Halcyon-class minesweeper
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HMS Britomart secured to a buoy in Plymouth Sound
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Class overview | |
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Operators | Royal Navy |
Preceded by | Racecourse class |
Succeeded by | Bangor class |
Subclasses | reciprocating / turbine-engined |
Planned | 22 |
Completed | 21 |
Lost | 9 (+1 constructive total loss) |
Retired | 12 |
General characteristics (reciprocating) | |
Type | fleet minesweeper |
Displacement | |
Length | 245 ft 9 in (74.90 m) o/aii |
Beam | 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) |
Draught | 9 ft (2.7 m)[1] |
Propulsion | 2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, vertical compound reciprocating steam engines on 2 shafts, 1,770 ihp |
Speed | 16.5 to 17 kn (31 km/h) |
Range | 7,200 nmi (13,330 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
Complement | 80 |
Armament |
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General characteristics (Niger, Salamander) | |
Displacement | 1,330 tons (1,351 tonnes) |
Length | 245 ft 3 in (74.75 m) |
Propulsion | Vertical triple-expansion, 2,000 ihp |
Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
Armament |
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Notes | Other characteristics as per reciprocating ships |
General characteristics (turbine) | |
Displacement |
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Propulsion | 2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons steam turbines, 1,750 shp (1,305 kW) on 2 shafts |
Speed | 16.5 knots (31 km/h) |
Notes | Other characteristics as per Niger / Salamander |
The Halcyon class was a
Design
There were 21 ships in the Halcyon class, built in two groups; the first using
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 hull built for the Royal Navy.[2]
Service history
Halcyons served in Home waters, at Dunkirk, on Arctic convoy duty, and in the Mediterranean Sea.
On 3 February 1940 Sphinx (Cdr. J. R. N. Taylor, RN) was sweeping an area 15 miles (24 km) north of Kinnaird 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 of Lybster and was sold for scrap. The Commanding Officer and forty of the men were killed in the explosion.
Halcyons were pressed into service as anti-submarine escorts; this task slowly decreasing as the ships specifically designed for this task, such as
- Kola Inlet.
- Niger (Cdr. A. J. Cubison, DSC and Bar) was lost off Iceland on 5 July 1942 while escorting Convoy QP 13, when part of the convoy wandered into a British minefield.
- Leda was torpedoed and sunk in the Greenland Sea on 29 September 1942 while escorting Convoy QP 14.
- On 31 December 1943 during the Battle of the Barents Sea, Bramble was attacked by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper while escorting Convoy JW 51B. After sustaining serious damage, Bramble was finished off by the German destroyer Eckoldt.
Friendly fire losses
As the
The headquarters officer assigning the minesweeping project to 1MF neglected to inform the Flag Officer British Assault Area (
In a well-executed attack out of the sun at 13:30, the Typhoons sank Britomart (Lt. Cdr. Nash, MBE, RNR) and Hussar (Lt.Cdr. A. J. Galvin, DSC, RNR); and Salamander was damaged so far beyond economical repair she was written off as a constructive total loss. Eighty-six British sailors were killed and 124 more were injured. 1MF identified the Typhoons as friendly, and poor visibility into the sun prevented early recognition of the impending "friendly fire". Jason established radio contact to terminate the attack.[4]
Ships in class
Reciprocating group
- Ordered 1932
- HMS Halcyon, built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, sold for scrapping 1950
- HMS Skipjack, built by John Brown, bombed and sunk off Dunkirk on 1 June 1940
- Ordered 1933
- Woolston, sold for scrapping 1950
- Cap d'Antiferon 27 August 1944
- Ordered 1934
- HMS Speedwell, built by William Hamilton and Company, Port Glasgow, sold out of service 1946, wrecked and scrapped 1954
- Ordered 1935
- J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes, mined off Iceland on 4 June 1942
- HMS Salamander, built by White, damaged in RAF rocket attack off Cap d'Antifer on 27 August 1944 and written off as constructive total loss, sold for scrapping 1946
Turbine group
- Ordered 1936
- HMS Franklin, built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon, sold for scrapping 1956
- HMS Gleaner, built by William Gray & Company, Hartlepool, sold for scrapping 1950
- Kola Inleton 24 June 1942
- HMS Hazard, built by William Gray, sold for scrapping 1949
- HMS Hebe, built by HM Dockyard, Devonport, mined and sunk off Bari, 22 November 1943
- 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 in Greenland Sea on 20 September 1942
- 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 1965.[5]
- Ordered 1937
- HMS Bramble, built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk by gunfire from German warships in Barents Sea, 31 December 1942
- Cap d'Antifer, 27 August 1944
- HMS Scott, built by Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Dundee, sold for scrapping 1965
- HMS Speedy, built by William Hamilton and Company, sold out of service 1946, sold for scrapping 1957
- HMS Sphinx, built by William Hamilton and Company, bombed by German aircraft off Kinnaird Head on 3 February 1940, later sank under tow and wreck washed ashore off Lybster, salvaged and scrapped 1950
Footnotes
- ^ Specifications Halcyon Minesweepers
- ^ Lenton, p.252
- ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Surviving WWI: Veterans' stories
- ^ a b c "SINKING OF HMS BRITOMART AND HMS HUSSAR BY FRIENDLY FIRE". Halcyon Class. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ Lenton and Colledge 1973, p. 201.
References
- 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 Allan Ltd, ISBN 0-7110-0202-9