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 ship RINALDO, the ship was launched on 3rd April 1943 as the eighth
RN ship to carry this name, introduced in 1588 for a Galleon named DE ROSARIO which was captured during the defeat
of the Spanish Armada. It was last borne by a Sloop built in 1898 at Sheerness and sold in 1921 after use
as a submarine depot ship. The build of this minesweeper was completed on 9th July 1943.and she had been adopted
by the civil community of Carlton, Nottinghamshire 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
CHINA 1900 - SOUTH FRANCE
1944
H e r a l d i c
D a t a
Badge: On a field White, a chaplet of eight roses,
Red.
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
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1 9 4 3
July Contractors trials and
commissioned for service in 19th Minesweeping Flotilla
9th Build completion and commenced
Acceptance Trials
On completion took
passage to Tobermory to work-up for operational service.
August Deployed in Firth of Forth based
at Port Edgar for minesweeping training.
September Passage to Kyle of Lochalsh to join
ships of Flotilla.
October Carried out training for
minesweeping and Flotilla operations with HM Minesweepers
RINALDO, BRAVE,
WATERWITCH and SPANKER which then formed the 19th
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 retained
at Gibraltar for convoy escort duties.
. (Note: HMS RINALDO,
HMS BRAVE and HMS WATERWITCH sailed for Malta.)
1 9 4 4
January Deployed at Gibraltar for local convoy
escort and anti-submarine patrol.
February
1st Released from duty at Gibraltar and
took passage to Malta to rejoin Flotilla for
minesweeping.
On arrival deployed for local minesweeping
,
(Note: Did not take
part in Operation SHINGLE with Flotilla)
March Deployed at Malta
(Note: HM
Minesweepers ARIES, ANTARES and ARCTURUS, of this Class, built in
Canada
joined Flotilla in Malta during this period and ships were transferred to
join ships
off Italy as reliefs.)
April Deployed for minesweeping
off Malta
Passage to Naples
for detached service with 12th Minesweeping Flotilla.
26th Joined HMS SPANKER for minesweeping
off west coast of Italy.
May Detached service at Naples
in continuation.
11th Deployed with HM Minesweepers
FLY, CADMUS, ACUTE, ESPIEGLE and
ALBACORE of 12th
Flotilla for mine clearance operation in Bay of Gaeta.
(Note: This
operation was to provide clear anchorage are for HM Cruiser DIDO,
US
cruisers BROOKLYN and PHILADELPHIA which were to provide
naval
gunfire support for attack on Monte Cassino.)
Came under fire
from shore batteries during this sweep.
On completion
resumed detached duties and took part in clearance of passage from
Naples to Anzio
through Gulf of Gaeta.
Released from
detached service and took passage from Naples to rejoin 19th Flotilla
at Maddalena,
Northern Sardinia.
On arrival
commenced minesweeping with Flotilla in Straits of Bonnifacio.
June Straits of Bonnifacio
sweeping in continuation
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, SPANKER,
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.
to (Note: During this period mine
clearance was carried out to enable ports at Toulon and
30th Marseilles to be
used. Both German and French mines had
been laid in these
areas
September Task Unit minesweeping operations
deployment in continuation.
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 Adriatic.
to (Note: Some of
Flotilla were deployed at Ancona and other cleared a passage off
November Split for use by Royal
Navy ships. The remainder were used for minesweeping
to
ensure clear passage for warships in support of military operations.)
December Returned to Ancona for Xmas.
1 9 4 5
January Adriatic deployment in
continuation.
to March Took part in Operation
ANTAGONIZE III for mine clearance in southern Adriatic.
April Deployed with ships of
Flotilla and ships of 5th Flotilla for joint operation to provide
to May clear passage to Trieste and
Genoa. 77 mines were swept during this
operation.
June Northern Adriatic minesweep in
continuation with HM Minesweepers ARIES.
ARCTURUS, FANCY
and SPANKER.
(Note: HMS Fancy
had been transferred from 7th Minesweeping Flotilla in March to
replace HMS
ARCTURUS damaged during ANTAGONIZE III.)
During
this period minesweeping was assisted by US dirigibles which
provided surveillance ahead of the minesweepers.)
July Deployed for mine
sweeping in central Mediterranean based in Malta.
P o s t W a
r N o t e s
HMS ROSARIO remained in the
Mediterranean for mine clearance off Malta, and in the Aegean until returning to UK in 1946. In
May of that year she was deployed at Cuxhaven for mine clearance until December when she returned to
Port Edgar for minesweeping training. Paid-off in 1947 she was laid-up at Port Edgar until placed on
the Sales List and sold to Belgium in 1953. After a refit in Hull she was
renamed DE MOOR on 15th January 1953
and served in the Belgian Navy until 1969 when removed from the Active List. The ship was
sold in 1970 and broken-up in Bruges.
For more about Algerine-class Minesweepers, see
http://www.minesweepers.org.uk/index.htm