HMS Halcyon (MS-1934)

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The Royal Navy built exactly 18 minesweepers between 1919 and 1939, the Halcyon class. The RN would have liked to have built 100 or more but like all the other classes of ships the RN never had the funding to be able to build what it needed to cover the tens of thousands of miles of sea where mines could be laid, or where enemy ships and aircraft can interdict the same seaways. To this end, the Halcyons, as well as acting as minelayers needed to be able to act as escort vessels.

To act as escorts the original low angle 4" were removed and replaced with the later DP version. While only 18 of the Halcyon class were completed, the hull type was used as the basis for the sloop type vessels being built at the same time. The minesweeping equipment being exchanged for depthcharges.

The class was meant to be used as the basis for the war built minesweepers, but in the end the far cheaper Bangor type were built.

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