History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Gazelle (J342)
Namesake	Gazelle
Builder	Savannah Machinery and Foundry Co.
Laid down	2 July 1942 as BAM-17
Launched	10 January 1943
Commissioned	28 July 1943 as HMS Gazelle (J342)
Out of service	December 1946
Fate	Returned to the United States Navy
General characteristics
Class and type	Catherine-class minesweeper
Displacement	890 tons
Length	221' 3"
Beam	32'
Draft	10' 9"
Propulsion	Two 1,710shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines
Speed	18 kts
Complement	105
Armament	One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, five depth charge projectors [1]

HMS Gazelle was a Catherine-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy (the Catherine class was the British designation for the United States Navy's Auk-class minesweepers). ^{[2] [3]}

In May 1945, as the war drew to a close, a flotilla of eight minesweepers including Gazelle took part in "Operation Cleaver" to clear the German mine barrage off the Skagerrak, making way for a squadron led by the light cruisers Birmingham and Dido with four destroyers to return the Danish government-in-exile to Copenhagen and take the surrender of German warships in Danish waters. The force reached Copenhagen on 9 May, taking control of the German cruisers Prinz Eugen and Nürnberg after their surrender. ^[4]

References

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