Dates: 1938 - 1953
HMS FRANKLIN (J84) was one of four new ships based on the Halcyon design which were to be used for survey work. Of these, two (FRANKLIN and Scott) were designed for surveying and two (Jason and Gleaner) were primarily designed as minesweepers. A large chartroom was built at the after end of the forecastle deck and the bridge was enlarged.
HMS FRANKLIN spent the war as a survey ship. She started her service in 1938 surveying the Goodwin Sands and The Downs. In 1939 she carried out surveys in the Thames Estuary until, in June, she sailed for Newfoundland, Canada to carry out a survey of St. Lewis Inlet to facilitate timber extraction. On 23rd August she hurried home unescorted to her war station at Dover, where FRANKLIN was required to provide the control for the laying of the Channel Mine Barrage.
In December 1939 FRANKLIN went to the east coast, and was employed there locating wrecks of ships sunk, sounding diversionary channels, and assisting minesweepers until February 1940. Following refit she sailed to Scapa ’with all possible despatch’ and for the rest of the year she made surveys in Scapa Flow to help blocking operations, at Dundee for the submarine base there, and at Skaalefjord in the Faeroes for its use as a fleet anchorage. She was also involved in the very large scale surveys for positioning the Maunsell pre‑fabricated forts in the Thames Estuary for the anti aircraft defence of London.
On 19th November 1940 off Gt Yarmouth she was straddled by 6 bombs from a Ju88, the nearest exploding 30 ft to port. She was subsequently further damaged in a gale and sailed for repairs in London which took three months, the crew doing firewatch duty during the bombing of the docks from the roof of the Port Authority building.
In March 1941she again sailed for the east coast, receiving some damage from the tug Zirda requiring another two weeks of repairs. On 14th May 1941 she was attacked by aircraft (a regular occurrence on the east coast) and was damaged by four near misses and by two more on the 3rd June 1941 in the North Sea; repaired on Humber 4th-13th June 1941. Between her surveying tasks, or when moving from one to the next, FRANKLIN was often called upon to act as a convoy escort. In July 1941 this was nearly her end when leading a convoy she met a southbound one head one. She herself was first overrun by her own convoy commodore’s ship which scraped up her port side, and immediately afterwards had her starboard side savaged by one of the opposing convoy. The upper deck was damaged and was repaired at Aberdeen 14th July - 23rd August 1941. She spent most of the rest of 1941 in Scottish waters before sailing to Harwich for boiler cleaning and repairs.
HMS FRANKLIN spent 1942 on the east coast carrying out surveys (Thames Estuary Maunsell fort sites; Dudgeon Channel; River Swale; East Coast War Route wrecks - sounding alternative routes for convoys). Similarly in 1943 she carried out surveys of the River Colne; The Wash, Docking Channel. The River Tay; Dornoch Firth and Invergordon.
In 1944 she surveyed Scapa Flow (radar triangulation) and the Firth of Forth before taking part in the Normandy Landings. Franklin, under Irving, was held in reserve at the Nore during the assault, and would then support the detailed survey of the site for the Arromanches Mulberry and follow up with port surveys to the east, hopefully culminating in opening Le Havre. She relieved her sister survey ship, HMS Scott, off Arromanches and was the first large ship to (cautiously) enter Cherbourg harbour where she located wrecks and supported smaller craft which were clearing mines.
FRANKLIN, after completing a detailed survey of Cherbourg, moved east to Dieppe. While there Le Havre fell, and a 16‑foot motor skiff was sent by road to start the reconnaissance. This soon met a short hostile reception from a pocket of German resistance on the South breakwater. FRANKLIN herself, with ML 1001, entered the port early in Sept
