HMS Spanker (J226) was a steam turbine-powered during the Second World War. She survived the war and was sold to Belgium in 1953 as De Brouwer (M904).
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 22 September 1942 and launched on 20 April 1943. She was commissioned on 20 August 1943.[3] She joined the 19th Minesweeper Flotilla.[4]
Spanker was renamed De Brouwer and was commissioned on 25 February 1953.
On 3 May 1961, she visited Brest and later on the 14th, she left for Portsmouth.[5]
De Brouwer was decommissioned in 1963 and the ship was sold for scrap to Firma Heyghen, Ghent in 1967. Only until 1968, she was towed to the scrap yard.
. Henry Trevor Lenton. British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 1998. 1-55750-048-7.
