OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1943.
Not on Navy Lists.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, June 1944.
Tempy. Lieut., M. S. Cochrane, 1 Jan. 44. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., S. C. Cousins, 1 Jan 44.
OFFICERS ON THE NAVY LIST, July 1945.
Tempy. Lieut, T. A. S. Drake, Apr 45. (In Command)
Tempy. Sub-Lieut., H. S. Darley, Apr 45.
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BYMS 2261 after she was sold to Greece in Aug 1947 and re-named Andromeda (P 233)
MOVEMENTS.
9 July 1943, completed.
27 Oct 1943, Cristobal, Panama Canal.
31 Oct to 6 Nov 1943, Trinadad.
20 Nov to 30 Nov 1943, Recife, Brazil.
9 Nov 1943, Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
1 April 1944, Takordi. (Sekondi-Takoradi) Ghana, West Africa.
22 Aug 1944, Lagos, Nigeria.
10 Nov 1944, Bathurst, Sierra Leone.
19 Nov 1944, Casablanca, Morocco.
20 to 27 Nov Gibraltar.
3 to 5 Dec 1944, Falmouth.
5 to 28 Dec 1944, Dartmouth.
28 to 30 Dec 1944, Falmouth.
31 Dec 1944, Milford Haven.
16 Jan to 29 April 1945, Inverness.
9 May 1945 Harwich.
12 May 1945, Aberdeen.
16 to 30 May 1945. Harwich.
31 May 1945, Ostend, Belgium.
25 July to 11 Aug 1945, Harwich.
11 July 1945. Ostend, Belgium.
1946, returned to USA.
BYMS 2261
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: 154th MSF, West Africa: 2010, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2025, 2149, 2244, 2261.
Built by: South Coast Co., Newport Beach, (Los Angeles) California.
Laid down: 9 June 1942.
Launched: 25 September 1942
Handed over to Royal Navy: 9 July 1943.
Returned to USA: 1946. Sold to Greece Aug 1947 and re-named Andromeda (P 233)
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.