ALGERINE-Class
Fleet Minesweeper fitted with
Turbine propulsion machinery
ordered on 15th November 1940
from
Harland and Wolff, Belfast.
Laid down on 22nd September 1042
at the same time as sister ships
RINALDO, and ROSARIO. The ship was
launched on 30th April 1943 as the
fourth RN ship to carry this name,
introduced in 1794 for a Floating
Battery built at Deptford which
was sold in 1810. A Torpedo
Gunboat built by HM Dockyard,
Devonport in 1889 and converted
for use as a minesweeper in 1909
was the last ship to bear this
name and was sold in 1920. This
minesweeper was completed on 20th
August 1943.and had been adopted
by the civil community of
Stalybridge, Cheshire after a
successful WARSHIP WEEK National
Savings campaign held in March
1942.
B
a t t l e H
o n o u r s
SOUTH
FRANCE 1944
H
e r a l d i c
D a t a
Badge:
On a field Blue the reverse of a
spade guinea
Gold.
D
e t a i l s
o f W a r
S e r v i c e
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1
9 4 3
August
Contractors trials and
commissioned for service in 19th
Minesweeping Flotilla
20th
Build completion and commenced
Acceptance Trials
On completion took
passage to Tobermory to work-up for
operational service.
September
Deployed
in Firth of Forth based at Port
Edgar for minesweeping training.
October
Passage to Kyle of Lochalsh to
join ships of Flotilla for
minesweeping and Flotilla
operations with HM
Minesweepers RINALDO, BRAVE,
WATERWITCH and ROSARIO
forming the 19th
Minesweeping Flotilla
November
Nominated for foreign service with
ships of Flotilla and took passage
from Clyde to
Milford Haven.
Part
of escort with ships of Flotilla,
for
Convoy KX12 during passage from
Milford Haven
to Gibraltar
(Note: Convoy
comprised two mercantiles and eight
smaller minesweepers and a coal
burning
trawler which
limited speed of convoy to 6 knots
and produced sufficient
smoke to
be a constant source of danger !)
December
Detached from Flotilla and nominated
for convoy escort duties in Western
Mediterranean..
.
(Note: HMS RINALDO,
HMS BRAVE and HMS WATERWITCH sailed
for Malta.)
Passage to Algiers
from Gibraltar.
On arrival taken in
hand for machinery repair.
1
9 4 4
January
On completion of repair work took
passage to Malta to rejoin Flotilla.
17th
Involved in collision with trawler
during arrival in Malta and
sustained damage.
(Note: This
prevented the ship taking part in
minesweeping support of the landings
at Anzio
(Operation SHINGLE) with other ships
of the Flotilla.)
February
On completion of repair deployed
for minesweeping off Malta.
(Note: Other ships
in Flotilla deployed at Anzio
returned to Malta.)
March
Malta deployment in
continuation.
April
Nominated for minesweeping
duties off west coast of Italy with
12th Minesweeping
Flotilla.
(Note: Ships of
19th Flotilla were detached during
March and relieved periodically.)
HM
Minesweepers ARIES, ANTARES and
ARCTURUS, of this Class, built in
Canada
had joined Flotilla in Malta
and
transferred for this purpose.)
Deployed
for minesweeping off Malta
5th
Passage to Naples for detached
service with 12th Minesweeping
Flotilla.
Relieved HMS BRAVE
and HMS WATERWITCH in detached
minesweeping
duty off west coast
May
Detached service at Naples
with HMS ROSARIO in continuation.
(Note: HMS ROSARIO
had joined on 26th April.)
Transferred to
rejoin Flotilla and took passage to
Maddalena.
June
Deployed for minesweeping
operations with Flotilla in Strait
of Bonifacio.
(Note: When German
forces left Sardinia they had laid
mines indiscriminately and
these
waters were to be cleared before
planned landing operations
in
South France were commenced.)
Lost anchor and
cable in Aranci Bay.
16th
Deployed with Flotilla to carry
out minesweep in advance of ships on
passage to carry
out landings on
island of Elba (Operation BRASSARD).
40 mines were swept.
(Note: This
clearance enabled bombardment of
shore positions to be carried out by
HM
River Gunboats APHIS, COCKCHAFER and
SCARAB.)
On release from
BRASSARD took passage with Flotilla
to resume minesweeping
operations off west
coast of Italy.
July
Deployed with Flotilla in
joint minesweeping operations off
Civitavecchia to clear a
channel north of
Cape Corso (Operation LOBSTER)
(Note: Ships of 12th
and 13th Minesweeping Flotilla also
took part.)
18th
On completion of LOBSTER continued
west coast deployment for clearance
of
passage towards
Leghorn.
August
Returned to Naples with ships
of Flotilla to prepare for planned
allied landings in
South France
(Operation DRAGOON formerly ANVIL)
(Note: Royal Navy
ships were under overall command of
Vice Admiral HK Hewett
US
Navy. This ship was
allocated to DELTA Attack Force
under command of
Rear
Admiral Rodgers, US Navy to whom
Commander CH Corbet-Singleton,
Royal
Navy as Senior Officer 19th
Minesweeping Flotilla in HMS RINALDO
was
responsible.)
12th
Deployed with HM Minesweepers
RINALDO, ANTARES, ARCTURUS, ROSARIO,
BRAVE and five US
Navy Patrol Craft as escort for
military convoy SF2A (DELTA)
during passage to
assault area.
(Note: Convoy
comprised three Landing Ships
(Infantry).)
13th
Called at Ajaccio with SF2A
14th
Sailed with convoy from Ajaccio as
escort to St Tropez for landings.
15th
Detached from escort with ships of
Flotilla to carry out minesweep in
advance of
assault convoy. No
mines were swept.
On completion of
swept channel work cleared area to
be used for naval gunfire support.
(Note:
Ships assigned to DELTA area for
gunfire support included:
US battleships USS TEXAS
and USS NEVADA, US cruiser
PHILADELPHIA,
French Cruisers GEORGES LEYGUES and
MONTCALM)
(For details of
Operation DRAGOON See INVASION
OF THE
SOUTH OF
FRANCE (HMSO) and
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by C
Barnett).
18th
Transferred from command of Task
Force Commander to Task Group 80.12
ton carry
out programme of
minesweeping.
19th
Deployed for minesweeping off
assault
area with ships of Task Unit.
(Note: During this
period mine clearance was carried
out to enable ports at Toulon and
Marseilles
to be used. Both
German and French mines had been
laid in these
areas
22nd
Entered harbour at Porquello Island
and
accepted surrender of German
garrison after
which the island
was taken over by forces from US
cruiser USS OMAHA.
24th
Minesweeping with Flotilla to
clear entrance to ports of Toulon
and Marseilles
in
continuation.
September
Task Unit minesweeping
operations deployment in
continuation.
(Note:
Extensive mining had been carried
out by Germany and France during
the
period before DRAGOON.)
4th
Flotilla released from service
with US Navy and took passage to
Malta.
15th
Resumed service under RN
administration after R&R Period
(Note: Some
ships of Flotilla were then deployed
at Taranto for minesweeping and
convoy
escort)
October
Deployed with Flotilla for
minesweeping in Gulf of Taranto.
2nd
Detached with HMS RINALDO and HMS
BRAVE for minesweeping at Ancona
on NE coast of
Adriatic south of Rimini.
12th
Deployed off Ancona during which
many mines were encountered and
dealt with.
November
Transferred to carry out mine
clearance off Split.
11th
Deployed with HMS RINALDO, HMS
ARCTURUS, HMS ANTARES and
HMS BRAVE in
advance of HM Cruiser DELHI to clear
passage through islands
off Split. On
completion based at Split for
further mine clearance and night
interception
patrols to
prevent enemy minelaying or other E-
Boat activities.
(Note: During
one patrol ship opened fire against
suspected ship target but none was
sighted
when starshell round fired from main
armament.)
December
Completed clearance of
mines at eastern end
of channel into Split.
(Note: In nine
weeks the Flotilla swept 214 mines
including 15 moored Magnetic
mines
and some new German type OBOE which
were designed to explode
when
surfacing after being cut from
mooring wire, thus inflicting damage
on
following minesweeper.)
Returned to Ancona
for Xmas.
1
9 4 5
January
Adriatic deployment in
continuation.
to
Took
part in Operation
ANTAGONIZE III for mine clearance in
southern Adriatic.
March
(Note: During this operation
HMS ANTARES
struck a mine and had to be
withdrawn
from
Flotilla for repair. Her replacement
HMS FANCY joined in March.)
April
Minesweeping in Channel
towards Taranto in continuation.
Arrived at Ancona
on completion.
Passage with
ships of Flotilla for joint
operation to
provide clear passage for shipping
through
Adriatic to Trieste and Genoa.
(Note Flotilla
nominated for clearance of passage
to Trieste.)
May
1st
Commenced sweep with Flotilla.
12th
Entrance to Trieste cleared. 77
mine were swept.
(Notes: Ships
returned individually to Ancona for
R&R during this operation.)
June
2nd
Deployed in Northern Adriatic with
HM Minesweepers ARIES, ARCTURUS,
FANCY
WATERWITCH and
ROSARIO to widen existing swept
channel into Porto
Malamocca.
(Note: During
this period minesweeping was
assisted by US dirigibles which
provided
surveillance ahead of the
minesweepers.)
HMS
ARCTURUS detonated a mine and
withdrawn for repair to major
damage.
116
mines were cut and 27 exploded in
sweeps in last week.
July
Deployed for minesweeping
at Trieste with Flotilla
(Note: HMS ARIES
exploded a
mine caught in the sweep
which caused
extensive
damage
to the stern structure with four
fatal casualties
P
o s t W a r
N o t e s
HMS
SPANKER remained in the
Mediterranean area for mine
clearance in the Adriatic and later
was deployed off Malta and in the
Aegean until returning to UK
in May 1946
with ships of the Flotilla. After
giving leave she was
transferred to Cuxhaven, Germany for
local mine clearance until December
when
she went Port Edgar, near Rosyth for
minesweeping training. Paid-off in
December 1947 she was laid-up
at Port
Edgar until placed on the Sales List
and sold to Belgium in 1952. After a
refit
in Hull between June 1952
and February 1953
she was renamed DE
BROUWER on 25th February and served
in the Royal Belgian
Navy until 1963 when removed from
the Active List. The ship was sold
and
broken-up in Ghent in
1968.
For more about Algerine-class
Minesweepers, see
http://www.minesweepers.org.uk/index.htm