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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

HM BYMS-2012
ex-HM J-812
ex-BYMS-12



BYMS-12 served the Navies of Great Britain and Italy
BYMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 21 March 1942 as BYMS-12 by Associated Shipbuilders, Seattle, WA
  • Launched 27 May 1942
  • Completed 5 October 1942
  • Transferred to Great Britain 6 October 1942 and reclassified HM J-812
  • Reclassified HM BYMS-2012
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody 23 May 1947; transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission; sold to Italy and named ITS Biancospino (DR 410)
  • Reclassified M-5403
  • Struck from the Naval Register 10 June 1947
  • Struck from Italian Naval registry in 1966
  • Scrapped.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 32
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts and two depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    HM J-812
    BYMS-2012 31k Jim Thornton
    HM BYMS-2012
    BYMS-2012 118k Commissioning crew photo
    Front row: Albert Ronald Fitzgerald appears fourth from the left. Sub-lieutenant John Henry "Harry" McMullan, RNVR, 5th from left
    Second row: James Murray on the left
    Photo from "Minesweeper: The Role of the Motor Minesweeper in World War II" by Michael J. Melvin, BEM    		 Robert Hurst
    BYMS-2012 309k 28 September 1943 newspaper article from the collection of William Henry "Harry" Linstead Helen Forster
    BYMS-2012 54k Signed photo of him and colleagues with Gracie Fields. My Grandfather (William Linstead) is in the bottom left of the photo
    From the collection of William Henry "Harry" Linstead
    BYMS-2012 103k In drydock forward of an unidentified BYMS David McMullan
    BYMS-2012 101k
    BYMS-2012 100k
    BYMS-2012 2640k
    BYMS-2012 146k
    BYMS-2012
    1119201211    		 219k The rating depicted in this image is my Father, Albert Ronald Fitzgerald who was a petty officer on BYMS-2012 from 1942-45. Photo courtesy of Michael Fitzgerald.
    BYMS-2012
    1119201213    		 182k Rescuing a stricken vessel ( craft unknown) taken by my Father from on board BYMS-2012 from 1942-45. Photo courtesy of Michael Fitzgerald.
    BYMS-2012
    1119201212    		 194k BYMS-2012 Sweeping for mines & detonating mines. Photo courtesy of Michael Fitzgerald.
    Biancospino (M 5403)
    BYMS-2012 155k 28 May 1970
    La Spezia, Italy
    Outboard of two unidentified minesweepers awaiting scrapping. Eugene A. Greene (DD 711) is moored across the pier
    Photo by Carlo Martinelli    		 Jim Murray
    There is no DANFS history available for BYMS-2012
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the British Motor Minesweeper (BYMS) Photo Index
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