BYMS 2171 now in the Royal Navy and flying the white ensign.
MOVEMENTS.
8 April 1943, completed.
18 July 1943, Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
25 July, 1943, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
32 July 1943, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
1 to 8 Aug 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
15 Aug 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
23 Aug to 9 Oct 1943, Great Yarmouth.
10 to 18 Oct 1943 Portsmouth.
19 to 23 Oct Falmouth.
9 Nov 1943, Gibraltar.
1 Aug 1944, Gibraltar.
6 Aug 1944, Naples, Italy.
3 Sep 1944, Naples, Italy.
6 Sep to 12 Oct 1944, Taranto, Italy.
28 Nov to 2 Dec 1944, Taranto, Italy.
3 Dec 1944, Bizerte, Tunisia.
2 Feb 1945, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
7 Feb 1945, Bari, Italy, Adriatic.
17 March to 3 April 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
9 to 19 May 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
1 June 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
2 to 19 June 1945, Venice, Italy.
23 June 1945, Augusta, Sicily.
31 July 1945, Malta.
7 Aug 1945, Ancona, Italy, Adriatic.
8 Aug 1945, Taranto, Italy.
15 Sep 1945, Venice, Italy.
18 Sep 1945, Naples, Italy.
27 April 1946, returned to USA.
AWARDS FOR MINESWEEPING
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross. DSM: Distinguished Service Medal. MID: Mention in Dispatches.
David Densil STEVENS, LT/JX202136, LS, BYMS 2171, 18 Sep 45. MID awarded for bravery, determination and great devotion to duty in minesweeping operations in the Adriatic over a period from October 1944 to May 1945.
Robert Simpson Dingwall WALLACE, LT/JX185356, A/PO, BYMS 2171, 18 Sep 45. MID awarded for bravery, determination and great devotion to duty in minesweeping operations in the Adriatic over a period from October 1944 to May 1945.
BYMS 2171
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: Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, Illinois, United States (On Lake Michigan).
Laid down: 22 May 1942.
Launched: 21 November 1942.
Handed over to Royal Navy: 8 April 1943.
Returned to USA: 27 April 1946. Transferred to Greece and re-named Keffallina.
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.
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.
BYMS 2171, flying the American flag before she was transferred the Great Britain under the lend-lease programme.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut. W. J. Wolfe, Sept 43 (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., G. S. Burrows 11 Sept 43
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut.-Com., H. R. Kemble, 1 Apr 45.
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., G.S. Burrows, 11 Sept 43.
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.