Halcyon Class Minesweepers

HMS Hazard 1941

 
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HMS Hazard - Halcyon Class Minesweeper
HMS HAZARD 1937

Date of Arrival

Place

Date of Departure

Orders, Remarks etc

27.11.40

Leith

25.3.41

28/11 Taken in hand – refit and fitting of LL sweep. Completes Mid-Feb ‘41

  Well the following week we were told to go around to Leith for docking. And while we were there only a few men stopped on the ship in Watches. They lived in a small camp up Leith Walk. Myself, I sent for the wife to come to Leith as I had a room in a boarding house. It was small for us but very nice. The landlady was Scotch but her husband was a Tynesider. Both of them worked in a small picture house, she in the pay box and him on the door. I think my wife liked the change and being with me. We were there best part of four months getting more things added to the ship to combat against the magnetic mines and acoustic mines. And when we came out of dock of course the wife had to go back home. And after filling up with oil we went out and down the Forth and started sweeping magnetic, and while we were doing that there was a small fishing boat stopped and drifting down with the tide and when she started her engines up she went leaving nothing to say a boat had been there. And then we knew the Germans had laid a new kind of mine, an acoustic vibration mine. So down in the bows of our ship on each side they had put what looked like a round patch with a motor on. And when switched on they made a terrible noise sending vibration, ripples or waves through the water and exploding the mines up to four miles in front of our ship and exploding the magnetic mines up at the back. All shipping was stopped while we were doing that. There was explosions in the front and back, nobody was allowed below decks and when we did go down what a state everything was in a state. Cups and saucers and plates all broke. As we were under the Forth Bridge we blew a mine up near the leg of the bridge. It was a magnetic laid by an aircraft by parachute and when it entered the water the mechanism starts, waiting to be vibrated. And of course after the divers went down to see if any damage had been done to the supports of the bridge there was no damage but it was a near thing. We still carried out sweeping duties with the Fleet, first one side of Scotland and then the other.  
Scragg

28.3.41

Harwich

7.4.41

28/2 Completes 20/3

Reassigned to convoy escort duties with Western Approaches Command.

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 then 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.

10.4.41

Clyde

?

 

19.4.41

At sea

28.4.41

Escorting Convoys OB312 and SC28

30.4.41

Stornoway

?

 

1.5.41

Aberdeen

7.5.41

1/5 Taken in hand for repairs, completes 6/5

In May HAZARD, BRAMBLE and other ships of the flotilla were told to be at one week's notice for minesweeping operations while otherwise being available to the C in C Western Approaches for escort duties. 

?

Stornoway

15.5.41

 

16.5.41

Inverary

17.5.41

 

Between 19 May and 29 August HAZARD escorted Convoys HX125, OB336, SC34, SC39, HX142 and SC40.

?

Oban

30.5.41

 

30.5.41

Aultbea

31.5.41

30/3 From C in C WA: Liseta is to be sailed to Iceland in company with British Freedom and Aldersgate escorted by NIGER and HAZARD. Sailing to be delayed until arrival of HAZARD at Loch Ewe ETA 31/5

2.6.41

Iceland

?

 

9.6.41

Stornoway

9.6.41

 

10.6.41

Aberdeen

16.6.41

 

17.6.41

Stornoway

18.6.41

27/6 From SO 1st MSF: Should go to Londonderry for A/S training on completion of escort duties about 16/7

?

Stornoway

29.6.41

 

30.6.41

Clyde

2.7.41

 

8.7.41

 

 

HAZARD damaged her Asdic dome by grounding.

14.7.41

Clyde

24.7.41

15/7 From F O i/c Glasgow: HAZARD taken in hand by Messrs Barclay Curle, Govan for boiler clean and minor engine repairs by Messrs Fairfield Govan D/C 22/7

22/7 Owing to delay in undocking, D/c is put back to 24/7

24/7 From SO 1st MSF: Request HAZARD may be sailed for Londonderry for shell training

25/7 HAZARD completed and proceeded down river to Tail of Bank 24/7

25/7 From F O i/c Glasgow: HAZARD being taken in hand in the Clyde before the end of August 

25.7.41

Londonderry

1.8.41

 

23.8.41

Clyde

25.8.41

 

?

Clyde

28.8.41

 

 After a brief spell with SC39 she was diverted with HEBE and the destroyers Sabre and Shikari to protect HX142. 

30.8.41

Greenock

31.8.41

 

3.9.41

Aberdeen

9.9.41

 

11.9.41

Belfast

13.9.41

 

14.9.41

Milford Haven

16.9.41

 

17.9.41

Belfast

10.11.41

20/9 From F O i/c Belfast: Taken in hand for conversion for service in Arctic etc Completes 31/10

28/10 Anticipate HAZARD will be ready for sea 4/11

4/11 Sailing of HAZARD delayed owing to late arrival of Oerlikon mountings, fitting of which expected to complete 4/11

Sailing delayed owing to defects discovered during sea trials

9/11 Sailing delayed owing to weather conditions 

  And then we were sent over to Belfast for another change, and the crew had to live in private houses while the alterations were being done. They were very good and kind the people. So many of the crew had to stay onboard the ship at night in watches or shifts, the others living in their houses and coming down to the ship at 8 o’clock. Our landlady was very nice, at the weekend we were given our lodging money to pay the landlady and ours always gave us a £1 back, pocket money so she said, and that made some of the lads very mad as they got nothing back. While we were at Belfast all the crew got leave to go home for about five weeks, taking half of the crew at a time. We travelled to Larne and then after the customs went aboard the ferry to Stranraer and then by train to Carlisle, changing for Newcastle. I made full use of my leave going here and there with the wife and daughter and also my wonderful mother in law who I was very fond of. And at night the father in law and I went for a drink. Those leaves went over too quick and back to the ship to let the other half of the crew on leave. And it was then that we heard we were going to Russia on Convoy Duties. We did not know what lay ahead. Just as well as I Know some of them wouldn’t of come back. But when they did come back off leave and we painted the ship and then went back to Scapa Flow to wait for orders.  
Scragg

10.11.41

Rothesay

?

11/11 From F O i/c Greenock: Ranging completed but never satisfactory. Returning for further SA trials.

13/11 From C in C Home Fleet: HAZARD to sail for North Russia. No definite date can be given, should arrive Scapa as soon as practicable.

?

Greenock

16.11.41

 

17.11.41

Scapa

?

HEBE, SHARPSHOOTER and HAZARD were detailed to escort Convoy PQ5 to Archangel. In fact they escorted four of this convoy's seven ships from Kirkwall to Hvalfjord.

  The ship that should of come with us was held up so we had to go on our own which was very wrong, on our own to Scotland. On our way over we dropped a couple of charges and up came the dead fish killed by the explosion. We lowered the boats but did not stop the ship in case of subs, and when the boats were filled with fish they were called back and hoisted up on deck and away we went on our way to Iceland. The people didn’t seem pleased to see English, they were a lot of pro-Germans in Iceland. The Navy went up into a long fjord about eight miles from Reykjavik and while we were there a storm blew up and we were ordered out to look for an American lifeboat from an oil tanker. It was one of the worst seas I have been in, the waves were about 60 feet high. Of course there were swells after the storm. We stayed out all day but never saw anything and came back to harbour. Well the next day we were told to stand by for a convoy. We went alongside the store ship for winter clothing and food, and to the oil tanker to fill up with oil. 
Scragg

23.11.41

Iceland

27.11.41?

 

27.11.41

At sea

8.12.41

SHARPSHOOTER, HAZARD and HEBE provide part of Ocean escort for PQ5 (7 ships) from Hvalfjord. SHARPSHOOTER remained with the convoy all the way to Archangel, arriving 13/12. On 7/12 BRAMBLE and SEAGULL joined as local eastern escort, allowing HAZARD and HEBE to detach to Murmansk with the cruiser Sheffield arriving 8/12. There was no enemy activity.

  And the day came for our adventure into the Arctic. There were quite a few ships, Americans, British, Canadian, Russian, it took about seven days to get to the Kola Inlet to Murmansk and some ships went along to the White Sea to Archangel. Our ship went alongside the jetty at Murmansk and we went ashore to see the town. And everywhere we went there was a Russian following us. They wouldn’t trust us to go round ourselves.
Scragg

8.12.41

Murmansk

?

HAZARD then carried out local minesweeping duties with SPEEDY before going out to meet Convoy PQ6.  

17.12.41

At sea

?

While on their way to meet PQ6 (8 ships), HAZARD (Lt Cdr J R A Seymour) and SPEEDY were attacked by four German destroyers that had been sent out to find PQ6 (Z23, Z24, Z25, Z27) and were laying mines. This was the German’s first attempt to intercept a convoy. The Germans mistook the British ships for much larger Soviet destroyers and did not press home their attack. Although the Germans fired star shell the minesweepers managed to escape in the gloom under a smoke-screen. SPEEDY was hit four times and was replaced by HMS LEDA.  

 

Our ship and HMS Speedy were patrolling outside the White Sea when we were jumped on by two German destroyers. They were firing by radar and it was good shooting. We got hit once but not much damage. But the Speedy was badly hit. One of her guns was shot right out and her mast came down and she was hit in the steering compartment. All we could do was put a smoke screen around her and run for cover of the coast and signal Murmansk. The HMS Kent and two destroyers went after them. The next night Hazard and Speedy had to go alongside the Kent for repairs, worked during the night to put patches on the side before we could go anywhere and at daybreak we were off to the White Sea again.

And we got ordered to go back to where we had left the ice breakers months beforehand. But all we could see was cliffs of ice. We waited and I wish I could have had a camera as the cliffs opened up and out came the ice breakers, the little store ship, four Russian destroyers and the oiler, the Hopemount, from Vladivostok. We left them at their Base and carried on back to Archangel to wait for the big convoy that had left England and Iceland. We left for the entrance to the White Sea and wait.

Scragg

20.12.41

Murmansk

?

 

     

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This site was last updated 17 Januar 2012