RCN River class Frigates: HMCS Penetang (K676), HMCS Port Colborne (K326), HMCS Poundmaker (K675), HMCS Prestonian (K662), HMCS Prince Rupert (K324)
Frigates were initially called “twin-screw corvettes” and were larger and more habitable than the standard corvettes. They had twice the endurance rate, at 7,200 sea miles at 12 knots.
HMCS Penetang (K676)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3198954)
HMCS Penetang (K676) River class Frigate, 1945. Laid down as HMCS Rouyn K676, she was renamed prior to being commissioned on 19 Oct 1944, at Quebec City. She left on 6 Nov 1944 for Halifax and in Dec 1944 proceeded to Bermuda to work up. Returning northward in Jan 1945, HMCS Penetang joined convoy HX.331 at New York as local escort. She was allocated in February to EG C-9, and made the crossing to the group’s Londonderry base as an escort to SC.168. She spent the rest of the war as a mid-ocean escort, returning to Canada in Jun 1945, to be employed as a troop carrier between St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Quebec City. One of the few frigates not taken in hand for tropicalization, she was paid off on 10 Nov 1945 and laid up at Shelburne, NS. She was sold in Dec 1945 to Marine Industries Ltd., but later re-acquired and converted to a Prestonian class ocean escort (316), and re-commissioned on 1 Jun 1954 . Again paid off on 2 Sep 1955, she was lent to the Norwegian navy on 10 Mar 1956 and re-named Draug. Transferred outright three years later, she served until 1966 and was then broken up at Oslo, Norway.
(Bill Robinson Photo)
HMCS Penetang (K676) River class Frigate.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3204730)
HMCS Penetang (K676) River class Frigate, in the North Atlantic, March 1945.
HMCS Port Colborne (K326)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Port Colborne (K326) River class Frigate. Built at Esquimalt, BC, she was commissioned at Victoria on 15 Nov 1943. On 12 Dec 1943, HMCS Port Colborne arrived at Halifax; departing Halifax on 8 Feb 1944 for Bermuda to work up. Late in Apr 1944 she was assigned to EG 9 based out of Londonderry. On 27 Apr 1944 she departed Halifax for Londonderry via St. John’s, Newfoundland. On 1 May 1944, HMCS Port Colborne sailed from St. John’s to search for a sub reported off the Newfoundland coast. She was detached from the search on 3 May 1944 and joined C-3, for her transit to Derry, as escort to HX 289, joining EG 9 or her arrival on 12 May 1944. She remained on patrol and escort duty in UK waters, including participation on D-Day, except for a round trip to North Russia in Dec 1944, with convoys JW.62 and RA.62. She left ‘Derry for Halifax 21 Feb 1945, and on 24 Sep 1945 completed tropicalization refit at Liverpool, NS. On 7 Nov 1945 she was paid off at Halifax and laid up in reserve in Bedford Basin, and in 1947 was broken up at Sydney.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Port Colborne (K326) River class Frigate.
HMCS Poundmaker (K675)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3554608)
HMCS Poundmaker (K675) River class Frigate. Built at Montreal, she was commissioned there on 17 Sep 1944. She arrived at Halifax in Oct 1944 and worked up in Bermuda in Nov 1944. In mid-Dec 1944 she arrived at St. John’s to join EG C-8, serving as a mid-ocean escort for the rest of the war. She left Londonderry for the last time on 11 May 1945 to escort convoy ONS.50 westward, and on 31 May 1945 began tropicalization refit at Lunenburg. Work was completed on 20 Aug 1945, and on 25 Nov 1945 she was paid off at Sydney and taken to Shelburne for disposal. She was sold to the Peruvian Navy in 1947 and re-named Teniente Ferre and, in 1963, Ferre. She was broken up in 1966.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3554609)
HMCS Poundmaker (K675) River class Frigate.
HMCS Prestonian (K662)
(Margaret & Duane Drouillard Photo)
HMCS Prestonian (K662) River class Frigate. Named to commemorate Preston, Ontario, she was named HMCS Prestonian K662, as there was an RN ship, HMS Preston already in commission. Commissioned 13 Sep 1944 at Quebec City, HMCS Prestonian arrived at Halifax the following month in need of repairs, and it was early Jan 1945, before she could go to Bermuda to work up. On her return to Canada she was assigned to EG 28, based at Halifax, and employed locally until VE-Day. She then underwent tropicalization at Halifax, completing 20 Aug 1945, and on 9 Nov 1945 was paid off and sold to Marine Industries Ltd. Later re-acquired by the RCN, she was rebuilt to become the name-ship of the Prestonian ocean escort class (307). She was re-commissioned on 22 Aug 1953, and finally paid off on 24 Apr 1956, having been lent to the Norwegian navy. Re-named Troll, she was transferred outright in 1959, and in 1965 reclassified as a submarine depot ship and re-named Horten. She was discarded in 1972 and broken up same year.
(Margaret & Duane Drouillard Photo)
HMCS Prestonian (K662) River class Frigate.
HMCS Prince Rupert (K324)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Prince Rupert (K324) River class Frigate. Commissioned at Esquimalt on 30 Aug 1943, she arrived at Halifax 21 Oct 1943, worked up at Pictou and, in Jan 1944, joined EG C-3 as Senior Officer’s ship. HMCS Prince Rupert left St. John’s on 3 Jan 1944 to join her maiden convoy, SC.150, and was thereafter continuously employed as an ocean escort until late that year. On 13 Mar 1944, with US naval units and US and British aircraft, she assisted in sinking U-575 in the North Atlantic. In Nov 1944, she began a refit at Liverpool, NS, and on its completion in Mar 1945, joined EG 27, Halifax. In Jun 1945, HMCS Prince Rupert sailed for Esquimalt, where she was paid off 15 Jan 1946. She was sold in 1947, and her hull expended as a breakwater at Royston, BC, the following year.
(Jim Pierce Photo)
HMCS Prince Rupert (K324) River class Frigate.
(RCN Photo)
Forward gun mount on HMCS Prince Rupert (K324) River class Frigate.