BYMS 2068. Note the Oropesa float for sweeping tethered, contact mines, on the stern of the vessel.
MOVEMENTS.
16 March 1943, completed.
12 April 1943, Ney York, USA.
22 May 1943, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
3 June 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
11 to 15 June 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
18 June to 6 Julu 1943, Portsmouth,
7 July 1943, Falmouth.
25 July 1943, Gibraltar.
5 to 20 Aug 1943, Bizerte, Tunisia.
12 Oct to 12 Nov 1943, Gibraltar.
14 May 1944, Taranto, Italy.
15 and 16 May 1944, Messina, Sicily.
31 Aug to 7 Sep 1944, Taranto, Italy.
8 to 11 Sep 1944, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
5 to 9 Dec 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
21 Dec 1944, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
16 Feb 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
27 Feb 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
13 April 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
3 May 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
10 and 11 May 1945, Taranto, Italy.
22 May 1945, Taranto, Italy.
23 May to 13 June 1945, Taranto, Italy.
18 to 22 June 1945, Malta.
23 June 1945, Augusta, Sicily.
10 Sep 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
11 Sep 1945, Venice, Italy.
16 March 1943, returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Despatches.
John Ewan CAMERON, Lieutenant Commander, BYMS 2068, 14 Jun 45 DSC for Minesweeping awarded Birthday Honours 1945.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Lieut.-Com., J. E. Cameron (act) 17 Mar 43, (In Command.)
Tempy. Lieut., W. A. E. Sheppard, 17 Mar 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Lieut.-Com., J. E. Cameron (act) 17 Mar 43. (In Command.)
Tempy. Lieut. H. G. Jones, Oct 43.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Act. Sub-Lieut., T. Stubbins, Jan 45
Tempy. Act. Sub-Lieut., J. D. Cheetham, May 45.
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BYMS 2068
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: 156th MSF, Mediterranean: 2031, 2056, 2068, 2072, 2073, 2187, 2190, 2209.
Built by: Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, New York. USA.
Laid down: 30 April 1942.
Launched: 9 February 1943.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 16 March 1943.
Returned to USA: 18 May 1946, transferred to Greece and re-named Lafkas.
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.