Halcyon class minesweeper

Halcyon class minesweeper

The "Halcyon" class was a class of 21 oil-fired minesweepers (officially, "fleet minesweeping sloops") built for the British Royal Navy between 1933 and 1939. They were given traditional small ship names used historically by the Royal Navy and served during World War II

Design

There were 21 ships in the "Halcyon" class, built in two groups; the first using reciprocating steam engines, with steam turbines in the latter. They were generally smaller versions of the "Grimsby" class escort sloops. "Niger" and "Salamander" of the reciprocating group used vertical triple expansion engines, instead of the vertical compound engines of their sisters. As a result of the increased installed power they had a half knot speed advantage, even though they used slightly shorter hulls. The turbine ships used the same shorter hulls as "Niger" and "Salamander", but with lower installed power, speed dropped back to convert|16.5|kn|km/h|0.

"Gleaner", "Franklin", "Jason" and "Scott" were completed as unarmed survey vessels, "Sharpshooter" and "Seagull" being converted to follow suit. They were all re-armed and deployed in their original role on the outbreak of war. "Seagull" had the first all-welded vessel built for the Royal NavyLenton, p.252] .

ervice history

"Halcyons" served in Home waters, at Dunkirk, on Arctic convoy duty, and in the Mediterranean.

On 3 February, 1940 "Sphinx" (Cdr. J. R. N. Taylor, RN) was sweeping an area convert|15|mi|km|0 north of Kinnaird Head when attacked by enemy aircraft. A bomb pierced the fo'c'sle deck and exploding destroying the fore part of the ship. She remained afloat and was taken in tow by "Halcyon" but steadily flooded and capsized and sank. The wreck was later washed ashore north of Lybster and was sold for scrap. The Commanding Officer and forty of the men were killed in the explosion.

"Skipjack" (Lt.Cdr. F. B. Proudfoot, RN) was attacked and sunk by a force of German dive-bombers off La Panne, Belgium on 1 June, 1940. On board "Skipjack" were between 250 and 300 soldiers just rescued from the Dunkirk beaches during Operation Dynamo. Eye witness William Stone said "she just disappeared" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7084764.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Surviving WWI: Veterans' stories ] ] .

"Halcyons" were pressed into service as anti-submarine escorts; this task slowly decreasing as the ships specifically designed for this task, such as Flower class corvettes, came off the slips. "Halcyons" accompanied most of the Arctic Convoys, serving both as minesweepers and anti-submarine escorts. Several spent extended periods working out of Soviet naval bases in Northern Russia, such as Murmansk. Four "Halcyons" were lost during this period.

* "Gossamer" (Lt.Cdr. T. C. Crease), having escorted the very first Arctic Convoy, attacked a German U-boat while escorting Convoy PQ-11, and helped rescue the crew of HMS "Edinburgh". "Gossamer" dive-bombed and sunk on 26 June, 1942 in the Kola Inlet.
* "Niger" (Cdr. A. J. Cubison, DSC and Bar) was lost off Iceland on 5 July, 1942 while escorting Convoy PQ-13, when part of the convoy wandered into a British minefield.
*"Leda" was torpedoed and sunk in the Greenland Sea on 29 September, 1942 while escorting Convoy QP-14.
*On 31 December, 1943 during the Battle of the Barents Sea, "Bramble" was attacked by the German surface raider "Admiral Hipper" on while escorting Convoy JW51B. After sustaining serious damage, "Bramble" was finished off by the German destroyer "Eckholdt".

"Hebe" and "Speedy" served in the Mediterranean as part of the 14th/17th Minesweeper Flotilla based in Malta. The minesweepers saw action during the Malta Convoys, Operation Torch, and Operation Corkscrew. "Hebe" was lost to a mine off Bari, Italy on 22 November, 1943.

"Britomart" (Lt. Cdr. Nash, MBE, RNR) and "Hussar" (Lt.Cdr. A. J. Galvin, DSC, RNR) were sunk by aerial rockets fired from RAF Typhoons in a "friendly fire" incident on 27 August, 1944 off Cap d'Antifer, Le Havre. "Salamander" was badly damaged astern in the same incident and she was written off as a constructive total loss and eventually scrapped without repair. "Jason" was attacked during the same incident but escaped major damage.

Ships in class

Reciprocating group

*Ordered 1932
** HMS "Halcyon", built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Skipjack", built by John Brown, bombed and sunk off Dunkirk 1940-06-01
*Ordered 1933
** HMS "Harrier", built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Hussar", built by Thornycroft, sunk in error by RAF aircraft off Cap d'Antifer, 1944-08-27
*Ordered 1934
** HMS "Speedwell", built by William Hamilton & Company, Port Glasgow, sold out of service 1946, wrecked and scrapped 1954
*Ordered 1935
** HMS "Niger", built by J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes, mined off Iceland 1942-06-04
** HMS "Salamander", built by White, damaged in RAF rocket attack off Cap d'Antifer August 27 1944 and written off as constructive total loss, sold for scrapping 1946

Turbine group

*Ordered 1936
** HMS "Franklin", built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon, sold for scrapping 1956
** HMS "Gleaner", built by William Gray & Company, Hartlepool, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Gossamer", built by William Hamilton, bombed and sunk in Kola Inlet 1942-06-24
** HMS "Hazard", built by William Gray, sold for scrapping 1949
** HMS "Hebe", built by HM Dockyard, Devonport, mined and sunk off Bari, 1943-11-22
** HMS "Jason", built by Ailsa, sold out of service 1946, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Leda", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, torpedoed and sunk by "U-435" in Greenland Sea 1942-09-20
** HMS "Seagull", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sold for scrapping 1956
** HMS "Sharpshooter", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, renamed "Shackleton" 1953 and converted to survey vessel, sold for scrapping 1956
*Ordered 1937
** HMS "Bramble", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk by gunfire from German warships in Barents Sea, 1942-12-31
** HMS "Britomart", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk in error by RAF aircraft off Cap d'Antifer, August 27 1944
** HMS "Scott", built by Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Dundee, sold for scrapping 1965
** HMS "Speedy", built by William Hamilton, sold out of service 1946, sold for scrapping 1957
** HMS "Sphinx", built by William Hamilton, bombed by German aircraft off Kinnaird Head 1940-02-03, later sank under tow and wreck washed ashore off Lybster, salved and scrapped 1950

References

* "British and Empire Warships of the Second World War", H. T. Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
* "Warships of World War II", by H. T. Lenton & J. J. Colledge, Ian Allen Ltd, ISBN 0-71100-202-9

External links

* [http://www.halcyon-class.co.uk/ "Halcyon" class website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a3319102.shtml HMS "Bramble" "BBC People's War"]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/65/a7736565.shtml HMS "Hussar" "BBC People's War"]


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