RCN River class Frigates: HMCS Cap de la Madeleine (K663), HMCS Cape Breton (K350), HMCS Capilano (K409), HMCS Carlplace (K664), HMCS Charlottetown (K244)
HMCS Cap de la Madeleine (K663)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Cap de la Madeleine (K663) River class Frigate.
HMCS Cap de la Madeleine (K663) River class Frigate, was built at Quebec city. She was commissioned there on 30 Sep 1944. She arrived at Halifax 20 Oct 1944, and soon afterward sailed for Bermuda to work up. Returning in Dec 1944, she was allocated to EG C-7, MOEF, based at St. John’s. She left that port 28 Dec 1944, to accompany convoy HX.328 eastward, but was detached on 03 Jan 1945 to the westbound convoy ONS.39, as she had to return for repairs. These were carried out successively at St. John’s, Halifax and Quebec, and completed on 07 May 1945. She then began tropicalization refit at Lauzon, but this was cancelled in Aug 1945 owing to termination of hostilities, and the ship was paid off 25 Nov 1945 at Shelburne, NS. She was sold to Marine Industries Ltd., but later re-acquired by the RCN and converted to a Prestonian class unit (317). Re-commissioned on 7 Dec 1954, she served on the east coast until paid off on 15 May 1965. She was broken up the following year at La Spezia, Italy.
HMCS Cape Breton (K350)
(RCN Photo via the CFB Esquimalt Naval Museum)
HMCS Cape Breton (K350) River class Frigate. Built at Quebec City, she was commissioned there on 25 Oct 1943. She arrived at Halifax on 28 Nov 1943 and worked up in St. Margaret’s Bay in Jan 1944. Assigned to EG 6, a support group based at Londonderry, she left Halifax for the UK on 24 Feb 1944. She operated at various times from “Derry, Portsmouth and Plymouth and in Apr 1944 sailed to Kola Inlet as escort for convoy RA.59. On 28 Apr 1944, HMCS Cape Breton, in company with HMCS Waskesiu K330, HMCS Grou K518 and HMCS Outremont K322 departed Kola Inlet with Convoy RA.59; arriving at Loch Ewe on 06 May 1944. She was also on hand on D-Day. She returned to Canada arriving on 6 Nov 1944 at Shelburne, NS, for a major refit. This was completed in Apr 1945 and she was then sent to Bermuda to work up. Assigned to EG 9, she left St. John’s on 9 May 1945 with convoy HX.354, and later that month sailed from “Derry direct to Vancouver. A tropicalization refit begun on 26 Jun 1945 was cancelled before completion and the ship was paid of 26 Jan 1946, after several months in reserve at Esquimalt. She was sold in 1947 and expended as a breakwater in 1948, reportedly at Kelsey Bay, BC.
HMCS Capilano (K409)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Capilano (K409) River class Frigate. Commissioned at Victoria, BC, on 25 Aug 1944, HMCS Capilano arrived at Halifax on 20 Oct 1944. Following workups begun in St. Margaret’s Bay and completed in Bermuda in Nov 1944, she joined EG C-2 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and was continuously on North Atlantic convoy duty until VE-Day. On 9 Apr 1945, HMCS Capilano K409 was attacked by U-1023, Oblt Wolfgang Strenger, in the North Channel, but the attack was unsuccessful. She left Londonderry for the last time on 30 May 1945, and on 10 Jun 1045 began tropicalization refit at Shelburne. The work was completed on 13 Oct 1945, and on 24 Nov 1945, the ship was paid off at Halifax and placed in reserve in Bedford Basin. She was sold for mercantile use in 1947, and in 1948 she appeared under Jamaican registry as Irving Francis M. She foundered in 1953 off the Cuban coast while en route from Jamaica to Miami in tow of Bess Barry M., the former HMCS St. Boniface.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Capilano (K409) River class Frigate.
HMCS Carlplace (K664)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Carlplace (K664) River class Frigate. She was commissioned on 13 Dec 1944, at Quebec City, the last RCN frigate to enter service. En route to Halifax, she suffered serious ice damage to her hull, necessitating several weeks’ repairs at Halifax and Philadelphia. She then proceeded to Bermuda to work up, returning to Halifax on 24 Mar 1945. In Apr 1945 she was allocated to EG 16, Londonderry, and sailed for the Clyde via the Azores, escorting a RN submarine homeward bound from refit in the US. She arrived at Londonderry on 23 Apr 1945 and left on 5 May 1945 to escort convoys to and from Gibraltar. Late that month she returned to Canada from a tropicalization refit at Saint John, NB, begun on 2 Jun 1945 and continued at Shelburne, NS, on 10 Jul 1945. The work was called off on 20 Aug 1945, and on 13 Nov 1945, the ship was paid off at Halifax and she was laid up at Shelburne. She was sold to the Dominican Republic in 1946 for conversion to a presidential yacht, and renamed Presidente Trujillo after the President of the Dominican Republic. In 1962 after the family Trujillo lost their grip of power on the country, she was renamed Mella and used as a yacht-training vessel by the navy of the Dominican Republic. Armed with 1×76.2-mm, 2×40-mm and 4×20-mm guns, she was also fitted out with American radar equipment. She was based at Santo Domingo. In 2003 she was offered free of charge by the Dominican Republic to Carleton Place, but they had to bring the vessel on their own account to Canada. Unfortunately, she was in a bad shape and not much was left of the original vessel. The offer was not accepted. Her final disposition is unknown.
HMCS Charlottetown (K244)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Charlottetown (K244) River class Frigate. Commissioned at Quebec City on 28 Apr 1944, HMCS Charlottetown visited her namesake city en route to Halifax on 22 May 1944. She arrived in Bermuda on 18 Jun 1944 for a month’s working-up, and on her return to Halifax was assigned to EG 16. She left Halifax on 07 Mar 1945, for Londonderry, the group having been transferred there, and was also briefly based at Portsmouth. In May she escorted two convoys to Gibraltar and two back, and in mid-Jun 1945 left ‘Derry’ for Sydney, NS. There she commenced a tropicalization refit that was completed at Halifax on 28 Feb 1946, and on 3 Mar 1946 left for Esquimalt. She spent the rest of the year training cadets and new entries, and on 25 Mar 1947, was paid off at Esquimalt. She was sold the same year, and her hull expended as a breakwater at Oyster Bay, BC.
(Robert Fryer Photo)
HMCS Charlottetown (K244) River class Frigate.