HMS Liberty was an Algerine Class Fleet Minesweeper. It was completed at the Harland and Wolf ship yard on 22nd August 1944. It became part of the 10th Minesweeping Flotilla.

Algerine Class Minesweepers played an important part in the war effort. They spent their time sweeping shipping lanes and keeping them clear of mines. One of Liberty's jobs was to sweep the English Channel before the D-Day landings.

One hundred and ten Algerine Class minesweepers were built between 1942 & 1945 at 7 different ship yards (Harland & Wolf, Redfern Construction, Toronto Shipyard, Lobnitz & Company Ltd., Blyth SB & DD Company, Fleming & Ferguson and Port Arthur Shipyards).

Algerine Class Minesweepers were the largest minesweepers in the Royal Navy and were equipped to deal with every known mine (moored mines, magnetic mines and acoustic mines) 

Only 6 were lost during the War (Alarm, Algerine, Loyalty, Regulus, Squirrel, Vestal). After the war many of the Algerine minesweepers were sold to other navies (Belgium, Burma, Ceylon, Greece, Italy, Nigeria, Iran, Thailand & South Africa). The remainder were scrapped between 1956-62.  

HMS Liberty was handed to the Belgian navy in 1949 and renamed the Adrien de Gerlache(M900) - named after a Belgian naval officer who went to the south Pole. She was used in Bruges as a land based training ship from 1954 to 1957. In 1959 she was converted to a Minecountermeasures support ship (A954). She was sold on June 11th 1970 to M.Bakker, Bruges and arrived in Bruges June 24th, 1970 for breaking up. Part of her superstructures are used in the naval NBCD center, Oedelem.

If you have any further information about minesweepers that you would like to contribute, feel free to contact me -hmsliberty@ntlworld.com

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