RCN Flower class Corvettes: HMCS Morden (K170), HMCS Parry Sound (K341), HMCS Strathroy (K455)
HMCS Morden (K170)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Morden (K170) Flower class Corvette. Built at Port Arthur, Ontario, she was commissioned at Montreal on 6 Sep 1941. Morden arrived at Halifax on 16 Sep 1941. She joined Newfoundland Command and left St. John’s 23 Nov 1941 to escort SC.56, her first convoy, to Iceland. She continued on to the UK, however, to carry out two months’ refit and repairs at Southampton. She left the Clyde on 5 Mar 1942, to pick up westbound convoy ON.73, and was thereafter continuously in service as an ocean escort until the fall of 1943 – from Aug 1942, as a member of EG C-2. The following is from the memoirs of Larry Restall “We detected a surfaced submarine (later found to be U-756) attempting to break into convoy at night. I was on the after gun crew during action stations, firing at the sub which dived. We attempted to ram but the sub was able to submerge. We passed over the submarine and dropped a pattern of depth charges. According to German records the sub never reported again.” On 22 Oct 1942, the SS Winnipeg was torpedoed and sunk by U-443 while enroute from Liverpool to Saint John, NB. HMCS Morden rescued all who were aboard her. After a brief refit at Lunenburg in Jun 1943, and workups at Pictou, she sailed for Plymouth to join EG 9. She left Devonport on 15 Sep 1943 to join the group on patrol south of the Sicily Islands, but the group was ordered to the assistance of combined convoy ONS.18/ON.202 which lost six merchant ships and three of its escort. In Oct 1943 Morden rejoined EG C-2 and was given an extensive refit at Londonderry between late Nov 1943 and the end of Jan 1944. The work done included the lengthening of her fo’c’s’le. She left ‘Derry for the last time on 14 Nov 1944. In May 1945, on completion of a long refit at Sydney and Halifax, she joined EG W-9 of WLEF and left New York on 23 May 1945 as local escort to HX.358, the last HX convoy. Paid off on 29 Jun 1945, at Sorel, she was broken up at Hamilton in 1946.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Morden (K170) Flower class Corvette.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Morden (K170) Flower class Corvette.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Morden (K170) as seen from HMCS Kamloops c1943.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Morden’s depth charge storage area.
(RCN Photo)
The City of Christchurch, part of Operator Torch convoy KMS.11G was bombed by German aircraft off Portugal on 22 Mar 1943, and sank next day. She had been hit in her after hold by bombs from a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bomber. HMCS Morden rescued 102 passengers and crew.
HMCS Parry Sound (K341)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Parry Sound (K341) Flower class Corvette. Built at Midland, Ontario, she was commissioned there on 30 Aug 1944. HMCS Parry Sound arrived at Halifax late in Sep 1944 and left in Oct 1944 for three weeks’ working-up in Bermuda. From Bermuda she sailed direct to St. John’s, arriving on 11 Nov 1944, and was assigned to EG C-7. As the group was in Londonderry at the time, she sailed on 17 Nov 1944, in company with several US-built Russian sub-chasers, to join. Her first convoy was ONS.39, which she picked up at the end of the year. She left St. John’s on 17 Jan 1945, for convoy HX.332 but developed defects and had to turn back. It was mid-Mar 1945 before repairs were completed, and HMCS Parry Sound returned to convoy duty on 07 Apr 1945. She departed Londonderry for the last time early in Jun 1945 and was paid off at Sydney on 10 Jul 1945. Sold for conversion to a whale-killer, she entered service in 1950 as the Honduran Olympic Champion 1950, Japanese Otori Maru No. 15 in 1956, Kyo Maru No. 22 in 1961 until 1978.
HMCS Strathroy (K455)
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(DND Photo)
HMCS Strathroy (K455) Flower class Corvette. Built at Midland, Ontario, she was commissioned there on 20 Nov 1944. HMCS Strathroy arrived at Halifax in Dec 1944 and immediately escorted her first convoy, HF.147, to Saint John, NB. She arrived there on 18 Dec 1944 for completion of fitting-out that could not be done at the builder’s prior to freeze-up. She then carried out workups in Bermuda, and on completing these joined Halifax Force in Apr 1945, for local escort duties. On 12 Jul 1945 she was paid off and laid up at Sorel for disposal. She was purchased in 1946 by the Chilean Navy and renamed Chipana; serving until paid off on 30 Sep 1966. She was broken up in 1969.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Strathroy (K455) Flower class Corvette.