OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.

OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut., J. McDowall, 10 May 43. (In Command)
Tempy. Lieut., R. Colling, 10 May 43.

OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut., J. McDowall, 10 May 43. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., A. W. Clack, Oct 44.

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MOVEMENTS.

10 May 1943, completed.
14 July 1943, New York, USA.
28 July 1943, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada.
4 and 5 Aug 1943, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
10 to 13 Aug 1943, Humber.
7 to 26 Sep 1943, Milford Haven.
3 to 5 Oct 1943, Gibraltar.
18 Oct 1943, Alaxandria, Egypt.
31 Oct to 23 Nov 1943, Beirut, Lebanon.
29 Nov 1943, Beirut, Lebanon.
21 Jan 1944, Beirut, Lebanon.
3 to 21  Jan 1944, Haifa, Palestine, (today Israel)
20 Jan to 16 Feb 1944, Beirut, Lebanon.
25 April to 12  May 1944, Beirut, Lebanon.
11 to 16 May 1944, Famagusta, Cyprus.
18 May 1944, Beirut, Lebanon.
19 May 1944, Haifa, Palestine, (today Israel)
20 May to 29 July 1944, Port Said, Egypt.
30 and 31 July 1944, Alaxandria, Egypt.
10 Aug 1944, Dardanelles, Turkey.
21 Oct 1944, Beirut, Lebanon.
23 Jan 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
24 Jan to 15 Feb 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
16 to 18 Feb 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
6 to 13 March, 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
23 to 27 March 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
9 May 1945, Piraeus, (Athens) Greece.
28 May 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
9 July 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
3 Aug 1945, Alaxandria, Egypt.
15 December 1945, returned to USA.

BYMS 2190
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:  Mediterranean: 2031, 2056, 2068, 2072, 2073, 2187, 2190, 2209.

Built by: Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, New York, USA.
Laid down: 22 August 1942. 
Launched: 31 October 1942.  
Handed over to Royal Navy: 10 May 1943.
Returned to USA: 15 December 1945. Transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy in March 1946 and re-named Symi.

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.