RCN Minesweepers (Algerine class): HMCS Border Cities (J344), HMCS Fort Frances (J396), HMCS Kapuskasing (J326)

RCN Algerine class Minesweepers: HMCS Border Cities (J344), HMCS Fort Frances (J396), HMCS Kapuskasing (J326)

‍HMCS Border Cities (J344)

(Harold Moore Photo)

HMCS Border Cities (J344) (Algerine-class). Built at Port Arthur, Ontario, she was commissioned there on 18 May 1944. HMCS Border Cities arrived at Halifax in mid-Jun 1944, and on 8 Jul 1944 proceeded to Bermuda to work up. Returning to Halifax on 3 Aug 1944, she was assigned to Senior Officer’s ship to EG W-2 of WLEF. In Jun 1945, she was assigned to Atlantic Coast Command and in Aug 1945, placed temporarily in maintenance reserve at Sydney. On 10 Nov 1945 she left, with four sister ships for the west coast, and on 15 Jan 1946, was paid off into reserve at Esquimalt. She was sold for scrap in 1948 and broken up at Victoria soon afterward. Her hulk was scuttled as a breakwater (possibly at Kelsey Bay).

(DND Photo via the CFB Esquimalt Naval Museum)

HMCS Border Cities (J344) (Algerine-class).

(Harold Moore Photo)

HMCS Border Cities (J344) (Algerine-class).

(Harold Moore Photo)

HMCS Border Cities (J344) (Algerine-class).

(Harold Moore Photo)

HMCS Border Cities (J344) (Algerine-class).

HMCS Fort Frances (J396), 170.

(Elizabeth Wagner Photo)

HMCS Fort Frances (J396) (Algerine-class). Commissioned at Port Arthur on 28 Oct 1944, she arrived at Halifax on 26 Nov 1944, and sailed for Bermuda in Jan 1945 to work up. Returning to Halifax, HMCS Fort Frances served briefly with escort groups W-8 and W-9 of Western Escort Force before being paid off into maintenance reserve on 3 Aug 1945. She was again commissioned (170) from 23 Oct 1945 to 5 Apr 1946, and in 1948 was handed over to the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys as a hydrographic survey ship. In 1958 she reverted to naval service as a civilian-manned oceanographic research vessel. She was sold for breaking-up in 1974.

(DND Photo)

HMCS Fort Frances (170) (Algerine-class).

HMCS Kapuskasing (J326), 171, 173

(DND Photo)

HMCS Kapuskasing (J326) (Algerine-class). Commissioned at Port Arthur on 17 Aug 1944, HMCS Kapuskasing arrived at Halifax early in Sep 1944 and on 1 Oct 1944 proceeded to Bermuda to work up. She returned to Halifax in mid-Nov 1944 and was assigned as Senior Officer’s ship to EG W-1 of Western Escort Force. When the force was disbanded in Jun 1945, she was placed temporarily in maintenance reserve at Sydney, then taken to Halifax for refit in Nov 1945. On completion of the refit, she was paid off into reserve on 27 March 1946. In 1949, she was loaned to the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys and converted for hydrographic survey work. She returned to the Navy in 1972 (171) and was based in Halifax. HMCS Kapuskasing became part of the navy’s auxiliary fleet (pennant number 173), manned by a civilian crew until she was expended as a target on 3 October 1978.