MOVEMENTS.
21 September 1942, completed.
28 Feb 43, Seattle, USA (West Coast)
5 March 1943, San Francisco, USA.
26 March 1943, Balboa, Panama Canal.
3 April 1943, Cristobal, Panama Canal.
9 to 13 April 1943, Trinidad.
19 April 1943, Belem, Brazil.
13 to 25 April 43, Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
21 June 1943, Gibraltar.
28 June 1943, Malta.
31 May 1944, Messina, Sicily.
8 June 1944, Malta.
10 June to 3 Sep 1944, Naples.
6 Sep to 16 Nov 1944, Taranto, Italy.
29 Nov 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
12 Dec 1944, Syria.
27 Jan 1945, Patras, Greece.
28 Jan 1945, Piraeus, Greece.
1 Feb 1945, Bari, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
7 Feb 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
22 Marck 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
27 Mat 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
16 July 1945, Venice, Italy.
16 July 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
28 July to 2 Aug 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic Coast.
20 Aug 1945, Civitavecchia, Italy. (Close to Rome)
22 August, Genoa, Italy.
15 Sep 1945, Venice.
23 May 1947, Returned to USA.
Friday, 25 February 1944. TILLBROOK, Albert W, Leading Steward, RNPS, LT/LX 27745, DOWS. (Died of wounds)
BYMS 2027 with her original number.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Tempy. Skipper Lieut., J. L. Everett (act) May 43 (In Command.)
Tempy. Skipper, G. W. Lumbard 16 May 42
Tempy. Skipper, D. Ashcroft 16 May 42.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Skipper Lieut., C Chandler, DSC (act) 13 Jan 44
Tempy. Skipper, J. W. Kelly, May 44.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Skipper Lieut., C. Chandler, DSC (act) 13 Jan 44
Skipper Lieut., J. Noble (act) Jan 45
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BYMS 2027
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: 153rd MFS, Mediterranean: 2009, 2019, 2022, 2026, 2027, 2037, 2077, 2171, 2172.
Built by: Ballard Marine Railway Co., Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA. (West Coast)
Laid down: 1 October 1941.
Launched: 23 May 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 21 September 1942.
Returned to USA: U.S. custody 23 May 1947 and sold to Italy. Re-named Orleandro
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.