HMS
Salamander (J86) was built and engined by J. S. White, Cowes. She was laid
down on 18th April 1935 and launched 24 March 1936. A
Devonport‑manned ship, intended to relieve SELKIRK in the 1st M/S
Flotilla, SALAMANDER commissioned at Devonport on 18 July 1936. She
exercised briefly off Plymouth and then returned to the dockyard to be
taken in hand for attention to a gun mounting. SALAMANDER sailed to
Portland in October and was back at Plymouth in December for minor
repairs.
She was at Portland in Jan/Feb 1937 and then entered
Devonport for a five week refit starting 5 March. During the London to
Isle of Man Air Race in May, she was on patrol off the island and June
saw her at Plymouth for maintenance which lasted into January. In March
1938 SALAMANDER reduced to 2/5 complement at Devonport while she
refitted and replaced her 4" low angle guns with high angle weapons;
this refit completed on 15 July, ex trials. In August she rendezvoused
with the 1st Flotilla for a flotilla visit to Copenhagen before
returning to Scottish waters in September and October. (In fact she
sailed to her war station at Scapa because the Fleet was at a high state
of readiness during the 'Czech Crisis'). She returned to Portland late
October and sailed on to Plymouth for maintenance at the end of the
year.
She was off Portland in the opening
months of 1939 before entering refit at Devonport in March. With other
ships of the flotilla she stood by to search for the sunken submarine
THETIS in Liverpool Bay in June, and after some South Coast visits she
relieved SPEEDY on the actual salvage task. In the run up to the Second
World War she stayed in the Channel, with visits to Portland, Plymouth
and Sheerness. On 9 August she was temporarily allocated to the Reserve
Fleet for the Royal Inspection at Spithead. With effect from 21 August
she was transferred to the 6th M/S Flotilla. On 3 Sept 1939 the war
started and SALAMANDER was ordered by the CinC Nore to 'proceed to
Dover forthwith'. In October she sailed to the East Coast, but returned
to Dover in December.
SALAMANDER sailed to the Humber
for a short visit in January 1940 and from there she proceeded to
Invergordon. In
April 1940 she was allocated to the 4th Minesweeping Flotilla, Nore
Command, and in May took part in a minesweeping operation off the coast
of Holland until the Dutch capitulation. She was one of many ships
employed in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from
Dunkirk and from 26th May to 1st June, took off a total of over 1100
troops in three trips. On the latter date, while rescuing survivors from
another ship which had been set on fire, she was subjected to air
attacks which damaged her engine room, but she managed to raise steam
for slow speed and arrived at Dover on one boiler and disembarked 479
troops.
After lengthy repairs the ship sailed
from Sheerness on 25 September with the destroyer CAMPBELL and others on
Operation 'Lucid' (an attack on German invasion craft in Northern France
using fireships which was abandoned). In the confused situation after the evacuation of the B.E.F,
the collapse of France and the German occupation of the European
coastline from the North Cape to the Pyrenees, the small ships,
including SALAMANDER, carried out ceaseless patrols and sweeps off the
enemy coast, waiting for him to attempt the invasion of Britain. As
winter approached the weather, as usual, became the main threat and
SALAMANDER suffered severe weather damage on 6 December while employed
on coastal convoy escort duty.
On 29 January 1941 she sailed into
Grimsby to refit until 10 March.
On completion she sailed
to Scapa as part of the reconstituted 6th Minesweeping Flotilla which
with the 1st Minesweeping Flotilla was to be based at Scapa to
strengthen convoy escort groups, under Western Approaches Command.
She then sailed to
Aberdeen for repairs between 15 and 23 July.
In August
after embarking Oropesa and LL sweeps, she was engaged with the
minesweepers HALCYON and HARRIER in providing anti‑submarine protection
for the anchorage at Seidisfjord, Iceland; in September she was on mine
searching operations at the entrance to the White Sea.
SALAMANDER remained in Russian waters
until Convoy PQ1 reached Archangel (11 Oct 1941) and then sailed with
HALCYON to arrive Seidisfjord on 22 October. SALAMANDER was then
'arcticised', and she knew she would therefore be returning to N.
Russia. The work (lagging, provision of ice‑chipping tools and of more
high pressure hoses) was carried out at Aberdeen.
On
returning to Scapa SALAMANDER and BRITOMART were detailed as part of the
escort for Convoy PQ7 and they sailed to Seidisfjord, departing at the
turn of the year to rendezvous with the convoy on 2 Jan 1942.
Apart from a period under refit from
March to May 1942, SALAMANDER spent the whole of that year escorting
Russian convoys. On 1st March she left Murmansk escorting a convoy which
was scattered on two occasions by heavy gales, but was able to reform,
although one merchant ship, a straggler from the convoy, was sunk by an
enemy destroyer. The convoy reached Iceland on 9th March and SALAMANDER proceeded to Scapa. From this time, the conditions under
which these convoys operated worsened, with very heavy air and U‑boat
attacks, as well as attacks from coastal forces. In an outward convoy to
Russia which left Iceland late in June, twenty‑three of a total of
thirty‑four ships were lost by attacks from aircraft and U‑boats. SALAMANDER picked up the ship's company of one of these ships almost
immediately it was abandoned and rescued the survivors of another during
the earlier attacks. Some of the remaining ships reached Motochkin
Strait on 7th July and were reformed. HMS SALAMANDER was among the
escorting ships which sailed with the small convoy next day. Much fog
and ice was encountered and the convoy was subjected to high
level bombing attacks during which two ships were sunk. The surviving
ships arrived at Archangel on 11th July. Boatloads of
survivors had been picked up during the passage and two merchant ships
had arrived at Archangel two days earlier. Other ships which had taken
shelter were formed into a convoy and SALAMANDER assisted in
escorting them to Archangel. In November SALAMANDER was among the
escorts of an inward bound convoy of thirty merchant ships which ran
into a succession of gales forcing it to scatter. One ship
returned to the Kola Inlet and two were sunk, probably by
U‑boats, but twenty‑seven ships arrived in Iceland and were taken on in
two convoys to Loch Ewe. HMS SALAMANDER arrived at Scapa on 1st
December. Between
7 December 1942 and 1 March 1943 she underwent repairs at Aberdeen.
After refit, SALAMANDER, now
allocated to the 1st Minesweeping Flotilla, sailed for
Gibraltar with HMS Halcyon in April 1943, escorting a convoy of tank landing
craft. She returned to UK with a convoy of storeships returning from
North Africa. She remained in home waters for a few months until
September when she was again in Icelandic waters. In October she took
part in anti-U boat patrols between Iceland and the Faeroes. She was at
Tyne for repairs from the end of December to the end of February 1944,
when preparations were begun for operation Neptune, the invasion of
Normandy which began on the 6th June 1944, and in which the
minesweepers played a particularly important part. They were required to
sweep channels in advance of the main force, clear neighbouring areas to
give sea room and clear mines after the assault. As the spearhead of
assault Force S, the 1st and 15th Minesweeping
Flotillas, with their attached danlayers and minesweeping motor launches
had a most difficult task but the channels were well swept and marked.
The minesweepers continued ceaselessly and on 27th August the
1st Minesweeping Flotilla was working off Le Havre. By a
tragic mistake, SALAMANDER was attacked by British Typhoon aircraft,
was severely damaged and had to be towed to safety. She was placed in Reserve but
being beyond economical repair, was scrapped at Blyth in May 1947.
Source: One of a series
of articles from World Ship Society's publication ‘Warship’
THE
WAR OF THE HALCYONS 1939-1945
R
A Ruegg
See also
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