MOVEMENTS.
30 September 1943, completed.
10 to 14 Dec 1943, Bermuda.
22 to 25 Dec 1943, Horta, Azores.
27 Dec 1943, Portsmouth.
28 Dec 1943, Southend.
30 Dec 43, Lowestoft.
31 Dec to 3 Feb 1944, Londonderry.
3 Feb to 25 April 1944, Ardrossan, Scotland (West Coast)
27 April 1944, Plymouth.
8 to 19 May 1944, Liverpool.
21 May 1944, Portland.
25 May 1944, Plymouth.
18 June 1944, Portsmouth.
BYMS 2061 would have taken part at D-day.
13 to 16 June, Portland.
8 July 1944, Portland.
15 to 18 Aug 1944, Portland.
18 Aug 1944. Cherbourg, France. Clearing mines from the port after the American Army had captured it.
1 to 17 Sep 1944, Portland.
17 Sep 1944, Dover.
5 to 15 Oct 1944, Dover.
15 Oct 1944, Portsmouth.
22 Oct 1944, Portland.
25 Dec 1944, Dover.
14 Jan 1945, Ostend, Belgium.
8 to 20 April 1945, Dover.
12 May 1945, Great Yarmouth.
13 May 1945, Rosyth, Scotland.
3 July 1945, Humber.
17 July to 9 Sep 1945, Swansea.
9 to 15 Sep 1945, Gibraltar. (Possibly on route to S.E. Asia but the Pacific war had ended)
3 September 1946, returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Despatches.
Stanley Samuel MITCHELL, Lieutenant, BYMS 2061. 14 Jun 45. MID awarded King's Birthday Honours 1945.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut., S. S. Mitchell, 7 Feb 44 (In Command)
Tempy. Lieut., E. R. Savidge, 1 Oct 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
M.S.2061. Tempy. Lieut., C. C. Vacher, 19 Dec 44. (In Command)
Tempy. Lieut., N. Eckersley (act), Mar 45.
Tempy. Lieut., B, Clayton, 16 June 44.
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BYMS 2061
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: 167th MSF: 2047, 2051, 2061, 2069,2155, 2156, 2182, 2210.
Based at: Androssan and Liverpool 1943. ANCFX 1944. Humber 1945. NW Europe 1946.
Built by: Westergard Boat Works, Inc., Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.
Laid down: 7 December 1942.
Launched: 5 May 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 30 September 1943.
Returned to USA: 3 September 1946 and sold at Subic Bay, Philippines.
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.