HMS Cadmus (J230) was a steam turbine-powered during the Second World War. Launched in 1942 the ship survived the war and was sold to Belgium in 1950 as Georges Lecointe (M901).
See main article: Algerine-class minesweeper. The turbine-powered ships displaced 850LT at standard load and 1125LT at deep load. The ships measured 225feet long overall with a beam of 35feet. The turbine group had a draught of 11feet. The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings.[1]
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 2000ihp and gave a maximum speed of 16.5kn. They carried a maximum of 660LT of fuel oil that gave them a range of 5000nmi at .[1]
The Algerine class was armed with a QF 4abbr=onNaNabbr=on Mk V anti-aircraft gun[2] 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.[1]
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.[3]
Cadmus was renamed Georges Lecointe (after Belgian polar explorer Georges Lecointe) and was commissioned on 31 January 1950.[4]
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.