HMS Adventure (M23)
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2008) |
 Adventure in February 1943
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Adventure |
| Ordered | 18 July 1921 |
| Builder | Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness & Devonport Royal Dockyard |
| Laid down | 29 November 1922 |
| Launched | 18 June 1924 |
| Commissioned | 2 October 1926 |
| Reclassified | Repair ship 1944 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Minelaying cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 59 ft (18.0 m) over bulges |
| Draught | 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m), 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m) full load |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Complement | 395 (560 wartime) |
| Armament | 4 × HA Mark XII, 4 × QF 2-pounder Mk.II on single mounts HA Mk.II, later; 8 × QF 2-pounder Mk.VIII on octuple mount HA Mk.VIII, 8 × .5 in (13 mm) Vickers machine guns on quadruple mounts Mk.I, later; 9 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns on single mounts P Mk.III, 280 (large pattern) - 340 (small pattern) mines |
HMS Adventure,
Design
Adventure was built to replace the converted First World War veteran Princess Margaret, and her design was dictated by a requirement for a large mine capacity and a good cruising range. The mineload was to be carried completely internally, dictating a long, tall hull, and there were four sets of rails running the length of the hull to chutes at the stern. She was built with a transom, or flat, stern, to improve cruising efficiency, but the dead water caused by such a form meant that mines tended to be sucked back into the hull when they were launched; an obviously dangerous situation for a minelayer. As a result, she was rebuilt with a traditional cruiser, or rounded, stern, increasing the length by 19 ft (5.8 m).[1]
As built, Adventure was 520 feet (158.50 m)
Propulsion was by plant as installed in the
By 1941, she had been fitted with
Service history
On entering the service she joined the
World War Two
On the outbreak of the Second World War, the Royal Navy started laying a series of defensive minefields in British coastal waters and the
On 13 November 1939, at 05.25, Adventure was badly damaged near the Tongue Light Vessel, in the Thames Estuary by an underwater explosion. 23 of her crew were killed or fatally injured. The bridge was wrecked and crew and fittings were thrown against bulkheads and down hatchways with lethal effect. She was successfully taken in tow to the Medway by tugs from Ramsgate, and later repaired at Chatham Dockyard. She had been en route from Grimsby to Portsmouth, and escorted by the Harwich-based destroyers Blanche and Basilisk. Blanche was also mined at 08:10 and sank with the loss of one man. Originally floating mines were blamed, but it soon transpired that magnetic mines laid by German destroyers a few hours before were responsible. Adventure returned to service in October 1940.
In January 1941 Adventure was again damaged by a mine in Liverpool Bay and was out of action for five months. In July she sailed with the task force involved in
In February 1942 Adventure was due to make another run to Murmansk, but was damaged in a collision in the Clyde. She was under repair for three months. In June 1942 Adventure took part in a decoy operation (Operation ES) to cover the passage of convoy PQ 17. Her captain from 1940–42 was Norman Vere Grace.[6] In the winter of 1942/43 she made several fast re-supply missions to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean.
In April 1943 Adventure was involved in an operation to catch blockade runner Irene. On 10 April Irene was intercepted and sunk off the coast of Spain. In November she was taken in for conversion as a tender and repair ship for landing craft. In her four years of service as a mine-layer Adventure undertook some 20 mining operations, laying minefields throughout the Western Approaches and the North Sea.
During the Normandy landings in 1944 Adventure was deployed off Mulberry B as a support and repair vessel; she landed repair parties on 19 June for extensive salvage work on damaged landing craft.[7]
Postwar
In 1945, Adventure was reduced to reserve, and in 1947 she was sold to Thos. W. Ward. and broken up at Briton Ferry.
Adventure was adopted by the City of Plymouth. Her name is carried by TS Adventure, the
Notes
- ^ ISBN 1853103284.
- ^ Gardiner & Chesneau 1980, p. 36
- ^ Haarr 2013, pp. 271–272
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 3
- ^ Haarr 2013, p. 273
- ^ "Norman Vere Grace, RN". uboat.net. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ^ Harlow Sea Cadet Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HarlowScc/
References
- Brown, David K. (2010). The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Bublishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-085-7.
- Brown, David; Majeski, David V.; Buxton, Ian L. & Smythe, A. J. (2001). "Question 30/00: Cruiser-Minelayer HMS Adventure". Warship International. XXXVIII (3). International Naval Research Organization: 246. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Cocker, M. P. (1993). Mine Warfare Vessels of the Royal Navy: 1908 to Date. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-328-4.
- Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Haarr, Geirr H. (2013). The Gathering Storm: The Naval War in Northern Europe: September 1939–April 1940. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-140-3.
- HMS Adventure - Ship's Log - November 1939, The National Archives, Kew, UK, ADM/53/107337
- Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- "HMS Adventure". naval-history.net. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-117-7.
- Nore Command War Diary ADM 199/375 & War History ADM 199/1454 (National Archive)
- Board of Inquiry Report ADM 1/10857 (National Archive)
- Ian Hawkin's "Destroyer" (quoting J P Foynes "Battle of the East Coast 1939–1945).
External links
