HMS Seagull (J85)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Seagull.

Seagull in May 1946
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Seagull
Operator	Royal Navy
Builder	HMNB Devonport
Laid down	15 February 1937
Launched	28 October 1937
Commissioned	30 May 1938
Fate	Scrapped in May/July 1956.
General characteristics
Class and type	Halcyon-class minesweeper
Displacement	815–835 long tons (828–848 t) 1,310–1,372 long tons (1,331–1,394 t), full load
Length	245 ft 3 in (74.75 m)
Beam	33 ft 6 in (10.21 m)
Draught	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion	Vertical triple-expansion, 2,000 ihp
Speed	17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Range	7,200 nmi (8,290 mi; 13,330 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement	80
Armament	2 × QF 4 in Mk.V (L/45 102 mm) guns, single mounts HA Mk.III 4 × QF 0.5-inch Mk.III (12.7 mm) Vickers machine guns, quad mount HA Mk.I 8 × .303-inch (7.7 mm) Lewis machine guns

HMS Seagull was a Halcyon-class minesweeper, and the first all-welded Royal Navy ship, built entirely without rivets. The design was ahead of its time, using longitudinal framing and flush butt joints in the hull plating. This gave a substantial improvement in costs and build time, the comparison being the half-sister ship built using rivetted construction on another slipway in the same dockyard. She was designed by Rowland Baker, the influential naval architect who worked on many naval vessels used in World War 2 and into the cold war. She was completed on 30 March 1938.^[1]

She was adopted by the civil community of Christchurch, Hampshire after a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign in February 1942

During the Second World War she helped escort 21 Arctic convoys, and participated in Operation Neptune. She was also involved in the accidental sinking of the Polish submarine ORP Jastrząb, along with HNoMS St Albans, during the passage of Arctic Convoy PQ 15. Five crewmen were killed. A court of Enquiry found that Jastrząb was 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) out of position, in an area where U-boats were expected to operate, and no blame could be attached to either commander.^[2][3] Other sources maintain the convoy changed course and entered Jastrząb's patrol sector. Also that the Allied ships ignored identification marks, while on the surface and that Seagull's commander was later found guilty by the Admiralty.^[4] These accounts are not reconcilable.

In late 1945 she was converted in Rotterdam to a Survey Ship. Until 1950 she operated in home waters, after which she was paid off into the reserve. She became the naval drill ship at Leith in 1955 before being scrapped by Demmelweek and Redding in Plymouth in 1956.^[5]

References

1. Brown, David K (2004). "Baker, Sir Rowland (1908–1983), naval architect". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64171. Retrieved 14 September 2024. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Kemp p47
3. Hague p35
4. Jerzy Pertek, Wielkie dni małej floty, Poznań, 1976 (Polish language, no ISBN)
5. Halcyon-Class.co.uk HMS Seagull Page