HMS ''Brave'' (J305) was a

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

-powered during the Second World War.

Design and description

The turbine-powered ships displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. The ships measured long overall with a beam of . The turbine group had a draught of . The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings.Lenton, p. 261 The ships had two Parsons geared

s, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...

s. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

that gave them a range of at . The ''Algerine'' class was armed with a QF Mk V

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

Chesneau, p. 65 and four twin-gun mounts for

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

. The latter guns were in short supply when the first ships were being completed and they often got a proportion of single mounts. By 1944, single-barrel Bofors 40 mm mounts began replacing the twin 20 mm mounts on a one for one basis. All of the ships were fitted for four throwers and two rails for

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

Construction and career

The ship was ordered on 20 May 1941 at the

Blyth Shipbuilding Company The Blyth Shipbuilding & Dry Docks Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding, shipyard located in Blyth, Northumberland, Blyth, Northumberland, England. Company history Early history Shipbuilding began on the site on the south bank of the River ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 23 April 1942 and launched on 4 February 1943. The ship was commissioned on 3 August 1943. on 14 January 1944, she took part in the

Operation Shingle The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II that commenced January 22, 1944. The battle began with the Allies of World War II, Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle, an ...

until the 26th of the same month. On 16 June, the ship and her flotilla was deployed in advance of ships on passage to carry out Operation Brassard. In July, they were deployed in the joint minesweeping operations off

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (, meaning "ancient town") is a city and major Port, sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea west-northwest of Rome. Its legal status is a ''comune'' (municipality) of Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Rome, Lazio. The harbour is formed by ...

to clear a channel north of Cape Corso also known as Operation Lobster. In August, she took part in the

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), known as Débarquement de Provence in French ("Provence Landing"), was the code name for the landing operation of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15Augu ...

. On 14 July 1944, the ship took part in operation to clear a channel to Port of Leghorn with ships of the 19th and 13th Minesweeping Flotilla during Operation Lobster. In October, she was nominated for minesweeping service with her Flotilla in support of the

Operation Manna Operation Manna was the Code word (communication), codeword for a Second World War operation by the British and Greek forces in Greece in mid-October 1944, following the gradual withdrawal of the Axis Occupation of Greece, German occupying for ...

. The ship returned to the UK in May 1946 and was put into the

reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...

. In 1951, ''Brave'' was towed into the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

to take over the duties as Drill Ship of the Tyne Division R.N.V.R. from

HMS Melita Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Melita'', named after the island of Malta: * , launched in 1888 was a composite screw sloop, the only Royal Navy warship ever built in Malta. She swapped names with HMS ''Ringdove'' in 1915 and ...

. As a drill ship, she was given the name ''Satellite''. The ship ran aground on the Black Middens on the North side of the river but was able to be towed out. The damage she sustained were too extensive to be repaired conventionally. Moreover, she had concrete poured at her lower hull during her conversion at the Tyne Dock, thus she had problems with her watertight integrity. In 1957, she was sold to BISCO for scrap by the Clayton and Davies at Dunston in which she arrived on 25 November of the same year.

References

Bibliography

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External links

HMS Brave (J 305)
at uboat.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Brave (J305) Algerine-class minesweepers of the Royal Navy Ships built in England 1943 ships World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom