Thomas Buckley

Thomas Buckley

(Tr: t. 269; 1. 126'4" b. 22'6": dph. 12'2"; s. 10 k.;
cl. "Castle")

Thomas Buckley-a steel-hulled screw steam trawler built in 1918 at Beverley, England, for the British Admiralty by Cook, Welton and Gemmell, Ltd.—was chartered by the Navy in May 1919 for service with the North Sea Minesweeping Detachment.

Based at Kirkwall, Scotland, Thomas Buckleg swept mines in company with Thomas Laundry during the detachment's fourth minesweeping operation conducted in early July 1919. She participated in the fifth sweep, in August, serving as buoy marker vessel on 4 and 6 August. The trawler operated locally at Kirkwall through the middle of August, distributing such essentials as kites, slings, and weights-as well as sweep wire-to various minesweepers there, until she returned to the minefields on the 20th.

Receiving an "electronic protective device" from Avocet (Minesweeper No. 19), and delivering buoy mooring line to Turkey (Minesweeper No. 13), she lay anchored for much of 21 August. The trawler moved out into the minefields on the following day, cruising astern of a squadron of minesweepers. Between 0800 and 1600 that day, Thomas Buckley-with riflemen armed with Springfield 1903 rifles-destroyed five mines before making port at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands late that evening. There, she conducted harbor duties before getting underway on the 26th, delivering kites and taking on buoys and gear from other minesweepers. On the 26th, she towed the disabled subchaser SC-207 to Lerwick before shifting back to Kirkwall to resume local operations.

Thomas Buckley subsequently carried cargoes of sweep and electrode wire, lubricating oil, and gasoline from Invergordon to Kirkwall and conducted transport operations during the early part of October, concluding these duties at Brighton, England, on 6 October. Decommissioned on 7 October 1919, Thomas Buckleg was returned to the Admiralty the same day.