A SHORT HISTORY OF THE J34 - HMS TENBY GOES TO WAR

The story of the J34 occupies a period of approximately six years during WW2

At the time of her construction in 1941, the U.K. was fighting virtually alone against the Axis powers. The battle of the Atlantic had not yet been won, and the factories were working flat out to produce weapons, Tanks, Aircraft and Ships.

The first two new fleet Minesweepers built since the war began were launched at Belfast on the 14th of February 1940. Two months later they were joined by another, She was HMS Bangor, and gave her name to the class. 'Bangor' was also part of the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla.

More than a hundred 'Bangor Class Minesweepers followed, most of them built during the years 1940 - 42. They were in fact the smallest ships in the Navy to be classed as 'major war vessels'.

The Tenby was built by Hamilton White & Co at Glasgow and was completed on the 8th of December 1941.

The 'Bangors' had been designed pre-war for coastal minesweeping of moored mines, but when war came the plans had to be hurriedly altered, and the 'Bangors ' left the slipways 'modified' with additional equipment and armament.

J34's details are set out elsewhere on this website, but it is sufficient here to say that she was of 686 tons displacement, with turbine engines, 162 ft in length, 28ft 6ins beam, and of 8ft 3ins.draught.

The 'Bangors' were named after British coastal towns, and these towns were encouraged to adopt the Ship bearing their name, send them comforts and books and raise money for them in Warship Weeks.

I will be dealing with the J34's association with the town of Tenby later in this story.

As a whole, the 'Bangors' had bad seakeeping qualities, with an average of 9 ft draught for and aft; had little stability; and even in a moderate head sea they used to bury their bows into the water and throw it green over the bridge.

In bad weather they were a nightmare. I can well remember the many times when I had to eat meals in the small mess area aft, adjacent to the Officer's quarters as the for'rard mess decks were completely uninhabitable, fortunately, minesweeping required calm seas and so in this respect we were fair weather sailors. However, all that was to change later in the war when we were assigned to convoy duties.

The Tenby was first allocated to the 14th Minesweeping Flotilla, Rosyth Command, and was operating out of the Clyde at the beginning of December 1941. From the middle of January 1942 she was in the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla based at Portsmouth.

For the first couple of years most sweeping operations took place in the English Channel. Generally, this was tedious, very tiring, gruelling, dangerous and largely unexciting procedure.  Few mines were located and even fewer swept. When one did pop to the surface this was an occasion of some jubilation. All would be marksmen rushed to take a shot at it. They usually missed!, so it was left to the Dan-layers, (Trawlers) which accompanied the Flotilla to finish it off. To see a mine blowing up was a most awesome sight.

The first important operation (codenamed Jubilee) was the combined Allied raid on Dieppe on the 19th August 1942. This has been widely covered so I won't repeat all of the details here. 237 Naval vessels were employed including the 9th Flotilla, which swept ahead of the invading forces (a foretaste of D day!). With hindsight the raid was not an unmitigated success.

The Calpe, (the Commanding vessel) was hit by enemy fire and damaged,  and the Destroyer Berkley was damaged by air attack and had to be sunk. 33 Landing craft were lost and there were 3363 Canadian and 247 Commando casualties. The Germans lost only 600 in all and 48 aircraft against British losses of 106.

On the 5th of January 1943 the Tenby took part in operation Q.V.1 this was mine laying off Haddock Bank, off the coast of Norfolk, with Plover, Blythe and Puffin.

At the beginning of February 1943, J34 was temporarily transferred to the Nore Command with the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla, then she returned to Portsmouth Command in early May 1943.

During early September 1943 a deception sweep was carried out with another flotilla between Dover and Calias. Starting from the English coast near Dover one flotilla swept for mines over a set  time. The second flotilla would then cross in front of the first to carry on sweeping towards the French coast. So the operation continued.

ERA George Barlow wrote the following account :

On the first day's sweeping we came under a great barrage of German gunfire, and during this time swept up a small cylinder shaped vessel. This was sent ashore to be inspected. A report came back that it was used by the Germans as a sound detector to pick up the propeller noises of passing ships. General shooting accuracy diminished somewhat after the detector had been removed, which was just as well as HMS Blackpool had received a direct hit by a shell, which fortunately did not explode. It entered the paint locker through the fore-deck before going out of the ship's side by the Port anchor.

We swept for three days and the bridge reportied on the final sweep that curtains could be seen in the windows of French buildings through normal type binoculars, we were so close. Sweeping continued apace for the remainder of 1943. Christmas leave was cancelled and we swept all over Christmas - much to everyone's chagrin, and so into 1944 and the run-up to the big one, D Day, which follows

Footnote: In the first three years of war British sweepers swept 5,500 mines. The price paid was high. 173 minesweepers were lost, 77 sunk by mines, 58 destroyed by aircraft, and 38 lost due to other causes.

Operation Overlord

At the beginning of 1944 the Tenby was part of the 9th minesweeping Flotilla based at Portsmouth and carrying out frequent sweeps in the English Channel.

Prior to June 6th many final clearance sweeps were made along the Channel to ensure that all was clear in our section, before the invasion began. Although of course at the time we were quite ignorant as to what was being planned. What we did know was that in the final week of sweeping the weather was so diabolical that in normal circumstances all sweeping operations would have been cancelled.

In the May of that year, instead of returning to Portsmouth we anchored in the Solent and were informed that this would be our berth for quite some time. Initially leave was granted and all sorts  of liberty boats were made available to take us ashore, mainly to the Isle of Wight. The Solent was beginning to fill up with many ships of all shapes and sizes arriving daily.

Working hours were spent making sure all systems were in order and defects put right or reported. In off-duty time many took up handicraft work - rug making, wooden trays made of matchsticks etc - fishing rods were made available and games tournaments were held between mess-decks. Ratings and Officers were organised into teams, (darts tournaments were all the rage). So the ship was prepared, the crew contented, well fed and rested, but with no idea of what was in store.

Because of severe weather the actual date for the invasion of Normandy was postponed, however, on the 5th of June 1944 the sea conditions had improved, although still very choppy, and at 1255 on that day the Tenby, with the 9th Flotilla, set sail from the Solent heading for Juno beach on the French coast between Le Havre and Cherbourg. Other ships in the Flotilla were the Bangor, Blackpool, Boston, Bridlington, Bridport, Eastbourne and Sidmouth. They were accompanied by theTrawlers Bryher, Dulmulth Ijuiw and Sigma.

As soon as we got under way the Skipper informed us that the second front was about to open up. There was also a message from General Eisenhower in a leaflet delivered by the Coxswain to each member of the crew saying that 'Operation Neptune', the Naval part of  'Operation Overlord', was about to begin. So it was with some elation that we greeted this news and the saying then was 'The beginning of the end'. Even,  'home for Christmas'. We should be so lucky! .

We were also informed that, should we hit trouble, we could expect no help from the other sweepers - We would be on our own. This last statement saw a quite search of messdecks for mae- west lifejackets, then a not so quite stampede towards the heads!.

Our job was to sweep towards the French coast to clear a passageway through any minefield so as to give the invasion ships a clear run. A BBC commentator had joined the Tenby and he was busily recording unobtrusively at one side of the bridge. In fact he was quite close to where I was standing on watch as Starboard lookout . After a couple of hours everyone was called to 'Action Stations', where we remained until after the invasion had begun. By 1915 that evening the combined Flotilla had streamed sweeps and joined the assault convoy J1.

Mines were swept through a German minefield although no explosions were  heard below decks. On completion of opening up the traffic lanes  (single passageways to the French coast), great areas had to be cleared to allow the bombarding ships and transport vessels etc room to manoeuvre and facilitate the landing of troops and heavy artillery. This part of the operation went extremely well.

At about 0730 on the 6th of June the Flotilla took up position off the French coast. HMS Warspite, together with destroyers and other large warships were pounding the landing areas and also further inland. Bomber aircraft were passing overhead in large numbers.

During the first day and night the 9th Flotilla was positioned on the outside edge of all these happenings, supplying protective cover for our small section of the immense operation. It was understood that destroyer patrols of the English Channel cut off any attempts at German interference. One of our crew looking over the ship's side saw two Germans floating by,  their war was over.

We were warned to keep a sharp lookout for frogmen or mines, and later that morning some of the crew were engaged in repelling mines that were floating by the ship's side, and were frantically shoving them off with boat oars and other implements.

For the following three weeks the Flotilla carried out sweeping duties during the day, opening up more passageways to allow the invasion forces to land. At night we took up position hove-to near the Warspite on the outside edge of the invasion fleet and other vessels, giving some minor protection to those ships between us and the French coast.

One night we found ourselves drifting, and as we were supposed to be at anchor this was quite alarming, so the cable party were hastily piped to weigh the Port anchor. It was soon discovered that the anchor had parted from its cable and we were quite literally adrift, speeding steadily towards Le Harve. Orders were given to get underway immediately and we were soon able to take up our former position. This time with the Starboard anchor firmly embedded, so until the next refit some months later we were to remain a one anchor ship.

After a further three weeks the 9th Flotilla was ordered back to its base in Portsmouth, however, the general rejoicing was short lived as we were soon destined for another major operation - Cherbourgh.

The allied forces were making good progress up the Cherbourgh peninsula, but it was another matter trying to break the heavy German fortifications of Cherbourgh itself, so it was decided to bombard those defences from the sea. Rumour had it that our orders from the Admiralty  were  to wait for the nine o'clock  news on the radio, and, if Cherbourgh had still not fallen (it hadn't!) we  were to proceed across the Channel and R/V with a small task force of mainly American warships already assembled near the French coast. At the time the Flotilla was anchored off the Isle of Wight close to the Needles.

On the morning scheduled for the attack the weather looked perfect for the sweepers to go in and clear an area for the bombarding force,  which consisted of the cruiser HMS Glasgow, an American cruiser and destroyers. The morning mist was a help and we began sweeping. Then suddenly the sun broke through and there, steaming along at a steady eight knots was the 9th Flotilla - sitting ducks!! - and the German defences opened up. With shells landing all around us, we hastily got in the sweeping gear and with the aid of a smokescreen laid by the destroyers, we were able to retreat out of range of the German guns. From this position it was possible to watch the battle in comparative safety; none being so intrepid as our navigating Officer, who blithely climbed on to the bridge roof with camera snapping away merrily. HMS Glasgow was really going for it, pounding away at the fortifications. She was hit twice by shellfire. The Bridport was also damaged by shrapnel and had to return to Southampton for repairs.

The operation was successful and Cherbourgh was soon in the hands of the Allies. This opened up a vital port for the landing of troops and supplies.

For a further six weeks  our routine consisted of daytime sweeping and defence positions at night. Then followed a period of very welcome leave.

For the remainder of 1944 the 9th Flotilla was engaged in convoy escort duties. The port of Cherbourgh was now in use and large convoys were passing to and through across the Channel.

The U-boat threat had abated considerably but there were one or two occasions when depth charges had  to  be  dropped  as a  precaution, but the whole convoy routine was very tedious, with long hours on watch  and little excitement.

So ended a momentous year in the annuls of our National history. The D Day operation was perhaps one of the most successful and outstanding and it is enough to say with a sense of pride  "I was there".

Norway is liberated

At the commencement of 1945 there was little to do in the way of minesweeping so convoy escort duties across the Channel continued for several weeks. The scent of victory was in the air and group numbers for demobilisation were announced . This realty did seem that the end of the war was in sight, however, before finally leaving our Portsmouth base, there was the frustrating sight of flying bombs (V-1's) passing over at regular intervals. It was virtually impossible to shoot them down as they were so fast. This was a bombardment that even the Navy could do little to counteract.

In the early months of 1945 the Tenby left Portsmouth, making her way  up the north sea and stopping at Hull for a short while, then, proceeding to Granton, where the Flotilla 'rested' for a few weeks while regular shore leave was enjoyed in Edinburgh  and the surrounding  districts.

Just prior to VE Day in May 1945 the 9th Flotilla, now under Rosyth Command, set sail from Granton and headed out for mine clearance sweeps across the North Sea towards Norway. This was to open up the sea lanes and enable the King of Norway to return to his homeland. The operation was called Conan, (Norwegians to Norway) and was carried out to enable the liberation forces to take over from the German occupation forces.

On VE-Day, 8th of May, a signal was received that hostilities in Europe had ceased, also to 'Splice the Main-brace', but it was a very curtailed celebration as we still had plenty of dangerous work ahead.

Sweeping took some weeks and, at the end of each day the Flotilla hove to for the night. The motorboat was lowered so that sealed orders from the Flotilla Leader (at that time Tenby) could be collected or delivered. On one such occasion disaster struck. As the boat was being hoisted, the after falls parted, leaving the boat hanging by the bow, L/Seaman Blackman, the cox'n was thrown into the sea, but the bowman, A/B Macallam, was able to grab a lifeline and swing himself inboard over the ship's rail. The whaler was lowered and for half the night the Flotilla carried out a full search using the signal projectors but unfortunately there was no sign of L/Sea Blackman.

Sweeping continued right up to the Norwegian coast. At one stage we had three German destroyers close us with signal lamps flashing, wanting to surrender. They were told  to keep out of the way as we were engaged in minesweeping.

On another occasion there was the sound of a ship's klaxon going full blast calling the crew to action stations, not Tenby's though, a destroyer passed us at speed with guns training round. That destroyer meant business, the object of her attention being a German warship which was closing the minesweeping Flotilla but had failed to give a recognition signal. Fortunately, this was soon corrected.

Eventually the sweep was completed and the  sweep gear hoisted inboard. At the entrance to the Fjord leading to Bergan a German pilot was taken onboard to guide us through the very heavily mined channel. When we entered the Fjord the water looked like glass, the sun was shining and the scenery was breathtaking.  As we approached Bergen the Norwegian people came out to greet us in anything that floated. The welcome was overwhelming. As we tied up alongside and shut down main engines a great cheering broke out on the quayside. No sooner had the gangway been laid from ship to shore than the Norwegians just dashed aboard to greet us. From the other side of the ship, others shinned up ropes from various craft and clambered over the ship's railings. It was not until tot time when we had assembled in the mess for the daily ration that we realised to what extent the ship had been taken over, for there in the mess were scores of children, all bright eyed and smiling broadly. Then we heard the pipe, 'The canteen will be open for chocolate', and we became very popular indeed. The ships working day came to an abrupt standstill!!!. Eventually the ship had to be cleared of visitors, but before going, the children sang to us, a charming 'thank-you' gesture.

On the first day at Bergen leave was granted and it was a bit disconcerting to see Germans with guns strapped to their belts still directing traffic. Some of the crew settled themselves into a café-cum pub and set about drinking a dark brew called beer, but, a couple of hours later it was evident that the 'beer' was non alcoholic. The Germans had destroyed all the breweries.  At another venue in Kristiansand, acorn coffee was the main fare!.

After a couple of weeks or so in Bergen, we sailed North to Stavanger. Here the German Navy was in greater evidence and was employed to clear the Fjords of mines which were chained down so that explosive cutters were needed to free them. The people of Stavanger were just as welcoming and tried to be hospitable, but, as their shops were practically empty, especially the food shops, this was no easy task..  A tea party was arranged in the local hall and the ship's company attended but were hesitant to satisfy their appetites too freely in view of the terrible food shortages  which prevailed throughout the country. However, this was not just a visitation or a mere liberation exercise. We had a job to do and that was to clear the minefields off the Norwegian coast and there are two efforts worth noting, the first was the clearing of a minefield off Bergen,  which was laid by the Germans in 1944 in anticipation of an Allied  assault on the area. Very precise details of this field was given to us by a German Naval Officer who spoke very good English.

That sweep took ten days to complete and 90 mines a day were swept. The weather was very kind, in fact it was a glorious summer. On completion of each days sweep, rifles were issued and great sport was had  by sinking mines. On the first day of issue it was reminiscent of a cowboy and Indian show, the way the rifles were handled. We must have used thousands of rounds all told.

The Captain claimed that sweeping 900 mines in ten days was a record and sent a signal to Captain S.M. in Rosyth  with this information. The second record was reported in a newspaper dated the 9th of July 1945. It is worth quoting in full:

'MINESWEEPING EPIC, 79 HOURS NON STOP IN MIDNIGHT SUN'

A minesweeping marathon recently completed off the West coast of Norway by the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla under the command of Commander R.W. Wainwright  R.N.  By taking advantage of the long hours of daylight in those latitudes the six ships H.M Ships Sidmouth, Tenby, Blackpool, Romney and Rye, swept non-stop for 78 hours and 52 minutes covering 607 miles at a speed of 7.5knots, it is believed that this is a record for continuous sweeping.

Plus:

'CAUGHT IN MINEFIELD'.

In his report, Commander Wainwright admitted that no difficulty was experienced in station keeping during the long nights, nevertheless we are thankful that the midnight sun does not shine over the British Isles '

Just as the signal to 'In Sweeps' was about to be made after they had been in the water for three days and nights, Tenby and Bangor found themselves in the middle of an unknown minefield, by executing a sharp turn Eastwards the flotilla emerged safely, cutting four mines in the process, and returned to Stavanger from whence they had started. That sweep was the more remarkable in that navigation was frequently difficult in the occasional poor visibility of an unfamiliar coast.

As a respite from minesweeping, we visited the delightfully beautiful Flekefjord where it was possible to swim and walk along the Fjord.

Then a final visit was made to Kristiansand, where we sampled a much wider range of activities such as fun fairs etc, whilst there we enjoyed a heat wave as well as news of V-J Day, all hostilities were now at an end . However, for the minesweepers, it was not the end. Our own waters had to be cleared now and for that purpose we returned to Newcastle in August, but first came a spot of welcome leave in which we found the country embroiled in election fever.

Although the war was finally over, minesweeping was to play the major role in Tenby's life for the next 12 months. After leaving Newcastle in the early Autumn of 1945 we returned to Granton and completed one operational sweep as leader of the 9th Flotilla, then it was up river for a boiler clean.

At the end of October, Tenby joined the 16th Flotilla and was now under Plymouth Command. The ship was provisioned and fuelled at Rosyth and then proceeded to sea, sailing down the East coast. My memory recalls a short spell at Sheerness before  proceeding along the Channel and being based at Portland for a few weeks whilst carrying out sweeping operations in the proximity of the Channel Islands. Other ships that had joined the Flotilla were the Shippigan  (as leader) and the Tadoussac.

From Portland we proceeded to Plymouth in November 1945 and sweeping operations continued from there, these were all fairly mundane affairs - no need to worry about enemy activity any more, just our perennial enemy, the magnetic mine.

On one occasion the weather was so bad that we had to seek refuge in Cherbourgh harbour. Leave was granted from 1600-2200, about 20 ratings went ashore, each with about 100 francs (10s) borrowed from the ship's 'treasury' but this didn't last long with coffee costing 40f and a glass of wine 25f, so some of the more enterprising of us started to sell off soap, chocolate, cigarettes, toothbrushes etc. Quite a crowd collected and soon we had acquired several hundred francs, however, all of this had to be spent ashore and so 9 of us descended on a swanky café. Dinner as ordered, (a terrible meal of bread and earth!) and 5 bottles of champagne which tasted like vinegar. On the way back we brought another couple of bottles of champagne and gave them to the motor boat's crew.

Disaster at Plymouth

On the 16th of December, in Plymouth Sound a fresh disaster struck Tenby, and once again involved the motor boat. Sea conditions were very rough and later a 40 knot gale developed, intensifying at times into violent squalls. Nevertheless, shore leave was granted to the Starboard watch from 1800 that evening. At the time Tenby was at a buoy just North of Drakes Island on the Cornish side of the Tamar. The motor boat took the first contingent of liberty men ashore. Leaving the ship it headed for the harbour steps about halfway across it developed engine trouble and broke down, they managed to get a tow back to Tenby and the fault was put right. The boat safely completed another round trip and another batch of liberty men were assembled and waiting on the quarterdeck.

This time the boat didn't make it to shore, it is believed that when the boat emerged from the relative shelter of Barnpool, it met the full force of the gale on clearing the lee of Drakes Island, where dangerous currents meet, the small craft, although capable of standing up to fairly rough weather, capsized, and in the intense darkness there was no possibility of the accident being seen. The victims, eight in all, had little chance in those turbulent waters. George Barlow recalls the scene, "I had decided to go on deck for a breather, I saw the boat leave the ship, a small squall, extra to the force of the wind, made itself felt on my face. The next moment I heard cries for help. No need to guess where they were coming from, it was in the direction of the liberty boat. I covered the distance from the quarterdeck to the mess in one and nearly knocked the wardroom door down in the process as I thumped into it. The First lieutenant, new to the ship,  appeared, all I could blurt out was, 'liberty boat in trouble, there are cries for help coming from its direction'.

I also told him I would go below and flash up the second generator as the searchlight would be required. I rushed down to the engine room, feeling helpless that I could do no more. I don't know what other orders were given but the searchlight was soon in operation. Boats searched, and other sweepers in the vicinity swept with their searchlights  but to no avail, The first information of the accident came when one of the ratings swimming towards the shore, (the only one to survive) attracted the attention of a watchkeeper on another sweeper. Searchlights roved over the water but the weather worsened still further and with high seas running the searchers task became ever more difficult, but it was carried on until the authorities felt that there was no chance of any further rescue. For three hours the lifeboat cruised in the Hamoaze and the Sound from Drake's Island  to Torpoint , later examining the foreshore off Tinside.

Throughout this time the ship was in constant communication with Naval HQ at Devonport, who eventually called off the search. Later, a Royal Naval  Board of Inquiry was held.

Shortly after the tragedy,  Christmas and New Years leave was given, but it was with heavy hearts that we greeted leave on that occasion.

In early 1946 the Flotilla left Plymouth for the last time and made its way round to Swansea, many of the relatives of our lost shipmates came on board to meet us and, to use a modern expression, 'come to terms with our grief', no counselling in those days!.

On the 16th of January 1946, at 1100hrs, between 300-400 Officers and ratings from the Naval base and the Flotilla, together with relatives, attended a memorial service at St. James church in Swansea. The service was conducted by a R.N. Chaplain, assisted by local Clergy and a Missions -to-Seamen Padre .  Whilst at Swansea, a charity football match was held between a team from the 16th Flotilla and Swansea Town reserve side, the proceeds in aid of the dependants of those who had lost their lives.

A good match was enjoyed by all, although the 16th were unable to match the stamina and superior weight of the Swansea Reserves, losing by two goals to five.

The job is done

After the event, it took some time to get back to normal routine, but minesweeping provided the answer, and now most of the Irish Sea had to be tackled. From Swansea we moved up to Fishguard and Milford Haven, and several weeks of minesweeping ensued.

At last our task was completed and the final order for 'In-sweeps' was given, however, before heading for home in the Spring of 1946 a courtesy call was made by the J34 to the Town of Tenby on the South Wales coast, which had supported us throughout the dark days of war. Anchoring off Caldy Island, the Harbour Master made a liberty boat available so that the ship's company could go ashore. We were given the freedom of the town so far as free drinks and admission to clubs was concerned. Also, the liberty boat enabled certain VIP's and others to visit the ship, this often included a bevy of pretty girls and there was no shortage of volunteers to show them around.

All too soon our visit was over and we headed for Tenby's final destination. Sailing into Harwich in early June, the majority of the ship's company was discharged to barracks to await demob or further postings. A small working party remained onboard for another two weeks when the J34 was rammed onto the mud flats.

On the 1st of January 1948 She was broken up by Clayton & Davis of Dunston and so ended the life of a brave little ship, and those of us who are left can remember her, certainly with pride, but also with something like affection.

John Jackson

Footnotes:

In writing this article I am grateful for the inputs from John Robbins, Roy Tapping and George Barlow - former ships company of the J34.

During the six years of hostilities, in all theatres of war, a total of 300 Minesweepers were lost, including 170 Trawlers, and a further 150 were seriously damaged.

Thankfully, the Tenby survived without a scratch.

I appreciate that there is a difference between the tonnage quoted in this story and the tonnage quoted elsewhere on these pages.

I will seek to clarify the tonnage and amend the incorrect page.

Jeff Mays - Web Master