HMT Amethyst

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HMT Amethyst.jpg
HMT Amethyst in her earlier guise as the Phyllis Rosalie
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMT Amethyst
BuilderSmith's Dock Co., South Bank-on-Tees
Yard number963
Launched15 January 1934
CompletedFebruary 1934
Acquired1935
Renamed
  • Launched as the Phyllis Rosalie
  • Renamed Amethyst in 1935
FateSunk by mine on 24 November 1940
General characteristics
Displacement447 tons
Length157 feet 3 inches
Beam26 feet 4 inches
Sensors and
processing systems
ASDIC
Armament1 × 4 in gun
Notes Pennant number T12

HMT Amethyst was a naval trawler requisitioned by the Admiralty prior to the Second World War. She was sunk in the second year of the war.

Amethyst was built as the commercial trawler Phyllis Rosalie by Smiths Dock Company, South Bank-on-Tees and was launched on 15 January 1934. [1] Her first owners were the Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, based at Fleetwood. [1] In 1935 she set a number of records for catches landed at Fleetwood, and was present at King George V's Silver Jubilee Spithead Review, representing the port of Fleetwood. [1] She was sold later that year to the Admiralty, who had her converted into an anti-submarine warfare trawler with the addition of ASDIC and a four-inch gun. They classed her and a number of other trawlers as the Gem group, and the name Amethyst was selected.

She continued to serve during the Second World War, but on 24 November 1940, whilst under the command of T/Lt. the W.K. Rous, RNVR, she struck a mine in the Thames Estuary and sank. [2] There were no casualties, and the survivors were landed at Southend, where they were briefly arrested under suspicion of being survivors from a sunken German craft. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 History of Phyllis Rosalie
  2. "Record of trawlers lost". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.

Coordinates: 51°30′28″N1°01′15″E / 51.50778°N 1.02083°E / 51.50778; 1.02083