RCN Flower class Corvettes: HMCS Halifax (K237), HMCS Lachute (K440), HMCS Lethbridge (K160), HMCS Levis (K115)
HMCS Halifax (K237)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Halifax (K237) Flower class Corvette. Built by Collingwood Shipyards Lt., Collingwood, Ontario, she was commissioned on 26 Nov 1941, at Montreal. HMCS Halifax was the first RCN corvette to be completed with a long fo’c’s’le. Assigned to WLEF on her arrival at Halifax on 18 Dec 1941, she was transferred in Jul 1942, to Halifax Force (Aruba Tanker Convoys). On 14 Aug 1942 she arrived at Aruba with HA.3, her third tanker convoy, and was assigned to escort TAW.15, a Trinidad-Aruba-Key West convoy which developed into the only major convoy battle of the war in those waters. Arriving in New York on 14 Sep 1942, she was placed under US control for New York- Guantanamo convoys until Mar 1943, when she joined WLEF. Between 2 May and 15 Oct 1943, she underwent an extensive refit at Liverpool, NS, followed by workups at Pictou. On New Year’s Day, 1944, she arrived at St. John’s to join EG C-1, leaving Londonderry on 11 Aug 1944 for two weeks’ refit at Lunenburg. This refit was followed by three weeks’ further repairs at Halifax and, late in Dec 1944, workups in Bermuda. In Jan 1945, she briefly joined Halifax Force, transferring in Feb 1945 to EG C-9 for the rest of the war. Paid off on 12 Jul at Sorel, she was sold for conversion to a salvage vessel.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Halifax (K237) Flower class Corvette.
(IWM Photo, FL6176)
HMCS Halifax (K237) Flower class Corvette.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950912)
HMCS Halifax (K237) Flower class Corvette drying signal flags, 1943.
HMCS Lachute (K440)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lachute (K440) Flower class Corvette. Built at Quebec City, she was commissioned there on 26 Oct 1944. HMCS Lachute arrived at Halifax in mid-Nov 1944 and left for Bermuda on 02 Dec 1944 for three weeks’ workups . Assigned on her return to EG C-5 at St. John’s, she left there on 5 Jan 1945, to escort her first convoy, SC.164. She served the remainder of her career as a mid-ocean escort, leaving Londonderry on 26 May 1945 to join ON.305, the last westbound convoy of the war. On 10 Jul 1945 she was paid off and placed in reserve at Sorel. In 1947 she was sold to the Dominican Republic and joined its navy as Colon. Deleted from the active list in 1978, she was driven ashore in a hurricane on 31 Aug 1979 alongside her sister Juan Alejandro Acosta (former HMCS Louisburg K401).
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lachute (K440) Flower class Corvette.
HMCS Lethbridge (K160)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lethbridge (K160) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned at Montreal on 25 Jun 1941, HMCS Lethbridge arrived at Halifax on 04 Jul 1941. She served briefly with Sydney Force before joined NEF and leaving Sydney on 11 Oct 1941 with convoy SV.49 for Iceland. She was employed between St. John’s and Iceland until Feb 1942, and thereafter on the “Newfie-Derry” run. On 20 Jun 1942, she left Londonderry for the last time, and on her return to Halifax joined Gulf Escort Force to escort Quebec-Sydney convoys. After refitting at Liverpool, NS, from 10 Sep to 22 Oct 1942 and working up at Pictou, she arrived at New York on 18 Nov 1942 to be placed under US control as escort to New York-Guantanamo convoys. In Mar 1943, she returned to Halifax to join WLEF for the remainder of the war, from Jun 1943, as a member of EG W-3 and from Apr 1944, as a member of W-5. She acquired her extended fo’c’s’le during a refit at Sydney from Jan to Mar 1944, which was followed by three weeks’ working-up at Bermuda in Apr 1944. She was paid off on 23 Jul 1945, at Sorel and sold to Marine Industries Ltd., who resold her in 1952 for conversion to a whale-catcher. The conversion was completed in 1955, she entered service under the Dutch flag as Nicolaas Vinke. She was broken up at Santander, Spain, in 1966.
HMCS Lévis (K115)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lévis (K115) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned on 16 May 1941, at Quebec City, Levis arrived at Halifax on 29 May 1941, worked up there and in Jun 1941, joined NEF. On 13 Sep 1941, after one round trip to Iceland, she left St. John’s as ocean escort to convoy SC.44. On 19 Sep 1941 she was torpedoed by U-74, 120 miles east of Cape Farwell, Greenland, resulting in the loss of 18 lives. She initially survived the torpedoing but sunk later that day while under tow by HMCS Mayflower. During the several hours she remained afloat, the remainder of her ship’s company were taken off by her sisters HMCS Mayflower and HMCS Agassiz.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lévis (K115) Flower class Corvette.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, PA136257)
HMCS Lévis (K115) Flower class Corvette, shortly after she was torpedoed by U-74. She sank sunk off Greenland, 19 Sep 1941.