HMS Pincher

7th MSF 4th MSF “ALGERINE” Class Fleet Minesweeper fitted with Turbine propulsion machinery ordered on 30th April 1942 from Harland and Wolff, Belfast. Laid down on 11th January 1943 at the same time as sister ship PICKLE she was launched on 19th August 1943. The seventh RN ship to carry this name, introduced in 1797 for a Gunboat. It was last used for a destroyer built in 1910 and wrecked in July 1918 on the Seven Stones. Her build was completed on 12th November 1943 and she had been “adopted” by the civil community of Swadlingcote, Derbyshire in place of sister ship HMS NIGER which was lost in July 1942 when she struck a mine off Iceland. The community had made the original “adoption” following a successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in March 1942.