- Halcyon class minesweeper
The "Halcyon" class was a class of 21 oil-fired minesweepers (officially, "fleet minesweeping sloops") built for the British
Royal Navy between 1933 and 1939. They were given traditional small ship names used historically by the Royal Navy and served duringWorld War II Design
There were 21 ships in the "Halcyon" class, built in two groups; the first using reciprocating steam engines, with steam turbines in the latter. They were generally smaller versions of the "Grimsby" class escort sloops. "Niger" and "Salamander" of the reciprocating group used vertical triple expansion engines, instead of the vertical compound engines of their sisters. As a result of the increased installed power they had a half knot speed advantage, even though they used slightly shorter hulls. The turbine ships used the same shorter hulls as "Niger" and "Salamander", but with lower installed power, speed dropped back to convert|16.5|kn|km/h|0.
"Gleaner", "Franklin", "Jason" and "Scott" were completed as unarmed survey vessels, "Sharpshooter" and "Seagull" being converted to follow suit. They were all re-armed and deployed in their original role on the outbreak of war. "Seagull" had the first all-welded vessel built for the Royal NavyLenton, p.252] .
ervice history
"Halcyons" served in Home waters, at Dunkirk, on Arctic convoy duty, and in the
Mediterranean .On
3 February ,1940 "Sphinx" (Cdr. J. R. N. Taylor, RN) was sweeping an area convert|15|mi|km|0 north ofKinnaird Head when attacked by enemy aircraft. A bomb pierced the fo'c'sle deck and exploding destroying the fore part of the ship. She remained afloat and was taken in tow by "Halcyon" but steadily flooded and capsized and sank. The wreck was later washed ashore north ofLybster and was sold for scrap. The Commanding Officer and forty of the men were killed in the explosion."Skipjack" (Lt.Cdr. F. B. Proudfoot, RN) was attacked and sunk by a force of German dive-bombers off
La Panne ,Belgium on1 June ,1940 . On board "Skipjack" were between 250 and 300 soldiers just rescued from theDunkirk beaches duringOperation Dynamo . Eye witness William Stone said "she just disappeared" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7084764.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Surviving WWI: Veterans' stories ] ] ."Halcyons" were pressed into service as anti-submarine escorts; this task slowly decreasing as the ships specifically designed for this task, such as
Flower class corvette s, came off the slips. "Halcyons" accompanied most of the Arctic Convoys, serving both as minesweepers and anti-submarine escorts. Several spent extended periods working out of Soviet naval bases in Northern Russia, such asMurmansk . Four "Halcyons" were lost during this period.* "Gossamer" (Lt.Cdr. T. C. Crease), having escorted the very first Arctic Convoy, attacked a German
U-boat while escortingConvoy PQ-11 , and helped rescue the crew of HMS "Edinburgh". "Gossamer" dive-bombed and sunk on26 June ,1942 in theKola Inlet .
* "Niger" (Cdr. A. J. Cubison, DSC and Bar) was lost offIceland on5 July ,1942 while escortingConvoy PQ-13 , when part of the convoy wandered into a British minefield.
*"Leda" was torpedoed and sunk in theGreenland Sea on29 September ,1942 while escortingConvoy QP-14 .
*On31 December ,1943 during theBattle of the Barents Sea , "Bramble" was attacked by the German surface raider "Admiral Hipper" on while escortingConvoy JW51B . After sustaining serious damage, "Bramble" was finished off by the German destroyer "Eckholdt"."Hebe" and "Speedy" served in the Mediterranean as part of the
14th/17th Minesweeper Flotilla based inMalta . The minesweepers saw action during theMalta Convoys ,Operation Torch , andOperation Corkscrew . "Hebe" was lost to a mine offBari ,Italy on22 November ,1943 ."Britomart" (Lt. Cdr. Nash, MBE, RNR) and "Hussar" (Lt.Cdr. A. J. Galvin, DSC, RNR) were sunk by aerial rockets fired from RAF Typhoons in a "
friendly fire " incident on27 August ,1944 offCap d'Antifer ,Le Havre . "Salamander" was badly damaged astern in the same incident and she was written off as a constructive total loss and eventually scrapped without repair. "Jason" was attacked during the same incident but escaped major damage.Ships in class
Reciprocating group
*Ordered 1932
** HMS "Halcyon", built byJohn Brown & Company ,Clydebank , sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Skipjack", built by John Brown, bombed and sunk offDunkirk 1940-06-01
*Ordered 1933
** HMS "Harrier", built byJohn I. Thornycroft & Company , Woolston, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Hussar", built by Thornycroft, sunk in error by RAF aircraft offCap d'Antifer ,1944-08-27
*Ordered 1934
** HMS "Speedwell", built byWilliam Hamilton & Company ,Port Glasgow , sold out of service 1946, wrecked and scrapped 1954
*Ordered 1935
** HMS "Niger", built byJ. Samuel White & Company ,Cowes , mined off Iceland1942-06-04
** HMS "Salamander", built by White, damaged in RAF rocket attack off Cap d'Antifer August 27 1944 and written off as constructive total loss, sold for scrapping 1946Turbine group
*Ordered 1936
** HMS "Franklin", built byAilsa Shipbuilding Company ,Troon , sold for scrapping 1956
** HMS "Gleaner", built byWilliam Gray & Company ,Hartlepool , sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Gossamer", built by William Hamilton, bombed and sunk inKola Inlet 1942-06-24
** HMS "Hazard", built by William Gray, sold for scrapping 1949
** HMS "Hebe", built by HM Dockyard, Devonport, mined and sunk offBari ,1943-11-22
** HMS "Jason", built by Ailsa, sold out of service 1946, sold for scrapping 1950
** HMS "Leda", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, torpedoed and sunk by "U-435" inGreenland Sea 1942-09-20
** HMS "Seagull", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sold for scrapping 1956
** HMS "Sharpshooter", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, renamed "Shackleton" 1953 and converted to survey vessel, sold for scrapping 1956
*Ordered 1937
** HMS "Bramble", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk by gunfire from German warships inBarents Sea ,1942-12-31
** HMS "Britomart", built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk in error by RAF aircraft offCap d'Antifer , August 27 1944
** HMS "Scott", built byCaledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company ,Dundee , sold for scrapping 1965
** HMS "Speedy", built by William Hamilton, sold out of service 1946, sold for scrapping 1957
** HMS "Sphinx", built by William Hamilton, bombed by German aircraft offKinnaird Head 1940-02-03 , later sank under tow and wreck washed ashore offLybster , salved and scrapped 1950References
* "British and Empire Warships of the Second World War", H. T. Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
* "Warships of World War II", by H. T. Lenton & J. J. Colledge, Ian Allen Ltd, ISBN 0-71100-202-9External links
* [http://www.halcyon-class.co.uk/ "Halcyon" class website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a3319102.shtml HMS "Bramble" "BBC People's War"]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/65/a7736565.shtml HMS "Hussar" "BBC People's War"]
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