HMS Halcyon (MS-1934)

Back to Commonwealth Ships List.


The Royal Navy built exactly 21 Fleet 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. The minesweeping gear being landed and ASW weaponry placed aboard. From 1938 the ships were fitted/completed with ASDIC from new and refits. In later versions a mixed MS/Escort armament was fitted.



Fitted with the Mk.5 4" low angle guns, these were upgraded and replaced with the Dual Purpose version from 1937 onwards. The class was heavily armed with AA guns from the start. A quad machinegun mounting and four single 20mm Hispano cannons being mounted. The ships would be acting close inshore for the most part and needed the weapons to deal with the threat from the air as well as E-boats and other threats. The light weaponry was upgraded throughout the war, with a single 40mm Bofors and six 20mm Oerlikons being mounted. Radar started to be added in late 1941, minesweepers being a long way down the waiting list for such electronic equipment. 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.
 

Halcyon Class Statistics and fates.

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
  • HMS Harrier, built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, sold for scrapping 1950
  • HMS Hussar, built by Thornycroft, sunk in error by RAF aircraft off Cap d'Antifer on 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
  • HMS Niger, built by 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
  • HMS Gossamer, built by William Hamilton and Company, bombed and sunk in Kola Inlet on 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 1956
• Ordered 1937
  • HMS Bramble, built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk by gunfire from German warships in Barents Sea, 31 December 1942
  • HMS Britomart, built by HM Dockyard Devonport, sunk in error by RAF aircraft off 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

British Typhoons are the worst cause of loss for the Halcyon class sinking 3 with rockets and bombs 27/08/1944.
 

Back to Commonwealth Ships List