Twentieth Fleet Sweeping Flotilla (Royal Navy)

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The Twentieth Fleet Sweeping Flotilla was a formation of fleet minesweepers of the Royal Navy. It was generally based in Felixstowe.

History

c. August-October, 1918 – April, 1919

The flotilla was created some time between 1 August and 1 November, 1918, when it joined the Sixth Fleet Sweeping Flotilla, which had been clearing mines near Harwich since early 1918. By 1 November 20 F.S.F. was found "temporarily detached to Granton", but bearing the parenthetical base of Felixstowe. By 1 December, Granton is no longer mentioned, suggesting it was back at Felixstowe.

In January, the two Harwich-area flotillas were further reinforced by the new Twelfth and Nineteenth Fleet Sweeping Flotillas.[1]

Operating from Felixstowe/Granton
Minesweepers
Blackburn Derby Harrow Stoke

April, 1919 – May, 1919

The Flotilla, along with the 6th, 12th and 19th, moved on to the Dutch port of Scheveningen some time in April, 1919.[2]

Operating from Scheveningen
Minesweepers
Blackburn Derby Harrow Stoke

June, 1919 – onward

The Supplement to the Monthly Navy List at this juncture ceased bothering to print detailed information on minesweeping formations, though list Blackburn as one of seven sloops now based in Southampton, with the other three being detailed to unspecified "Mine Clearance Service". Reference is made to a separate Mine Clearance Service Weekly Return which has not been located.[3]

Senior Officers

Footnotes

  1. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (August, 1918). p. 13 and Supplements through May 1919, except no September or October 1918 edition was found, which makes the earliest history of this formation difficult to establish reliably.
  2. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (May, 1919). p. 14 and Supplements through X.
  3. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (June, 1919). pp. 15, 18.
  4. Bardwell Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/54/87. f. 87.
  5. Bardwell Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/54/87. f. 87.

Bibliography

  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.

See Also



British Minesweeping Formations
Fleet Sweeping Flotillas (Great War)
First | Second | Third | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth | Tenth
Eleventh | Twelfth | Thirteenth | Fifteenth | Sixteenth | Eighteenth | Nineteenth
Twentieth | Twenty-first | Twenty-second | Twenty-third | Twenty-fourth
Minesweeping Flotillas (World War II)
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth