- Yes - In the Tech Tree.
- Yes - Event/BP.
- Yes - Premium.
- No - I would not like to see HMNZS Thomas Currel in game.
Description:
One of the many Strath-class minesweepers built for the Royal Navy at the end of the First World War, but completed as a trawler. She was requisitioned by the RNZN at the start of the Second World War, and reconverted back to her original plans as a minesweeper.
This suggestion is for her as she commissioned in 1939.
History:
Built by R Williamson & Son in Workington, England, she launched in 1919, completing in May of the same year. Named the Enrico, she was planned to be built to the Admiralty Strath-class minesweepers design of WW1, but due to that war’s ending she was completed as a civilian fishing trawler, and sold to a civilian fishing fleet.
She served in this simple role in waters around the UK until 1921, when she was sold to Sanford ltd for £5,500, and renamed the Thomas Currell. Sailing for Auckland in December 1921, arriving in February 1922. She would fish the NZ coast for a further seventeen years until the breakout of the Second World War.
Upon the outbreak of war, the SS Thomas Currell was out at sea. However, due to the lack of a wireless receiver set, she was unaware of this, and would stay at sea for a further week. When she returned with her catch, she was ordered to the Devonport naval base as she had been commandeered. Along with the Sandford-class trawlers, SS James Cosgrove, and SS Humphrey, she was refitted for mine-sweeping duties, their original planned purpose.
During her refit, she received depth-charges, mine-sweeping gear, a QF 4-inch Mk.V gun, light machine guns, and wireless equipment. She commissioned as HMNZS Thomas Currell on the 10th of October 1939, and was stationed in Auckland harbour. On the 19th of June 1940, the SS Niagara reported on wireless that she had struck a mine and was sinking. HMNZS Thomas Currell and James Cosgrove responded to clear the mines in the area, destroying two contact mines via rifle fire.
Her service would be uninteresting, only being used for standard ASW and fisheries patrol throughout her commission at Auckland. She would be paid off in September of 1944, as she was deemed obsolete. She would again be converted into a Trawler, completing in late 1945. As she was decommissioned before the end of the war she would miss the major de-mining operations in the Hauraki Gulf in 1945.
She would continue her pre-war routine fishing off the New Zealand Coast, until 1952, when she would be laid up and listed for sale. She would be purchased by the Wellington Fishermen’s Co-operative for £7,000. During examinations, it was found that she would need some hull repairs. This work would be completed by Mason Bros Engineering Co Ltd in Auckland.
Her coal-fired steam engines would be replaced by a 480hp diesel engine in 1955. This was done at a cost of £20,000. She would again be put up for sale sometime in the late 1950s, being sold to the Wellington Trawler Company. She would again be re-purposed in 1966, acting as a freezer-store for crayfish on the Chatham Islands. During this period, she would often break free of her mooring and hit other ships. Her owner, Jimmy Lenagham, decided to get rid of her, and ran her at full speed towards Port Hutt, where she remains aground today.
| General Characteristics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name: HMNZS Thomas Currell | |||||
| Country: New Zealand | |||||
| Type: Minesweeper | |||||
| Class name: Admiralty Strath-class | |||||
| Year of commission: 1939 | |||||
| Refit: 1939 | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Dimensions: | |||||
| Length: 115.2 ft (35.1 m) | |||||
| Beam: 22.1 ft (6.7 m) | |||||
| Draught: 12.2 ft (3.7 m) | |||||
| Displacement: 204t | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Propulsion: | |||||
| Powerplant: Coal fired steam expansion engines, producing 430hp across one shaft | |||||
| Speed: 11kt | |||||
| Endurance: unknown | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Armament & sensors: | |||||
| Compliment: 10 | |||||
| Primary armament: 1x1 QF 4-inch Mk.V | |||||
| Secondary armament: Depth Charges | |||||
| Tertiary armament: 2x .303 Bren | |||||
| Sensors: - nil |
Sources
Gillett, R. (1983). Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945 (p.293)
SS Thomas Currell - Wikipedia
"STRATH" Admiralty-type trawlers (1917 - 1920)
Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol ships of World War 1, based on British Warships, 1914-1919 by Dittmar and Colledge
Defensive Minefields Hauraki Gulf WWII — National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy
The in-land wrecks of the Chatham Islands – Diggin the World