GghYEFHmOfY
BYMS 2040
BYMS 2040, Flotilla 163
Built by: Barbour Boat Works, New Bern, North Carolina, USA.
Laid down: 7 September 1942.
Launched: 7 December 1942.
Completed and transferred to Royal Navy: 15 August 1943.
Reclassified: HMS J-840 later HMS BYMS-2040.
Assigned to the Nore Command, Flotilla 163.