 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Gazelle (J342) |
| Namesake | Gazelle |
| Builder | Savannah Machinery and Foundry Co. |
| Laid down | 2 July 1942 as BAM-17 |
| Launched | 10 January 1943 |
| Commissioned | 28 July 1943 as HMS Gazelle (J342) |
| Out of service | December 1946 |
| Fate | Returned to the United States Navy |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Catherine-class minesweeper |
| Displacement | 890 tons |
| Length | 221 ft 3 in (67.44 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft | 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) |
| Propulsion | Two 1,710shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines |
| Speed | 18 kts |
| Complement | 105 |
| Armament | One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, five depth charge projectors [1] |
HMS Gazelle was a Catherine-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy (the Catherine class was the British designation for the United States Navy's Auk-class minesweepers). [2] [3]
In May 1945, as the war drew to a close, a flotilla of eight minesweepers including Gazelle took part in "Operation Cleaver" to clear the German mine barrage off the Skagerrak, making way for a squadron led by the light cruisers Birmingham and Dido with four destroyers to return the Danish government-in-exile to Copenhagen and take the surrender of German warships in Danish waters. The force reached Copenhagen on 9 May, taking control of the German cruisers Prinz Eugen and Nürnberg after their surrender. [4]
