MMS 206
Painting presented to Commander W. C. Johnson DSO, DSC with officers and vessel names on back.
This Motor Minesweeper would have looked the same as her sister ship, MMS 192. Note, the Acoustic “hammer” on the bow in the up position used to sweep for acoustic mines and the drum on the stern for the LL cables used to detonate magnetic mines.
Motor Minesweeper's were purpose built, wooden, shallow draft, minesweepers with both SA and LL sweeping capabilities. SA is Sweep Acoustic, a device similar to a Kanga Hammer which makes a loud thumping noise which exploded the acoustic mine. LL (double L) is a pair of electric cables which are towed parallel to each other on floats and emit a strong electric pulse which generates a magnetic field which detonated the magnetic mine.
Four Hundred and two Motor Minesweeper were built for the Royal Navy between 1940 and 1945.
Admiralty type; 1 to 118 and 123 to 313
Displacement 165 Tons
Length: 105 Feet (32 metres)
Beam: 23 Feet (7 metres)
Draft: 9 feet 6 inches. (2.9 Metres)
Engine: Diesel. 500 BHP.
Speed: 12.65 Miles per hour. (11 knots)
Complement: 20 Officers and men.
Armament: Two 20 mm Anti-aircraft guns
Two machine guns.
MMS 206, Built by J. S. Doig, Grimsby.
OFFICERS from Navy List June 1943.
Temp. Lieut. A. Hensse. 18 Jan 43
OFFICERS from Navy List June. 1944.
Sub-Lieut. A. H. Evans. R.N.V.R. — Apr 44
OFFICERS from Navy List July 1945.
1945. July. Temp. Lieut. A. T. Thomas. (In Command) 29th Jan 45.
Temp. Act. Sub-Lieut. E. Hey. 17th Dec 44.
If you, your father or your grandfather have any additional information about this ship, crew lists, stories, photographs, please send copies of them to be added to our records and this website.
Thank you.
Contact: johntenthousand@yahoo.co.uk
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The records of the minor ships of war, such as minesweepers, were destroyed at the end of World War Two and information is difficult to obtain.
Recently we were sent a copy of a painting which was presented to Commander W. C. Johnson DSO, DSC of the Minesweeping base, HMS St Tudno, later renamed, HMS Wildfire III.
The painting is of HMS St Tudno with its tender ML 221. But more importantly, on the back are the names of Officers and Vessels associated with HMS St Tudno. It is therefore highly probably that this minesweeper, cleared mines from the east coast shipping lanes, escorted the vital follow up convoys to the D-day beaches arriving on D-day plus one, cleared the D-day beach area, the channel ports, the Scheldt Estuary, the biggest and most complex minesweeping operation of WW2, the Dutch ports allowing food supplies to arrive for a starving population and the German Mine Barriers.