Hunt-class minesweeper (1916)

For other ship classes, see Hunt class.
HMS Belvoir circa 1917–1918
Class overview
Operators:  Royal Navy
Built: 1916–1919
In commission: 1917–1962
Completed: 88
Lost: 4
General characteristics (1939)
Type: Minesweeper
Displacement: 710 long tons (721 t)
Length: 231 ft (70.4 m)
Beam:
  • 28 ft (8.5 m) (Belvoir group)
  • 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) (Aberdare group)
Draught: 8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power: 1,800 ihp (1,340 kW) (Belvoir group) or 2,200 ihp (1,640 kW) (Aberdare group)
Propulsion:
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range: 1,500 nmi (2,780 km; 1,730 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 74
Armament:

The Hunt-class minesweeper was a class of minesweeping sloop built between 1916 and 1919 for the Royal Navy. They were built in two discrete groups, the earlier Belvoir group designed by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company and the subsequent (and slightly larger) Aberdare group designed by the Admiralty. They were classed as Fleet Minesweeping Sloops, that is ships intended to clear open water. The Belvoir group were named after British fox hunts. Those of the Aberdare group were originally named after coastal towns, watering places and fishing ports, some of which happened to be hunts by coincidence. However, all were soon renamed after inland locations to prevent confusion caused by the misunderstanding of signals and orders.

Design

These ships had twin screws and had forced-draught coal burning boilers, that is they burned pulverised coal in an artificially augmented airstream. One consequence of this was that they produced a lot of smoke, so much so that they were more usually referred to as Smokey Joes. Another was that if they were fed anything other than the Welsh Steam Coal they were designed for then the fuel consumption was enormous—one ship was bunkered with soft brown Natal coal and burnt 20 tons in a single day.

They had a shallow draught (8 feet, 2.43 metres). Armament was one QF 4 in (100 mm) gun forward and a QF 12 pounder aft, plus two twin 0.303 inch machine guns. They were equipped for sweeping with Oropesa floats only, that is to cut the cables of moored mines.

Service

Six ships were completed as survey vessels, and the majority of the Aberdare group arrived too late to see service during the First World War. 35 were cancelled after the armistice. Interwar, eight were sold out of service, one was sold to Siam, one was converted to an RNVR drillship and 52 were scrapped. The majority of the remainder spent the period from 1919 to 1939 in reserve around the world, with Malta and Singapore having most of them, so that on the outbreak of World War II there were still 27 available for service, to which a further two were requisitioned from mercantile service.

The 5th Minesweeping Flotilla, comprising Pangourne, Ross, Lydd, Kellet and Albury as well as the newer Halcyon-class Gossamer and Leda sailed from North Shields for Harwich late on 26 May 1940, reaching Harwich nearly 24 hours later. After coaling, the flotilla sailed for Dunkirk in the afternoon of 28 May, and was off the beach by about 21:30 hours the same day. At least 2 ships from the Flotilla (Ross and Lydd) were detailed to collect troops from the harbour mole. Ross alone took on board 353 men and 1 dog on this first night. The ships of the flotilla made a further 3 trips to Dunkirk in the following days, working at battle-stations virtually round the clock and returning to Margate for the last time from Dunkirk on Saturday, 1 June 1940. Sutton was also present at Dunkirk.

Five ships were lost during the war, and a further vessel, Widnes was beached in Suda Bay, Crete in May 1941 after being bombed by German aircraft. The Germans recovered and repaired the hull, pressing her into service as 12.V4. In October 1943, now known as Uj.2109, she was sunk by the destroyers HMS Eclipse, HMS Faulknor and the Greek Queen Olga.

Ships

Belvoir group

Twenty ships ordered in 1916:

Aberdare group

One hundred and twenty-nine ships were ordered to this Admiralty design between 1916 and November 1918, of which thirty-four were cancelled (among these, two - Battle and Bloxham - had been launched). Two more were projected to be ordered from Fleming & Ferguson, but these two were never actually ordered:

Survey ships

References

  • British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H T Lenton, 1998, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
  • Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I, Janes Publishing, 1919
  • The Grand Fleet, Warship Design and Development 1906-1922, D. K. Brown, Chatham Publishing, 1999, ISBN 1-86176-099-X
  • Out Sweeps! The Story of the Minesweepers in World War II Paul Lund & Harry Ludlam, W Foulsham & Co, 1978, ISBN 0-572-01011-7
  • Daily Telegraph Obituary for Sir David Croom-Johnson
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