HMS Niger (J73)
{{short description|Minesweeper}}
{{other ships|HMS Niger{{!}}HMS Niger}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Niger.jpg |Ship caption=Niger in 1940 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=Niger |Ship ordered=5 February 1935 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=J. Samuel White, Cowes{{Cite web |url=http://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/postcards/ship_list_naval.htm |title=Naval Ships of J. Samuel White |access-date=23 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928070947/http://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/postcards/ship_list_naval.htm |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=dead }} |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down=1 April 1935 |Ship launched=29 January 1936 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship identification=Pennant number: J73 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sunk on 5 July 1942 from damage caused by a mine off Iceland. |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Halcyon|minesweeper}} |Ship displacement=*{{convert|815 |
835|LT|t|lk=on}}
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| 1372|LT|t}}, full load
|Ship length={{convert|245|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|9|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=Vertical triple-expansion, {{cvt|2,000|ihp|lk=on}} |Ship speed = {{convert|17|kn|km/h|0}} |Ship range={{convert|7200|nmi|km |
| 1|abbr=on}} at {{convert|10|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship endurance= |Ship complement=80 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Niger was a {{sclass|Halcyon|minesweeper}} of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1936 and was sunk during the Second World War. On 5 July 1942, the vessel sailed into a minefield while escorting Convoy QP 13 and struck one of the mines, later sinking with only eight survivors.
Service history
In fog on 5 July 1942 Niger mistook an iceberg for Iceland's North Western Cape and led six merchant ships of Murmansk to Reykjavík convoy QP 13 into Northern Barrage minefield SN72 laid one month earlier at the entrance to the Denmark Strait.{{Cite web |url=http://www.lhg.is/english/eod/mines/ |title=Mines and Mine Laying in Iceland WWII |work=Icelandic Coast Guard |access-date=22 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331043004/http://www.lhg.is/english/eod/mines/ |archive-date=31 March 2016 |url-status=dead }} Every ship detonated British mines. There were no crewmen lost aboard the Soviet freighter Rodina (4,441 GRT),{{cite book | last=Hague |first=Arnold |title=The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945 |year=2000 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |page=190 |isbn= 1-55750-019-3}} the Panamanian-flagged freighter Exterminator (6,115 GRT), or the American freighter Hybert (6,120 GRT); but 46 civilian crew and 9 Naval Armed Guards died aboard the American Liberty ship John Randolph (7,191 GRT) and freighters Hefron (7,611 GRT) and Massmar (5,825 GRT);{{Cite web |url=http://www.usmm.org/sunk42b.html |title=Ships Sunk or Damaged July 1942 (63 ships) |work=American Merchant Marine at War |access-date=23 January 2014}} and there were only eight survivors of the 127 men aboard Niger. Only Exterminator could be salvaged.{{Cite web |url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/russian/index.html?home.htm~rumain |title=Convoy QP.13 |work=Convoy Web |access-date=23 January 2014}} The value of the Northern Barrage was questioned following the accident.{{Cite web |url= http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Ops-Minelaying.htm#1 |title=British Naval Minelaying in World War 2 |author=Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey B. Mason |year=2006 |work=naval-history.net |access-date=12 January 2011}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3669.html UBoat.net HMS Niger page]
- [http://www.halcyon-class.co.uk/niger/niger_1940.htm Halcyon-Class.co.uk HMS Niger page]
{{Halcyon class minesweeper}}
{{July 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|66|35|N|23|14|W|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niger (J73)}}
Category:Halcyon-class minesweepers
Category:Ships built on the Isle of Wight
Category:World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean