HMS ''Seagull'' was a , and the first

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 ...

ship to be built entirely without

rivets A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched o ...

. She was completed on 30 March 1938. She was adopted by the civil community of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, Hampshire after a successful

Warship Week Warship Weeks were British National savings campaigns during the Second World War, with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy not only had lost many capital ships bu ...

National Savings campaign in February 1942 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 ...

she helped escort 21

Arctic convoys The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

, and participated in

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. 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 out of position, in an area where U-boats were expected to operate, and no blame could be attached to either commander. However, other sources maintain the convoy changed its course and entered ''Jastrząb's'' patrol sector. Also that the Allied ships ignored identification marks, while on surface, and that ''Seagull's'' commander was later found guilty by the Admiralty. These accounts are not reconcilable. In late 1945 she was converted in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

to a Survey Ship. Until 1950 she operated in home waters, after which she was

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 ...

into the

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

. She became the naval drill ship at

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

in 1955 before being scrapped by Demmelweek and Redding in Plymouth in 1956.Halcyon-Class.co.uk HMS Seagull Page
/ref>

References

Halcyon-class minesweepers Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1937 ships World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom Cold War minesweepers of the United Kingdom {{UK-minesweeper-stub