HMCS SHAWINIGAN, Flower class corvette was torpedoed and sunk by U1228 on 24 November 1944, off Cape Breton, NS. There were no survivors of her crew of seven officers and eighty-four ratings.

View of HMCS SHAWINIGAN, Flower Class corvette.
Roger Litwiller Collection, courtesy Raymond Leslie Ried, RCNVR. (RTL-RLR026)

SHAWINIGAN was assigned to escort the ferry Burgeo, from Sydney, Cape Breton to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. The previous ferry, Caribou, had been torpedoed in October 1942 with the loss of 136 passengers and crew. On the night of 24 November, SHAWINIGAN was patrolling for submarines, waiting for Burgeo, to sail from Port Aux Basques. When the ferry arrived at the rendezvous point, SHAWINIGAN was not there. The master of the ferry continued to Sydney and did not report SHAWINIGAN as missing until Burgeo arrived at Sydney later in the day.

The only report of SHAWINIGAN’s fate comes from the Commanding Officer of U1228 following his surrender after the war. U1228 fired a single T-5 GNAT torpedo at SHAWINIGAN, striking the corvette in the stern. He reported that the corvette sank almost immediately, followed by two underwater explosions.

The RCN cite SHAWINGAN’s loss as 25 November 1944. The German U-boat records show U1228 sank the corvette during the night of the 24th. SHAWINIGAN was reported missing on the 25th. Both Fraser Mckee’s, The Canadian Naval Chronicle and Gilbert Tuckers, The Naval Service of Canada, It’s Official History, VII record the loss of SHAWINIGAN as 24 November.

Photo courtesy Naval Museum of Manitoba.