HMS Rosario (J219)
HMS Rosario (J219) was a Royal Navy Algerine-class minesweeper built during World War II and powered by steam turbines. She was about 850 tons standard displacement (1,125 tons deep), 225 feet long, with a beam of 35 feet 6 inches and a draught of 11 feet 6 inches. The ship carried a crew of about 85, could reach 16.5 knots, and had a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. Her weapons included a 4-inch anti-aircraft gun and four twin Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (later often replacing some with 40 mm Bofors). She was also fitted to carry depth charges for mine clearance.
Rosario was ordered on 15 November 1940 and built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast. She was laid down on 22 September 1942, launched on 3 April 1943, and commissioned on 9 July 1943. She served through the war and was decommissioned after the conflict, around 1946–1947.
In 1953 she was sold to Belgium and renamed De Moor (M905). She was commissioned by Belgium on 15 January 1953. In 1967, De Moor left Oostende on 4 April for a six-month scientific voyage to Australia, visiting many ports including Tunis, Port Said, Massawa, Colombo, Jakarta, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, and more, before returning to Oostende on 20 February 1968 (the voyage required a route around South Africa due to regional conflicts). De Moor was decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in Bruges in 1970.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:47 (CET).