HMS Britomart 1941 Halcyon Minesweeper

Date of Arrival	Place	Date of Departure	Signals, Remarks etc
14.1.41	Scapa	8.2.41
?	Scapa	A3.2.41
17.2.41	Port Edgar	18.2.41
20.2.41	Harwich	1.3.41	For exercise
2.3.41	Harwich	?
4.3.41	Harwich	5.3.41
6.3.41	Harwich	?
13.3.41	Newhaven	14.3.41	Arrived 1208 and sailed 0918 in company with Bramble, Hebe, Niger, Sharpshooter and Speedy. (Source Peter Mason)
15.3.41	At 1617 while at anchor in Rye Bay, BRITOMART was hit by a single 250 lb bomb from a dive bomber. The bomb passed through the Ward Room and No. 5 cabin from starboard to port, exploding under water. The Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander J M S Cox DSC and Lt P A Block were killed in the Ward Room. (Report below)
Source: ADM 199/1173 HMS BRITOMART Reports of attack by enemy aircraft 18.3.41 REPORT OF ATTACK BY ENEMY AIRCRAFT Name of Ship: HMS BRITOMART Date: 15.3.41 at 1617 Position: At anchor in Rye Bay, head pointing NE Weather: No sea or swell. Blue sky and haze. Wind: NE Force 1. Visibility 2 miles. Form of attack: Dive Bombing No. Aircraft: One Type of Aircraft: ‘Yellow nose’ Number of bombs: One, released at 500 feet Size of bomb: 250 lbs. Delay action. Position bomb fell: Bomb passed through Ward Room and No. 5 cabin from starboard to port, exploding under water. Damage to ship: Defect list attached Casualties: Commanding Officer Lieut Cdr J M S Cox DSC, RN and Lt P A Block RNR killed Damage due to Enemy Bombing Attack on 15^th March 1941 Main Engines Sliding feet Port & Starboard LP Turbines – fractured and broken away. Steel supporting after end of starboard LP Turbine, underneath LP Turbine, after main bearing fractured. Port propeller shaft bulkhead glands at 80 and 83 bulkheads foul up – due to distortion of 80 and 83 bulkheads or port A bracket out of alignment. Auxiliary Machinery Holding down feet of port and starboard V8 generators - fractured. Water service drain pipe of diesel filter and heater - fractured. Water service supply pipe to Turbo Generator – holed. Bulkhead and miscellaneous fittings Plates split along rivet hole, lap buckled between 30 and 31 stations – port side. Bulkhead 31 buckled for 2 feet from Lower Deck and Frame 30 bent and twisted – port side. Hole approximately 18 inch diameter in ship’s side between stations 79 and 80 – port side. Hole in wardroom bulkhead and wardroom deck between stations 79 and 80. Frames in battery room leaking slightly. Laps of plates and rivets port side of gland space started slightly. Plates in Electrical Store at deck dented. Several rivets in laps and frames leaking. Oil fuel tank weeping in laps port and starboard between stations 48 and 56. Electrical High and low power cables on port side – after section parted. Wardroom lighting cables parted. Depth Charge trap port side smashed. Depth charge release gear – bottle screw slip bent. Plug sockets steering engine flat – leads parted. Indicator lights outside refrigerator – blown off bulkhead. Starter for 20 ton pump – broken. Glass door of main switchboard smashed. 5 inch fan in Officers wine store – frame cracked. Lead work bench for batteries – broken. Mine detector cable on port side – broken. V8 engines starting batteries – broken. Supports for LL batteries – cracked. LL cells smashed ( 4 in number)
16.3.41	Portsmouth	4.6.41	For Stornoway 17/3 From C in C Portsmouth: Bomb damage to BRITOMART, hole in side plating 4 feet above water line, also turbines damaged. Temporary repairs in hand. 25/3 from C in C Portsmouth: If necessary intend to dock BRITOMART on 24 or 25/3. 29/3 From MS1: Request alterations and additions be taken in hand in BRITOMART concurrently with bomb damage repair. If time permits request permanent degaussing equipment also be fitted. 9/5 from dockyard Portsmouth: Completes 24/5 approx 27/5 from C in C Portsmouth: Subject to satisfactory completion of trials BRITOMART will be ready for service 2/6.
Following the loss or damage of so many escorts at Dunkirk it was decided to bring the Halcyons into the Western Approaches Command to act as local escorts at the UK end of the convoy routes. They were ideally suited to this role of escorts, being fitted with both Asdic and more recently with the new Radar (271 sets). Bramble, BRITOMART, Hazard and Hebe were based at Stornoway although their activities took them to several other ports including Oban, Inverary, Aultbea, Londonderry, the Clyde and Iceland. Normal minesweeping duties were carried out when not required as escorts, although they were ready at immediate notice to be sent off for patrol or escort duties.
?	Stornoway	8.6.41
9.6.41	Stornoway	23.6.41	9/6 Engine Room Artificer 4^th Class William Higgins D/MX60245 died.
24.6.41	Greenock	?
4.7.41	Convoy HX 134 (extracts from commodores report) 16:00 - 61 33N 25 00W. Several ships of local escort for HX 134 joined. Following are the names of these ships, HMS Salamander, Britomart, Hollyhock, Carnation, St. Apollo, Angle, Nigella, Aubretia, St. Clair. HMS Bulldog proceeded to Iceland, will return tomorrow to this Convoy. HMS Maloja, together with the Newfoundland escorts, the rescue ship Copeland, and the oil tanker Sveve all left for Iceland. With them went HMS Ausonia and escorts from SC 35. 16:08 - 8 Kts. 16:30 - Rescue ship Perth joined Convoy. 17:00 - HMS Britomart closed us and fired a costain gun line across, attached to which was a tin containing news and the list of escorts in their formation. 19:20 - Increased to 8.5 Kts. Smoke of a westbound Convoy sighted on starboard bow. 19:45 - Made R.V. for the 6th. 20:35 - Corvette Nigella hoisted black pennant and dropped a number of depth charges, all well clear of Convoy. 21:26 - Sloop Britomart hoisted black pennant, Convoy turned 90 degrees to starboard by two emergency turns. 21:45 - Returned to course again. Source: http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hx134report2.html
9.7.41	Aberdeen	?
21.7.41	Londonderry	26.7.41
26.7.41	Oban	28.7.41
In August and September BRITOMART was on loan to 3^rd Escort Group and Irish Sea Escort Force.
6.8.41	Loch Ewe	?
30.8.41	Aberdeen	5.9.41
?	Londonderry	9.9.41	7/9 From S.O. 1^st MSF: Proceed to Greenock for trials of oiling at sea being arranged by Naval Officer i/c Greenock.
10.9.41	Greenock	13.9.41
13.9.41	Belfast	18.9.41
19.9.41	Liverpool	21.9.41	22/9 From FO i/c Liverpool: Warping drum together with the other LL equipment was placed on board BRITOMART
28.9.41	Iceland	29.9.41
29.9.41	At sea	11.10.41	BRITOMART, Gossamer, Leda and Hussar were part of the Ocean escort for PQ1, with Harrier joining as the local eastern escort on 10^th and 11^th Oct to Archangel. No enemy action.
11.10.41	Archangel	?
23.10.41	Iceland	24.10.41
26.10.41	Scapa	28.10.41	26/10 To be fitted out for Arctic service 27/10 From RAD Home Fleet: HMS BRITOMART to be fitted out at West Hartlepool (W Gray) instead of Grimsby 29/10 BRITOMART entered Tyne for shelter. Proceeding to Hartlepool when weather moderates. Sailed 1030 30/10
30.10.41	Hartlepool	15.12.41	1/11 Taken in hand, completes 13/12 23/11 BRITOMART is urgently required to be ready to sail 14/12 14/12 from NO i/c Hartlepool: BRITOMART completed refit 12/12
16.12.41	Scapa	19.12.41
21.12.41	Seidisfiord	?	27/12 Salamander and BRITOMART were to rendezvous with the two ships of PQ7A which left Hvalfjord on 26/12. In the gloom, the rendezvous was not made and the ships proceeded independently through an easterly gale and thick ice. One of the merchantmen was torpedoed and sunk.

'Seidisfiord Xmas Day 1941'
'Bagsy - Damager - Stokes'
(Source - Jack Barlow)