HMS Cadmus (J230)

HMS Cadmus (J230) was a steam turbine-powered Algerine-class minesweeper during the Second World War. Launched in 1942 the ship survived the war and was sold to Belgium in 1950 as Georges Lecointe (M901).

Design and description
The turbine-powered ships displaced 850 LT at standard load and 1125 LT at deep load. The ships measured 225 ft long overall with a beam of 35 ft. The turbine group had a draught of 11 ft. The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings.

The ships had two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of 2000 ihp and gave a maximum speed of 16.5 kn. They carried a maximum of 660 LT of fuel oil that gave them a range of 5000 nmi at 10 kn.

The Algerine class was armed with a QF 4 in Mk V anti-aircraft gun and four twin-gun mounts for Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. The latter guns were in short supply when the first ships were being completed and they often got a proportion of single mounts. By 1944, single-barrel Bofors 40 mm mounts began replacing the twin 20 mm mounts on a one for one basis. All of the ships were fitted for four throwers and two rails for depth charges.

Service in the Royal Navy
The ship was ordered on 15 November 1940 at the Harland & Wolff at Belfast, Ireland. She was laid down on 21 July 1941 and launched on 27 May 1942. She was commissioned on 9 September 1942.

Service in the Belgian Navy
Cadmus was renamed Georges Lecointe (after Belgian polar explorer Georges Lecointe) and was commissioned on 31 January 1950.

In 1959, she was decommissioned by the Navy and on 24 April 1960, she was sold to J. Desmedt Burcht Belgium. Her scrapping process started on 19 May.