OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Skipper Lieut., T. A. Phllipson, (In command)
Tempy. Skipper D. Ritchie, 21 Mar 44.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Skipper Lieut., G. Duffield, DSC 10 Apr 45 (In Command)
Tempy. Skipper E. M. Souter 13 Apr 45
Tempy. Skipper, C. Harding 13 Apr 4
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
RETURN TO SHIP DATABASE.
Click here.
RETURN TO FRONT PAGE.
Click here.
MOVEMENTS.
30 October 1943, completed.
3 Feb 1944, Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
7 to 11 Feb 1944, Bermuda.
21 Feb 1944, Horta, Azores.
29 Feb 1944, Falmouth.
29 Feb to 1 March 1944, Portland.
1 March to 28 August 1944. Portsmouth. Being based at Portsmouth, BYMS 2062 would have taken part at D-day.
6 Sep 1944, Dieppe, France.
1 to 8 Sep 1944, Newhaven.
10 Sep 1944, Portsmouth.
13 Sep 1944, France, BBA.
4 Oct 1944, Portsmouth.
5 Oct 1944, Dover.
13 to 15 Oct 1944, Portland.
25 Oct 1944, Le Havre, France. (Close to D-day beaches)
25 Oct to 3 Nov 1944, Portsmouth.
6 Dec 1944, Great Yarmouth.
12 May 1945, Great Yarmouth.
13 May 1945, Rosyth, Scotland.
26 to 29 June 1945, Kiel, Germany. Clearing the sea lanes into German ports to bring in much needed humanitarian aid for the German people.
30 June, 1945, Hamburg, Germany.
2 July 1945, Hamburg, Germany.
3 to 5 July 1945, Hamburg, Germany.
7 July, 1945, Plymouth.
10 December 1946, returned to USA.
BYMS 2062.
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: 168th MSF: 2042, 2062, 2063, 2234 2253, 2254, 2279, 2280.
Built by: Westergard Boat Works, Inc., Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.
Laid down: 24 December 1942.
Launched: 8 May 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 30 October 1943.
Returned to USA: 10 December 1946.
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.