The Algerine-class minesweeper was a large group of minesweepers built for the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War. 110 ships of the class were launched between 1942 and 1944.
Design and description
By 1940 the Royal Navy had realized that the s were too small to carry the equipment needed to handle magnetic mines. A bigger ship was designed, ironically about the same size as the older that the Royal Navy had rejected earlier as too large and expensive for mass production. The size of the new ship made them suitable for use as ocean-going escort ships and many were used to supplement specialist escorts. Most of the ships built for the RCN were solely employed as such and were fitted with more anti-submarine weapons than the RN ships. To maximise production, alternate designs were made to use either steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines. This enabled ships to be built at yards more used to merchant ship design and as with other mass-produced escort vessels (such as the s or the s, could use merchant-style reciprocating vertical triple expansion (VTE) engines.
Both groups of ships had the same dimensions, although the VTE powered ships had a greater displacement and a deeper draught.
The hull measured long overall with a beam of . The turbine group had a draught of while the reciprocating engined ships sat deeper in the water.
The turbine-powered ships displaced at standard load and at deep load while the reciprocating engined group displaced at standard load and at deep load.
The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings. The latter guns were in short supply when the first ships were being completed and they often got a proportion of single mounts. By 1944, single-barrel Bofors 40 mm mounts began replacing the twin 20 mm mounts on a one for one basis. All of the ships were fitted for four throwers and two rails for depth charges. Many Canadian ships omitted their sweeping gear in exchange for a 24-bomb Hedgehog spigot mortar and a stowage capacity for 90+ depth charges.
Of the ships built in Canada, the companies involved were Toronto Shipbuilding (later Redfern), Port Arthur and Collingwood. All the Canadian-built ships were VTE powered. Only 12 of these ships served with the RCN; a further 17 were built for the RCN but transferred to the Royal Navy in exchange for an equal number of Castle-class corvettes, as the RCN was in need of escort vessels. Fourteen ships were built for the United States Navy, but again were transferred to the RN on completion under Lend-Lease. Nineteen ships were ordered directly by the RN under the 1943 programme; a further six ships were ordered, but cancelled.
Service history
The Algerine class vessels in service with the Royal Navy were employed mainly as minesweepers, though they were equipped as anti-submarine warfare vessels also, and could serve as escort ships as needed. Their ASDIC and depth-charge equipment was equal to that of the Flower-class corvettes or even River-class frigates, though they were not equipped with forward-firing weapons like Hedgehog. Five Algerines were sunk in action, and four others were declared constructive total losses after sustaining damage. The Algerines of the Royal Canadian Navy by contrast were employed as escorts. They were not fitted with mine-sweeping gear, though they were optimized for service in the Arctic. The Algerines served principally as senior ships in Canadian escort groups of the Western Local Escort Force and the Halifax Force. No RCN vessels of the class were lost.
Post-war service
After the war, a number of Algerines continued in service as patrol boats, survey ships, and training ships. On 11 March 1959, HMS Acute and HMS Jewel, training ships at Dartmouth, rescued the burning German coaster Vorman Rass, off Start Point, Devon.
At least one, HMS Pickle, was still engaged in minesweeping duties in British waters as late as 1955.
All Algerines in RN and RCN service were disposed of by the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Some were sold to other navies or into merchant service. The fourteen ships under Lend-Lease were returned to the USN in 1946; five of these later transferred to the Greek Navy. Of the RN ships, five were transferred to the Belgian Navy, two to South Africa and two to Ceylon; another five, one apiece, were acquired by Burma, Nigeria, Italy, Iran, and Thailand. Two RCN ships were transferred to Belgium in 1959 as replacements for two ex-RN ships that were due for disposal. One, HTMS Phosampton (ex-), was in service until 2012 with the Royal Thai Navy.
Ships
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ Algerine-class ships of the Royal Canadian Navy
|-
! scope="col" | Name
| Reciprocating
| 1946 returned to USA after lend-lease<br>1946 sold to Hellenic Navy as Pyrpolitis<br>1984 sunk as a target
|-
! scope="row" |
| Toronto Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1946 returned to USA after lend-lease<br>1947 sold to Hellenic Navy as Armatolos<br>1977 sunk as a target
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1961 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Blyth Dry Docks
| Turbine
| 1951 RNVR drillship Satellite<br>1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1950 sold to Belgian Navy as Georges Lecointe<br>1960 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1966 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1967 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Toronto Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1947 returned to USA after lend-lease
|-
! scope="row" |
| Fleming & Ferguson
| Reciprocating
| 1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1967 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Blyth Dry Docks
| Turbine
| 1950 sold to Belgian Navy as A. F. Dufour<br>1959 renamed Nzadi<br>1960 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1947 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1947 sold mercantile as Fairfree<br>1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1949 sold to Imperial Iranian Navy as Palang<br> 1972 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1949 gifted to Royal Ceylon Navy as <br>1972 Sri Lanka Navy<br>1975 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Toronto Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1947 returned to USA after lend-lease
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1960 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1946 returned to USA after lend-lease<br>1947 sold to Hellenic Navy as Polemistis<br>1977 deleted
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 21 July 1959 sold to Nigerian Navy as HMNS Nigeria <br>1962 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1962 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 10 November 1944 damaged by mine and not repaired<br> 1947 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1956 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1967 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co<br>(transferred from William Simons)
| Reciprocating
| 1947 sold to Italian Navy as Eritrea
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co<br>(transferred from William Simons)
| Reciprocating
| 1961 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1949 sold to Belgian Navy as Adrien de Gerlache<br>1969 sold for demolition
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1946 returned to USA after lend-lease<br>1947 sold to Hellenic Navy as Navmachos<br>1976 withdrawn
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1956 broken up
|-
! scope="row" | <br>ex-Rattler(1943)
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 22 August 1944 sunk by German submarine in the English Channel
|-
! scope="row" | <br>HMS Cornflower 1950–1951
| Port Arthur Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1956 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1950 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Port Arthur Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1958 sold to Burmese Navy as Yan Myo Aung<br> 1982 withdrawn and laid up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Port Arthur Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1956 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1947 sold to Royal Thai Navy as Phosampton<br>2012 withdrawn from service
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1967 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1960 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1966 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1950 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1967 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Port Arthur Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Port Arthur Shipbuilding
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1947 sold to South African Navy as HMSAS Pietermaritzburg)<br>5 June 1967 sunk as a target off Simonstown
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1951 sold to Belgian Navy as De Moor<br>1969 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 1953 sold to Belgian Navy as De Brouwer<br>1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 24 July 1945 scuttled off Phuket, Thailand after mine damage
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1959 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1958 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Harland & Wolff
| Turbine
| 26 July 1945 sunk by Japanese aircraft off Phuket, Thailand
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1963 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1962 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Lobnitz & Co
| Reciprocating
| 1962 broken up
|-
! scope="row" |
| Redfern Construction
| Reciprocating
| 1957 broken up
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ Cancelled Algerine-class ships
|-
! scope="col" | Name