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MINE WARFARE HISTORY IN THE HELLENIC NAVY

A.  THE FIRST HELLENIC MINE WARFARE UNITS

The first MINE WARFARE vessels that were acquired by the, at that time, Hellenic Royal Navy were three Minelayers (PT boats), under the names of "AEGIALEIA" - "MONEMVASIA" and "NAFPLIA", which were bought in 1881 from England . Th o se vessels were constructed of iron with a displacement of 300 metric tons with a 20 mines carrying capacity each. Three years later, again from England were purchased the "AIDON" - "KISSA" - "KIHLI", which were used as auxiliary and Mine laying vessels.

B.  MINE WARFARE DURING WORLD WAR I (WWI)

During 1916 the new mine layer "M. KORGIALENIOS" was acquired, with a carrying capacity of 50 mines. During 1918 the first four English built Minesweepers were bought, which were named "Y1", "Y2", "Y3", "Y4". Their specifications were as follows: Displacement 140 metric tons, speed of 10 knots and armament consisting of one 12lbs gun and one machine gun These vessels were never used in MINE WARFARE operations due to the limited participation of the Hellenic Fleet in WWI. The ''Y2'' and ''Y4'' were at service until 1922 and the ''Y1'' and ''Y3'' until 1925.

C.  MINE WARFARE DURING WORLD WAR II (WWII)

1. Beginning of the war

At the beginning of the war, the real MINE WARFARE vessels able to take MW action were the Minesweepers (MSC) / Mine launchers (ML) "AXIOS" - "ALIAKMON" - "NESTOS" - "STRYMON", all ex English fishing trawlers which were bought in 1938 and were converted to MS's - ML's with a 50 mines carrying capacity each . In addition to the previous, the ex fishing vessel "PALASKAS'' was converted as well to a minesweeper. At that time the command responsible for the planning, preparation and laying of the minefields, as well as for the loading, maintenance of the mines, and the equipment and training of the MS's and ML's, was the Command of Torpedoes and Mines (CTM). The MS's and ML's were under the Higher Command of Coastal Defense (HCCD).

With the breaking of the war, a great demand of MSC's and Auxilliary vessels arose in order to keep the navigation lanes open and guard the already laid minefields and barriers and of course lead the vessels through the Safe Navigation Lanes (SNL). In order to achieve this a great number of fishing vessels was commandeered and equipped with mechanical sweeping gear

When Germany entered the war, the German aircrafts laid new built at the time magnetic mines, aiming mainly the entrances of the Greek main ports. The level of knowledge in dealing with this new threat, in addition with the non effective capabilities of the existing units, imposed the acquirement of new, more appropriate MS's from England . By deploying these new Units was possible to keep the SNL's of the Saronic Gulf open, in order for the already heavily wounded from the air raids fleet, to escape. After Greece was taken over, most of the MS's were sunk by air raids from the German LUFTWAFFE, a fact which led literally to the complete disappearance of Hellenic MINE WARFARE units. The CTM, just before the German forces entered Athens , destroyed all of its material and threw at the sea all the Mines that were stored.

More specifically, the MINE WARFARE units losses were as follows:

2. Alexandria 1941 - 1944

The first as such, Mine Warfare Command was the MAMN ( Magnetic and Acoustic Mines Neutralization) which was founded by Commander MATTHAIOU (ex CTM) in June 1941 at Alexandria and under this Command was the Special Service for Mine Observation (SSMO).

At the beginning, MAMN had under its orders five (5) sailing vessels which were acquired in 1941 and reconstructed with the help of the British into magnetic and acoustic mine Minesweepers. They were named "SEVASTI" - "CHRISTOS" - "AG. GEORGIOS "-" THALEIA "-" LIVANOS ". Their main mission was to conduct constant sweeping patrols at the Eastern Mediterranean ports, especially Alexandria , so as to keep them open at all times because of the great number of magnetic mines that were laid by the German forces. In 1942 in the above vessels were added as well four (4) commandeered ones.

The above flotilla was so successful that it was gradually enforced during 1943, with the following units:

a.  In June the first modern MSC's, "BYMS" class were granted by the British Navy (built 1942 USA, wooden, 223 metric tons displacement, 12 knots speed, armed with one (1) machine gun of 3'' and two (2) machine guns of 20mm), having the ability to conduct magnetic - acoustic and mechanical sweeping. Those vessels were named "PARALOS" - "SALAMINA" - "KARTERIA" - "AFROESSA".

b. In July and August 1943 five (5) Norwegian "WHALEP" class ex Norwegian whalers granted, iron made, built 1939, 255 metric tons of displacement, 10 knots speed, armed with two (2) machine guns of 20mm). These were named "ALFIOS" - "ACHELOOS" - "EVROTAS" - "PINIOS" - "SPERCHEIOS".

c. During December 1943 the United States of America granted four (4) additional MSC's (BYMS class) under the names "LEROS" - "PATMOS" - " KOS " - "KASOS". The U.S offered as well a number of auxiliary vessels.

d. A wooden towing vessel is commandeered, the "AEGIALEIA", which was reconstructed to MS and was deployed at Alexandria .

These MS's, along with the observatories, carried out the greatest minesweeping mission at the Eastern Mediterranean sea . Their effort was extremely hard, because of the constant enemy mine laying and the continuous development of the mine technology. The MS's were deployed at various areas having done a total of 987 sweeping operations and having covered 72.000 nautical miles in 10.000 hours at sea. The eight (8) MS's "BYMS" type were stationed at Alexandria , while the "ALFIOS" type and the old sailing vessels were stationed at the Naval Bases of Beirut and Ammohostos.

During December 1943 The MAMN, was so much developed, it was renamed to Higher Anti Mine Service Command (HAMSC) based at Alexandria and under its orders were the Anti Mine Service Command of Syria and Palestine based at Beirut and the ''Anti Mine Service Command of Cyprus" and the "SSMO'' The MAMN's force was now consisted of eight (8) BYMS type MS's, five (5) Norwegian, MS's ten (10) small vessels reconstructed to MS's and 39 observatories. During September 1944, all the MS's were called up at Alexandria conducting minesweeping operations, aiming to their better preparation and readiness since the upcoming return to Greece was close.

D.  MINE WARFARE DURING THE POST WAR ERA IN GREECE

 
1. Returning to Free Greece

The operation of the Hellenic Fleet comeback to Greece , under the codename "Operation MANA"(mother), was carried out at 15 of October 1944. With the Fleet's comeback at Greece the first vessels that entered the Saronic Gulf were the MS's escorted by British MS's opening all together an safe navigation lane among the dense minefields of the Saronic, so as the rest of the fleet could follow. During this operation MS's '' KOS '' and ''KASOS'' were sunk along with two (2) British MS's because of mine collision/explosion.

2. The Reorganization of the MINE WARFARE Services / Units

With the Fleet's return back to Greece the procedure of reorganizing the vessels and services of the Fleet's Command and the Royal Naval Base (RNB) began. The old CTM which was responsible for conducting the MINE WARFARE was renamed in 1944 to Underwater weapons service (UWS) and established in Skaramagka, in the nowdays bay of Amfiali . It belonged straight to the Headquarters of Royal Naval Dockyards (HRND). and in this it depended the "Team of Neutralisation of Bombs - Mines" (TNBM).

The Higher Anti Mine Service Command (HAMSC) was also established in Skaramagka next to Underwater weapons service (UWS) and was now under the orders of the Higher Command of Coastal Forces (HCCF).. Its flotilla consisted of about 50 vessels (14 BYMS type MS's, 5 Norwegian MS's - 8 MMS type MS's, 15 Coastal patrol vessels (CPV), 6 auxiliary F.T type vessels and the escort and floating workshop "ERMIS"). In addition to the above in order to have better control over the vessels, two side commands were founded. Those were the MS's Team Command (MTC), which had control over all the MS's and the Coastal Patrol Vessels Command which had under it's orders all the CPV's.

3. Clearing operations of the Hellenic Minefields 1944 - 1956

After Greece became free, the flotilla in cooperation with British MS's, started the difficult task of clearing the Greek seas from the war minefields. There was a total of 17.419 mines of several types (mooring, bottom), as well as antimine barriers, dummy mines and anti submarine barriers laying in the Greek seas. Those minefields covered an area of about 12.200 square nm 2 , which had to be cleared in the deepest depth possible. Detailed data of those minefields (number and type of mines, coordinates etc), was given to the Greek Navy by the Germans, Italians and the Allies . As a result of that the "MIM" (MINE INFORMATION MEDITERRANEAN) tables were issued. Many of the minefields described at those tables were proved to be mistaken for several reasons (wrong laying, currents etc), a fact that complicated the clearing operations

The clearing effort was focused, during the first years, in restoring the merchant sea ways. By the end of 1956, a total of 3299 mines were swept off by the MS's along with 225 mine cases had been recovered by the M/S, while TNBM which was responsible for sweeping mines in very shallow waters, had spotted 1695 mines and mine cases.

With the sinking of the MS SPERCHEIOS on 2 nd of May 1945 north of cape Zourva at Hydra and the MS PINIOS on 24 th of October 1945 after colliding with mine during the Preveza Minefield clearing operations two more ships are now added in the total losses with important human losses.

From 1946 to 1949 during the operations conducted by the National Forces ( NF ) along with the minefield clearing operations , some mine warfare vessels were used for protecting coastal populated areas.

4.Developments in the MINE WARFARE after 1950

In 1951 the Higher Command of Coastal Forces (HCCF) was renamed to Higher Mine Sweepers Command (HMSC) which was under the Coastal Defence Headquarters (CDH).

In 1953 COMHELMIN (Command of Minesweepers) was founded, which was under the orders of Fleet Command. In December 1953 two Mine-laying vessels (ML's) were acquired under the names of "AKTIO" and "AMVRAKIA" which were originally under the command of the LVC (Light Vessels Command) and in 1965 came under COMHELMIN's orders. During 1960 the gradual return to the UK of its Coastal Patrol Vessels was completed.

From 1964 to 1970 the COMHELMIN was renewed with the acquirement of new coastal MS's from USA . Specifically ten (10) MSC-294 type (DAFNI - KICHLI - AIDON - KISSA - DORIS - AEGLI - CLIO (ARGO) - AVRA - PLEIAS - ALKYON), the so-called Americans, and five(5) MS's MSC-60 type (ANTIOPI - ATALANTI - FEDRA - THALIA - NIOVI), the so-called ''Belgians'', because their delivery took place at Oostende, were acquired. The first ones were built between 1962-68 and the second ones were built between 1952-54 in the ship yards of USA .

In 1970 the COMHELMIN was renamed in " MINE WARFARE Flotilla " (MWF) and the MS's Team Command (MTC) was renamed to MSC's squadron . The 'Americans' are the MSC Squadron 1 and the Belgians along with MS 'AIDON' were the Squadron 2. The old "BYMS" type MS's were gradually put out of commission.

The old "BYMS" class MSC's were being put out of commission between 1966 - 1973. During December 1970 the last two MS's class "MSC-294 ''PLEIAS'' and ''ALKYON'' were delivered. Till the arrival of 1973, the MSC's flotilla was totally renewed.

In 1972 the US delivered to the Hellenic Navy four ( 4 ) Mine Sweeping Boats (MSB) and thus the Mine Sweeping Boat Team (MSBT) was founded.

In 1977, MS " DORIS " was converted to a hydro graphic vessel and turned over to the Hydrographic Service.

In 1978 the ARGO was renamed to KLEIO, since the name 'ARGO' was given to the ex - Aristoteles Onassis yaught (ex British MS) CHRISTINA which was donated to the Hellenic Navy.

In 1980 the " MINE WARFARE Flotilla " (MWF) was renamed to COMHELMIN (Administration OF MINE WARFARE).

In 1986 the 3rd Squadron was founded by redistributing the already existing MSC's.

In 1988 the COMHELMIN flotilla is consisted of 10 vessels, distributed as follows :

1. Squadron/1 MSC ALKYON - DAFNI - AVRA - KICHLI - AIDON
2. Squadron /2 the MSC KISSA - PLEIAS - AIGLI - CLIO
3. Squadron /3 MSC NIOVI - FEDRA - THALIA - ATALANTI - ANTIOPI
4. MSBT Mine Sweeping Boats 33,35,39,40 .
5. COMHELMIN directly the ML's AKTIO - AMVRAKIA

In 1995 the COMHELMIN acquired from the Italian Navy two Mine Hunting vessels (MH) 'Castagno' class which were named 'EVNIKI' and 'ERATO'.

During 1999 - 2000 the COMHELMIN took part with the MH 'EVNIKI' and 'ERATO' in the operation "ALLIED HARVEST" aiming to clear the coastal waters of the South Eastern Adriatic Sea from bombs laid there by the aircrafts that had taken place at the ex Yugoslavian bombing raids.

Between 2000 and 2001 the COMHELMIN acquired from the British Navy two (2) MH's HUNT type which were named 'EVROPI' and 'KALLISTO'.

At the same time the MSs ANTIOPI, NIOVI, FAIDRA, ATALANTI and the ML AKTIO were put out of commission. The MS AEGLI was turned over to the Naval Training Command (NTC).

During 2004 the COMHELMIN took place with a number of its units in the operation of assisting the Fleet Command in the safety of the Olympic Games of Athens. Moreover the MS's DAFNI, THALEIA, and the MH EVNIKI were put out of commission.

The COMHELMIN is constantly taking part since 1999 (founding year) in the Standing NATO Reaction Force Mine Counter Measures Group 2 SNMCM2 (ex MCMFORSOUTH).