HMS Britomart 1944 Halcyon Minesweeper

Date of Arrival	Place	Date of Departure	Orders, Remarks etc
6.3.44	Scapa	7.3.44
8.3.44	Port Z A	?	By 9/3 Jason, Harrier (SO), Speedwell and Hussar had been joined by BRITOMART, Gleaner, Halcyon, Salamander and Seagull and the 1^st MSF proceeded to carry out minesweeping exercises.
17.3.44	Aultbea	17.3.44
24.3.44	Inverness	?
?	Invergordon	2.4.44
?	Leith	12.4.44
24.4.44	Harwich	1.5.44
6.5.44	Harwich	13.5.44
14.5.44	Portsmouth	9.6.44	D Day CLICK HERE FOR AN ACCOUNT OF THE HALCYON'S ON D DAY
	An account of D Day on HMS Britomart by Clifford Marriott Sunday 4th June 'D' Day 1.15 pm Commence. Cancelled owing to rough weather, postponed 24 hours. Monday 5th June 1.15 Sails from Portsmouth 11 pm approx Arrived Le Havre / Cherbourg. Silent, no trouble. Tuesday 6th June 1 am approx - our bombers commenced. 3 am approx - gliders 7 am - Landings One of our destroyers broke in half and sunk in a few seconds. Sweeping throughout the day. Same weds/Thurs. Boarded landing craft adrift (removed all moveable objects) crew evidently jumped overboard. Friday 9th June 9.30 pm - arrived Le Havre/Cherbourg Bay. Three Gerry planes give little excitement. 10.30 pm - anchored just off Cherbourg. Plenty of wreckage floating about, miles of surface oil from sunken craft, dead fish, Lucky Strike packets and ration cartons. 12 pm - plenty of Gerry planes over at midnight, one dived on ship but no bombs dropped. Saturday 10th June 8.30 am - sweeping again. Grand sight in bay, close in shore hundred of ships. Anchored near beach all night, our bombers over in great strength. Sunday 11th June 5 am - steamed along coastline until 8 am then anchored near centre beach. Houses and church clearly visible and do not appear to be much damaged. Eight concrete blocks and 70 ships which are to be blown up to form breakwater near this beach. Our bombers still roaring over and loud explosions heard from Cherbourg area. Fields and trees above cliffs seem so peaceful. Remainder of day sweeping. Back to beach head 9pm. Monday 12th June Plenty of gunfire during night. Largest convoy yet entered bay, more than 100. Fortresses just passed over to visit Gerry. Weather improved. Sweeping again. E Boats attempted to enter bay, two were sunk others damaged. Anchored in bay 9pm. Tuesday 13th June More ships arrived. Dozens of wrecked landing craft can be seen on beach. Scores of planes attacked land targets. Battleships, cruisers etc shelling continuously. Saw three of our planes brought down. Airmen baled out and were fired on by Gerry. Looks as though an attempt is to be made tonight on Le Havre. We have just swept the approaches to the Seine. Anchoring again near the Cherbourg peninsula. Just passed a sunken frigate stern up in the air. Wednesday 14th June Sweeping approaches again. Massive air attacks near Le Havre. Saw five planes drop paratroops. Thursday 15th June 3 am - German planes dropped mines near to our ship anchored off Le Havre coast, almost a direct hit. Sweeping area this morning. Friday 16th June Sweeping. Saturday 17th June Anchored off shore all day. At nigh anchored near entrance to Le Havre. Saw about 300 of our bombers crossing over, one brought down in flames over beach head. We appear to be too close to enemy coast. Sunday 18th June 1 am - five bombs dropped very close to the ship. First time I had completely undressed, thought my time had come, ship shuddered and rattled like a can. Turned in again about 2.30 am. At 3 am a single bomb dropped near to ship. Sweeping in morning. Anchored near Le Havre again, more bombs dropped during night. Monday 19th June Weather very rough, lost anchor and cable during night. Oil bomb dropped near ship. Tuesday 20th June Left beach head for Isle of Wight for oil etc. Arrived 9.30 pm. Best nights sleep for two weeks. No mail yet. Soon be pushing off for Le Havre. Wednesday 21st June First letter received dated 5th June Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th Anchored off Isle of Wight. Second letter received dated 16th. Sunday 25th June Sailed at 5 am, arrived Le Havre 9 pm, swept all the way. Stern of liberty ship showing above water. Monday 26th June 1 am - bombs, mines, shells falling all around us, rotten night. Last explosion 3.40 am, will try to sleep. 7 am sweeping coastal area. Secret mines dropped by Gerry - cruiser, two destroyers and two corvettes already damaged. Tuesday 27th June Quiet night for a change. Sweeping from 7 am to 5 pm, anchored near original beach. At 8 pm anchored just off Cherbourg peninsula. Tens of bodies floated past ship during the day. Wednesday 28th June Good job we changed our anchorage last night as minesweeper and merchant ship was sunk at our usual spot. Sweeping again at 6 am. Sweeping cable caught in screws. Anchored near original beach head 1pm mines and bombs dropped near ship. German plane brought down. No sleep until 4 am. Thursday 29th June Tied along cruiser Frobisher at 8 am for services of diver. Friday 30th June Sweeping all day, anchored near Cherbourg. Few bombs and mines during the night. Saturday 1st August Sailed for Isle of Wight, arrived 5 pm. Sunday 2nd August Still waiting for instructions. Joined up with east bound convoy at 2 pm for Harwich. Subs in vicinity, depth charges dropped. During the night about 14 flying bombs shot down by our fighters, ship shuddering with blast. Source: Philip Marriot, son of Clifford Marriott. Sept 2008
20.6.44	Portsmouth	8.7.44
8.7.44	Harwich	?
10.7.44	Southend	11.7.44
?	Portsmouth	28.7.44
?	Portsmouth	6.8.44	7/8 Intend sailing BRITOMART to Harwich 9/8 for boiler cleaning Postponed 24 hours
10.8.44	Harwich	19.8.44
19.8.44	Southend	?
?	Portsmouth	21.8.44
After D-Day the 1st Minesweeping Flotilla's main task was keeping the swept channel between Portsmouth and Arromanches clear of mines. On 22nd August, operating out of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches, they were sent to clear a magnetic minefield off Cap d'Antifer. This was to enable the battleship' Warspite' to get closer to the French coast to bombard the port of Le Havre still in German hands. On being ordered back to their previous duty after a maintenance day at Arromanches, the Commanding Officer of HMS Jason (SO 1st MSF in the absence of the Flotilla leader) pointed out to the staff at the minesweeping HQ that the urgent task off Cap d'Antifer was not completed. An amending signal, cancelling the return to the Portsmouth/Arromanches channel, was duly made. The 1st. Flotilla, led by HMS Jason and including the BRITOMART, Hussar, Salamander and the trawler 'Colsay', began their fifth day of minesweeping on Sunday, 27th August, 1944. At about noon on 27 August when the ships were sweeping, an RAF reconnaissance aircraft flew over low, the pilot returning the waves from the ships' companies. Between 1330 and 1340 on this beautiful day, with the sea smooth as a duck pond, sixteen RAF rocket-firing Typhoons, of 263 and 266 Squadrons accompanied by a Polish squadron of Spitfires, swooped out of the sun and attacked the BRITOMART. On their second attack, the Salamander and Hussar were hit. In just over 10 minutes, two ships were burning and sinking, a third badly damaged and on fire. Men swimming in the water were now subjected to shelling from the German shore batteries. Hussar and BRITOMART were sunk and HMS Salamander so severely damaged as to be beyond economical repair. The minesweeper Jason and the dan laying trawler Colsay were also damaged in the attack. A total of 78 officers and ratings were killed and 149 wounded, many seriously. Twenty two men were killed on the BRITOMART and fifty five on Hussar. Survivors were later told to 'keep their mouths shut about the whole affair'. A court of enquiry, held at Arromanches two days later, found that this appalling blunder was due to "an error in communications". This regrettable episode occurred because the signal ordering the 1st MSF to resume their task off Cap d'Antifer, rather than sweeping off Arromanches, was not repeated to the Flag Officer British Assault Area. Although, therefore, the reconnaissance aircraft had reported the ships as friendly and the leader of the airborne Typhoons had twice questioned his orders to attack, the shore staff persisted with the strike because it was thought that enemy vessels were trying to enter or leave Le Havre. The RAF was completely exonerated. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS OF 27TH AUGUST 1944