HMS ''Sword Dance'', (not to be confused with the trawler lost in 1942), was a of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. ''Sword Dance'' was built by Lytham Ship Building in 1918, and in 1919 was deployed as part of the

North Russia intervention The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought a ...

in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. On 24 June 1919, the ship was mined while operating against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

on the Dvina River, south of

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Design and construction

In July 1917, the Royal Navy had a requirement for a shallow- draught minesweeper, suitable for operations in harbours and rivers, and it was suggested that the 'tunnel tugs' being built for the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...

for river operations in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

, were suitable for this role (as part of the

Mesopotamian campaign The Mesopotamian campaign or Mesopotamian front () was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the British Empire, with troops from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain, Australia and the vast major ...

), and in October that year, it was agreed that the Royal Navy would purchase six of the tugs which were under construction, with a further four more purchased in December 1917. The ten ships were based at

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

in 1918, operating off the

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

coast. In April 1919, four more ships were transferred from the War Department for service in North Russia in the

in the

. One of these ships, ''ET 10'', was built by the Lytham Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at their

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

yard in 1918, and renamed ''Sword Dance'' on transfer. ''Sword Dance'' was

long between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .

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 ...

was . The ship was powered by a

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

, which powered two propellers mounted in tunnels under the hull to minimise the draught. Speed was . The ship had a crew of 22–26 officers and men.

Service

After joining the Royal Navy, ''Sword Dance'' underwent modifications for her new role. She was fitted with minesweeping and minelaying equipment, while modifications for the weather extremes of North Russia included the fitting heaters to warm up aircraft engines in cold weather and mosquito netting. Armament consisted of a single

6-pounder gun 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

. After boarding up the sides of the ship, ''Sword Dance'' was towed to the Arctic. On 7 June 1919, ''Sword Dance'' arrived at Yukanski (now

Ostrovnoy, Murmansk Oblast Ostrovnoy (), previously known as Murmansk-140 (), is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 2,171; down from 5,032 recorded in the 2002 Census. History The first naval base was established here i ...

), along with sister ships , and , joining the monitor which had arrived the previous day. She was deployed on the

Northern Dvina The Northern Dvina (, ; ) is a river in northern Russia flowing through Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River to the east, it drains most of Northwest Russia into the Arctic O ...

river in support of interventionist forces. While a considerable force had been assembled to support operations along the Dvina, including six monitors and six shallow draught river gunboats and well as the four minesweepers, the river was too shallow in places for much of the force to reach the front line or support the planned advance of British forces, with the minesweepers having the shallowest draught, and hence able to reach as far as

Kotlas Kotlas () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Northern Dvina and Vychegda Rivers. Population: Kotlas is the third-largest town of Arkhangelsk Oblast in terms of p ...

. On 20 June 1919, British and White Russian forces under General

Edmund Ironside Edmund Ironside (30 November 1016; , , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marre ...

launched an attack, with support of the Royal Navy with the aim of capturing

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

defences at Topsa and Troitsa on the Dvina, as part of an offensive with the aim of reaching Kotlas. The Bolsheviks launched a counterattack on 21 June, which was repelled by artillery fore from the gunboat . ''Sword Dance'' was stationed on the Dvina near Troitsa on 24 June, when it was noticed that some of the markers indicating the swept channel had moved, so the minesweeper set out to relay the markers. While doing this, she detonated a mine and sank, killing one crew member and wounding the commanding officer,

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Alan Halliley. The ship had sunk in shallow waters, with her bridge and

Stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

still above water, and attempts were made to salvage the ship, but the withdrawal of British troops from North Russia brought these attempts to an end, and the remains of ''Sword Dance'' were blown up on 17 September 1919. Halliley was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

for his service in North Russia both before and after ''Sword Dance''s sinking, while ''Sword Dance''s

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

, Sub-Lieutenant Archibald Dunn, was awarded the

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

References

* * * * * * {{cite book , last=Wright , first=Damien , title=Churchill's Secret War With Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918–20 , year=2017 , location=Solihull, UK , publisher=Helion & Company, Limited , isbn=978-1-911512-10-3 Minesweepers of the Royal Navy Dance-class minesweepers