Orpesa Float in the sea sweeping for contact mines.
Motor Launches in the English Channel.
BYMS 2141
First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg's Story.
I was drafted to. HMS Corinthian, an armed merchant cruiser based at Rosythe in Scotland, as an officer cadet for sea-going training.
I reported to HMS King Alfred (III), Mowden School, Hove, Sussex to continue Officer training and then on to HMS King Alfred (I), in Hove where I was passed the various exams and selection process.
I was appointed Temporary Midshipman RNVR. My pay rose to 6 shillings and ten pence a day - £10 per month!
I was transferred to HMS Hornet, Gosport for a Gunnery course and then to HMS Vernon, Brighton for Torpedo course. I was then transferred to HMS St. Christopher, Grand Hotel, Fort William, Scotland for coastal forces training.
Photographs from the collection of First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg.
If you can recognize anyone please let us know ( johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk )
World War Two has ended but the men of the minesweeper continue to risk their lives daily clearing mines.
First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg enjoying a drink.
Information and photographs by kind permission of John Rowe, son of First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg.
On 17.8.1943, not yet 18, after an interview at Board of Admiralty, I was put on the unpaid reserve of the Royal Navy and instructed to report for service for initial navy training on 28.9.1943 at HMS Collingwood, Fareham, Hampshire under the “Y” entry scheme for potential commissioned officers. My rank was Ordinary Seaman No. JX 624512. My pay was 3 shillings (15 pence in today’s terms) a day.
On the 23rd July 1944 I was appointed 3rd Officer to HMML 212, 15th ML Flotilla - CO. Gordon (Gerry)T. Holden, No. 1 Gerald Davies, based in Portland Harbour, Dorset where carried out coastal and cross channel escort duty (Including entering Cherbourg Harbour after its capture by the Americans).
At Harwich HMML 212 was fitted with minesweeping gear, then on to Ostend for general minesweeping duties off Ostend.
On the 3rd November 1944 we swept the channel to Flushing, Zeebrugge and in the Scheldt with fighting still going on in Walcheren.
Sweeping the Scheldt was the biggest, most complex and dangerous minesweeping operation of World War Two. The men who took part in it are credited in shortening the war, by allowing urgently needed war supplies to be landed right on the front line at Antwerp instead of hundreds of miles away in Normandy.
Motor launches, with their shallower draft, swept ahead of the British Yard Mine Sweepers and Motor Mine Sweepers. The idea being that they would sail over the mines. They swept with Orpesa sweeps to clear contact mines. The Motor Launches were the first vessels to reach Antwerp since the German occupation.
16 Motor Launches, 15th and 19th flotillas together with 3 Flotillas of BYMS's (30 vessels) 5 Flotillas of MMS's, including Dutch vessels and supporting vessels took part.
Sadly, a huge explosion from a magnetic mine caused the catastrophic destruction of the ML 916.
Witnesses state that the whole ship was blown into the air and disintegrated. The only two survivors were picked up.
Off duty, relaxing. Off duty having well earned rest.First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg at the back.
BYMS 2141
First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg.
Off duty, relaxing on the beach.
First Lieutenant Colin Rosenberg in the front.
On the 28th November 1945 I was transferred to BYMS 2141 as Navigating Officer - C.O.: H.R (Willie) Walker D.S.C., No.1: Colin E. (Butch) Smith, and sailed for the Mediterranean calling at Lisbon, Gibraltar and Malta, before arriving in Piraeus on the 21.12.1945 where we joined the 162nd Minesweeping Flotilla. BYMS 2141 Spent some five months sweeping in the Saronic Gulf including Salamis Bay and Aegina Island.
On the 17th April 1945 I was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant. At Immingham we to join the Minesweeping task force destined for Germany.
on the 9th May 1945 (the day after VE Day) we arrived off Cuxhaven and swept for mines in to the harbour. The boats of the 15th ML Flotilla were the first naval vessels into Germany. We then carried out sweeping duties from Cuxhaven up to Hamburg.
6.4.1946 swept the US Missouri into Phaleron Bay. May 1946 sailed for Trieste – Sweeping duties in the North Adriatic Sea including clearing Pola harbour of magnetic mines.
2.5.1946 Appointed First Lieutenant – No.1. (Note: On 6.8.1946 Willie was demobbed and replaced by Lieut. Brigstocke RN.
1946. left Byms 2141 and travelled by train across Europe to Calais and by ship to England, for dispersal on leave on 14.11.1946, being finally released from the Royal Navy on 9.1.1947. War gratuity -£49.16.6d
Navigation on board BYMS 2141. (No sat nav. back then)
Orpesa float for sweeping contact mines on stern of BYMS 2141