HMS Abingdon

HMS Abingdon was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Aberdare sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I.

History
United Kingdom
Builder: Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon
Laid down: 30 November 1917
Launched: 11 June 1918
Completed: 6 November 1918
Fate: Sold 1947; broken up 1950
Notes: Pennant number: J23 / N23
General characteristics
Class and type: Hunt-class minesweeper, Aberdare sub-class
Displacement: 800 long tons (813 t)
Length: 213 ft (65 m) o/a
Beam: 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Draught: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 74
Armament:

Design and description

The Aberdare sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced 800 long tons (810 t) at normal load. They measured 231 feet (70.4 m) long overall with a beam of 26 feet 6 inches (8.1 m). They had a draught of 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m). The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.[1]

The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of 2,200 indicated horsepower (1,600 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). They carried a maximum of 185 long tons (188 t) of coal[1] which gave them a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[2]

The Aberdare sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) four-inch (102 mm) gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-aircraft gun aft.[1] Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.[2]

Construction and career

Following commissioning, Abingdon served with the Aegean Squadron.[3] She remained part of the Aegean Squadron in November 1919,[4] but by January 1920 she was listed as being paid off, although still part of the Mediterranean Fleet.[5] From 1920-1935 she was held in reserve at Malta, then joined the 2nd Minesweeping Flotilla in Malta and Hong Kong. Sweeping was routine until January 1941 when the German Junkers 87s and 88s arrived. Abingdon's captain, Lieutenant Graham Simmers, explains:

It then hotted up with as many as a hundred raids a day, and the Germans laying magnetic mines at night. Abingdon and Fermoy were not equipped to cope with these and things got a bit sticky until the corvette Gloxinia arrived to clear up the mess.[6]

Abingdon was attacked while sweeping, but the ship's slow sweeping speed and steady course seemed to throw the Junkers 87 pilots, as they only scored near-misses; but the Fermoy, bombed while in the dockyard, was a complete write-off. Graham Simmers describes the end of the ship's career:

In January 1942 the situation worsened. We were machine-gunned while at sea and suffered many casualties, until we were ordered to sweep at night, navigating by a small light shown from points on shore so that I could obtain cross-bearings.[7]

This continued until 5 April 1942 when Abingdon, while in Kalkara Creek for repairs, was near-missed by two bombs which broke her back. Lieutenant Simmers had her towed out to Bighi Bay, where she was beached and abandoned. The ship was broken up in 1950.

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See also
  • Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
  • RAF Abingdon
  • USS Abingdon (PC-1237)

Notes
  1. Gardiner & Gray, p. 98
  2. Cocker, p. 76
  3. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c.: XV.—Mediterranean: British Aegean Squadron". December 1918. p. 22. Retrieved 21 June 2020 – via National Library of Scotland. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  4. "X.—Mediterranean: Aegean". November 1919. p. 713. Retrieved 21 June 2020 – via National Library of Scotland. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  5. "VII.—Mediterranean". January 1920. p. 712–13. Retrieved 21 June 2020 – via National Library of Scotland. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  6. Quoted in Lund, Paul and Ludlum Harry, Out Sweeps: The Exploits of the Minesweepers in World War II (New English Library, 1979), 67-68
  7. Quoted in Lund, Paul and Ludlum Harry, Out Sweeps: The Exploits of the Minesweepers in World War II, 67-68

References
  • Cocker, M. P. (1993). Mine Warfare Vessels of the Royal Navy: 1908 to Date. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-328-4.
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
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