HMCS ''Bayfield'' ( pennant J08) was a initially constructed for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Transferred to the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

in 1942, the minesweeper saw service on both the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and East Coasts of Canada as a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

escort and patrol vessel. In 1944, ''Bayfield'' sailed for European waters and took part in the invasion of Normandy. She remained in European waters for the rest of the war and was returned to the United Kingdom in September 1945. The minesweeper was laid up until being discarded for scrap in 1948.

Design and description

A British design, the ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were smaller than the preceding s in British service, but larger than the in Canadian service.Chesneau, p. 64Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 177 They came in two versions powered by different engines; those with a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s and those with vertical triple-expansion steam engines. ''Bayfield'' was of the latter design and was larger than her diesel-engined cousins. ''Bayfield'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, had a beam of and a draught of . The minesweeper had a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of . She had a complement of 6 officers and 77 enlisted. ''Bayfield'' had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The minesweeper could carry a maximum of of fuel oil. British ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were armed with a single 12-pounder () 12 cwt HA gun mounted forward. For anti-aircraft purposes, the minesweepers were equipped with one QF 2-pounder Mark VIII and two single-mounted QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns.Macpherson (1997), p. 38 The 2-pounder gun was later replaced with a twin 20 mm Oerlikon mount. As a convoy escort, ''Bayfield'' was deployed with 40 depth charges launched from two depth charge throwers and four chutes.

Operational history

The minesweeper was ordered as part of the British 1940 construction programme. The ship's

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 30 December 1940 by North Vancouver Ship Repairs at their yard in North Vancouver,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Named for a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, ''Bayfield'' was launched on 26 May 1941. Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy, the ship was commissioned on 26 February 1942. Following work ups, the minesweeper joined Esquimalt Force in May 1942, the local patrol and

escort force operating out of

Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

. ''Bayfield'' was one of the warships added to the west coast patrol force after the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

. The main duty of ''Bangor''-class minesweepers after commissioning on the West Coast was to perform the Western Patrol. This consisted of patrolling the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

, inspecting inlets and

sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

and past the Scott Islands to Gordon Channel at the entrance to the

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

and back. ''Bayfield'' transferred to Prince Rupert Force, the local patrol and convoy escort force operating out of

Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 12 ...

in November. In March 1943, ''Bayfield'' was reassigned to the East Coast of Canada, arriving at

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

on 30 April 1943. The minesweeper was then sent to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the United States to undergo a refit. Following the refit, ''Bayfield'' returned to Canada to join Halifax Force, the local patrol and escort force operating out of Halifax. In February 1944, ''Bayfield'' sailed for European waters as part of Canada's contribution to the invasion of Normandy. After arriving at Plymouth on 7 March, the minesweeper was assigned to the all-Canadian 31st Minesweeping Flotilla. The 31st Minesweeping Flotilla was assigned to the assault sweep during the landings on 6 June and cleared channel 3 in the American sector. During the sweep, ''Bayfield'' served as a danlayer, marking the swept channel. The minesweepers completed their work unmolested by the Germans ashore. Following D-day operations, the minesweeper remained in European waters assigned to Plymouth Command until being

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

on 24 September 1945 before being transferred back to the United Kingdom. ''Bayfield'' was laid up in reserve at Sheerness until 1948. The minesweeper was sold on 1 January 1948 and

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...

by King at Gateshead.Colledge, p. 78

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayfield (J08) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Navy Ships built in North Vancouver 1941 ships World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy