ALGERINE-Class
Fleet Minesweeper fitted with Turbine
propulsion machinery ordered on 30th
April 1942 from Harland and Wolff,
Belfast. Laid down on 27th November 1943
at the same time as sister ships HARE
and JEWEL this ship was launched on 22nd
August 1944. The name was introduced in
1632 when given to the 44
gun ship CHARLES in 1649. It was also
used later by 13 other vessels, lastly
by
a destroyer built by JS White at Cowes
in 1913 instead of previous name
ROSALIND
after launch.
Build of this
minesweeper was completed on 18th
January 1945. She had not been adopted
by any civil community in
UK following a successful WARSHIP WEEK
campaign during 1941-42 for National
Savings as
her build had not been started.
B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
MARTINIQUE 1809 - HELIGOLAND 1914 - DOGGER BANK
1915 - JUTLAND
1916
H
e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge:
On
a Field Blue, Statue of Liberty
in New York Harbour
D
e t a i l s
o f W a r S e
r v i c e
(for
more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search
1
9 4 5
January Contractors
trials and commissioned
for service with 10th Minesweeping
Flotilla.
(Note: The
ships in this Flotilla were HM Miner
sweepers COURIER, FELICITY,
GOLDEN FLEECE, and
SERENE which had been built in Canada.
18th
Build completion and commenced
Acceptance Trials.
On completion of
Acceptance Trials and took passage to
commence work-up for
operational
service at Tobermory
February Work-up
at Tobermory.
Passage
to Granton for minesweeping training
and work-up.
Carried
out minesweeping training in Firth of
Forth area.
March
Joined Flotilla at Granton on
completion of training.
22nd
Passage to Harwich with ships of
Flotilla for minesweeping operations
in Nore Command.
April
Deployed with Flotilla for
minesweeping in southern North
Sea to ensure safe passage
of
convoys in Nore Command including
military convoys to Antwerp as well as
in the
Thames
estuary for traffic in North Sea.
(Note: During
this period extensive minelaying was
being carried out by enemy
aircraft,
surface
craft. Attacks on convoys were also
being carried
out by midget
submarines
and E
Boat Boats. See HOLD THE NARROW SEA by P Smith,
BATTLE OF
THE EAST COAST by JP Foynes and ENGAGE
THE ENEMY
MORE CLOSELY by C
Barnett.
May
Based at Cuxhaven in continuation of
North Sea mine clearance.
June
Deployed with Flotilla for
mine clearance in North Sea until
withdrawn for refit and
preparation
for foreign service.
July
Under
refit.
P
o s t W a
r N o t e s
HMS
LIBERTY
rejoined the Flotilla on completion and
took passage with them in
October 1945 for duty based
initially at Singapore. First deployed
for mine clearance in areas near
Singapore including ports in Indonesia
she was later based at Hong Kong for similar duties. The ship returned to UK
and arrived at Portsmouth to Pay-off
and reduce
to Reserve status in July 1946. Whilst
Laid-up at
Devonport she was put on
the
Sales List and sold to Belgium in 1949.
After refit at Cowes, Isle
of Wight this ship was
renamed ADRIEN
DE GERLACHE on 29th November 1949. She
remained in service until 20th June 1969
and was
broken-up
at Bruges the next year.
For more about Algerine-class
Minesweepers, see
http://www.minesweepers.org.uk/index.htm