HMCS ESQUIMALT, Bangor class minesweeper, was torpedoed by U190 off Halifax on 16 April 1945. Forty-four sailors of her ship’s company of seventy-one were killed when she was lost. Late in the day of 15 April, ESQUIMALT left Halifax to perform and anti-submarine sweep of the approaches to the harbour in advance of a convoy […]
HMCS OTTER
HMCS OTTER -Animal class armed yacht, was lost on 26 March 1941 from an on board fire and sank, off Halifax. Â At the time of the tragedy, she had a ship’s company of forty-one, nineteen sailors were killed. OTTER was one of fourteen large private yachts acquired by the Royal Canadian Navy to act as […]
HMCS GUYSBOROUGH
HMCS GUYSBOROUGH -Bangor class minesweeper, was sunk by two torpedoes fired by U-878 in the Bay of Biscay on 17 March 1945. Of the ninety-two sailors in her ship’s company , fifty-one were killed. GUYSBOROUGH was returning to the UK after a refit at Lunenburg, NS, sailing alone the minesweeper was off the coast of […]
HMCS WEYBURN
HMCS WEYBURN, Flower class corvette, struck a mine laid by U-118 on 22 February 1943 off the Strait of Gibraltar. Of her crew of seventy-seven, nine were killed, including one Royal Navy rating. WEYBURN had been assigned with seventeen RCN corvettes to assist in the invasion of North Africa, Operation TORCH. Â She had just left […]
HMCS TRENTONIAN -The Last Corvette Lost in the Battle of the Atlantic.
On 22 February 1945, HMCS TRENTONIAN, Flower class corvette became the last corvette to be lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. TRENTONIAN departed on 21 February as sole escort for convoy BTC-76, consisting of ten ships from Milford Haven to the Thames, then on to Antwerp. Â The next morning BTC-76 had entered the English […]
29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla Destroyed by Fire
On 14 February 1945 the 29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla was destroyed by fire when 100 Octane fuel leaked into the protected basin at Ostende, Belgium where many RCN and RN torpedo boats were preparing for patrols that night.  The flash fire ignited many of the wooden hull boats, detonating depth charges and torpedoes on […]
HMCS SPIKENARD
HMCS SPIKENARD, Flower class corvette, was torpedoed and sunk by U-136 in the mid North Atlantic, during the night of 10 February 1942, while escorting convoy SC-67. Â Of her crew of sixty-five RCN sailors, fifty-seven were killed. SC-67 departed from Sydney, NS on 2 February 1942 with twenty-two merchant ships. Â The convoy had an all […]
HMCS BRAS D’OR
HMCS BRAS D’OR, Anti-Submarine Trawler, foundered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during a storm on 19 October 1940. There were no survivors from her ship’s company of five officers and twenty-five sailors. BRAS’D’OR had sailed from Clark City on Quebec’s North Shore to shadow the Romanian steamship Ingerner N. Vlassopol. The freighter had sailed from […]
HMCS CLAYOQUOT -A Christmas Eve Tragedy
HMCS CLAYOQUOT -Bangor class minesweeper, was torpedoed and sunk by U806 two miles from the Sambro Light vessel off Halifax on 24 December 1944, killing eight of her crew of eighty-four sailors. At the time of CLAYOQUOT’s sinking she had been assigned to Halifax as an escort. However, on 23 December she was ordered to […]
HMCS SHAWINIGAN
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. SHAWINIGAN was assigned to escort the ferry Burgeo, from Sydney, Cape Breton to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. The previous ferry, Caribou, had been […]