RCN Frigates (River Class): HMCS Swansea K328/HMCS Teme K458/HMCS Thetford Mines K459/HMCS Toronto K538/HMCS Valleyfield K329/HMCS Victoriaville K684/HMCS Waskesiu K330/HMCS Wentworth K331
HMCS Swansea (K328)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194362)
HMCS Swansea (K328) (River-class), in rough seas off Bermuda, Jan 1944. Built by Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt, she was commissioned at Victoria on 4 Oct 1943, HMCS Swansea arrived at Halifax on 16 Nov 1943 and worked up off Pictou and in St. Margaret's Bay, NS. Assigned to EG 9, Londonderry, she made her passage there with convoy SC.154, taking part in the sinking of U-845 on 10 Mar 1944. On 14 Apr 1944 she repeated the process in company with HMS Pelican, the victim this time being U-448. Eight days later, on 22 April 1944, this time with HMCS Matane, HMCS Swansea sank U-311 southwest of Iceland. This kill was only awarded long after the war once the records of German and British intelligence became available. She was present on D-Day, and for the next four months patrolled the Channel in support of the ships supplying the invasion forces. While thus employed, she and HMCS Saint John sank U-247 off Land's End on 1 Sep 1944. She left Londonderry on 5 Nov 1944 for a major refit at Liverpool, NS, from Dec 1944 to Jul 1945. She received the first tropicalization of a frigate for Pacific service, and on VJ-Day HMCS Swansea was assessing the results in the Caribbean. She was paid off 2 Nov 1945 to reserve in Bedford Basin, but was twice re-commissioned for training cadets and new entries between Apr 1948, and Nov 1953. In early June, 1949, while the Maingay Commission was still hearing testimony, a group of junior hands on the HMCS Swansea, incensed at poor treatment by their commanding officer, locked themselves in their mess. The response was a forceful entry by armed troops, a rapid court-martial of the senior hands, and their sentencing to 90 days' hard labour and dishonorable discharge from the navy. In Jun 1953 HMCS Swansea was part of the Canadian Squadron that attended the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II Fleet Review at Spithead. HMCS Swansea was rebuilt from 1956 to 1957, as a Prestonian class ocean escort (306). On 13 Feb 1959, HMCS Fort Erie, HMCS Buckingham, HMCS Swansea and HMCS La Hulloise returned to Halifax after a 5 week exercise in southern waters that included a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica. In Apr 1963, 12 RCN ships, HMCS Algonquin, Micmac, Cayuga, St. Croix, Terra Nova, Kootenay, Swansea, La Hulloise, Buckingham, Cape Scott, CNAV Bluethroat and CNAV St. Charles, took part in NATO Exercise New Broom Eleven, an exercise designed to test convoy protection tactics. She was paid off 14 Oct 1966 and broken up in 1967 at Savona, Italy.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Swansea (K328) (River-class).
(DND Photo)
HMCS Swansea (K328) (River-class).
(US Naval History and Heritage Photos)
HMCS Swansea (K328).
HMCS Teme (K458)
(Dave Chamberlain Photo)
HMCS Teme (K458) (River-class). Laid down as HMS Teme at South Bank-on-Tees, she was named after a river on the English-Welsh boarder. Transferred to the RCN, she was commissioned in the RCN at Middlesbrough on 28 Feb 1944. After working up, HMCS Teme was assigned in May to EG 6, Londonderry, and spent her whole career with this group. She was present on D-Day, and on 10 Jun 1944 was rammed in the Channel by the escort carrier HMS Tracker, and cut almost in half abaft the bridge. She was towed by HMCS Outremont 200 miles to Cardiff, where she remained under repair until Christmas. In 19 Jan 1945, she went to Tobermory to work up, returning to Londonderry on 9 Feb 1945 to rejoin her group. At 0822 on 29 Mar 1945, U-315 fired a Gnat at HMCS Teme who was escorting the convoy BTC-111 off Lands End and hit her stern. She lost 60 feet of her stern, was towed to Falmouth where she was declared a total loss. On 4 May 1945, she was returned to the Royal Navy and sold for scrap on 8 Dec 1945. She was broken up at Llanelly, Wales, in 1946.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Teme (K458) (River-class).
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Teme (K458) (River-class).
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459)
(John Lyon Photo)
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) (River-class). Built by Morton Engineering & Dry Dock, Co., Quebec City, she was commissioned on 24 May 1944, at Quebec City. HMCS Thetford Mines arrived in Bermuda on 12 Jul 1944 to work up, returning to Halifax on 16 Aug 1944. Soon afterward she was assigned to EG 25. She was transferred with the group to Londonderry in November, and served in UK waters from then until VE-Day, working out of 'Derry, and for a time out of Rosyth. On 7 Mar 1945, she helped sink U-1302 in St. George's Channel, and on 23 Mar 1945, HMCS Thetford Mines rescued 33 of the 47 crewmembers of U-1003 (sunk by HMCS New Glasgow), 16 miles northwest of Innistrahull. Two of the rescued men later died. On 11 May 1945 she arrived in Lough Foyle as escort to eight surrendered U-Boats. She returned home late in May 1945, was paid off 18 Nov 1945 at Sydney and laid up at Shelburne. In 1947 she was sold to a Honduran buyer who proposed converting her into a refrigerated fruit carrier.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950808)
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) (River-class), twin 20-mm Oerlikon AA Guns on a powered mount, ca 1945.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950915)
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) (River-class), escorting surrendered U-boats, May 1945.
(John Lyon Photo)
HMCS Thetford Mines arrived in Lough Foyle as escort to eight surrendered U-Boats, including this one, on 11 May 1945.
(John Lyon Photo)
HMCS Thetford Mines arrived in Lough Foyle as escort to eight surrendered U-Boats, including these two, on 11 May 1945.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950917)
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) (River-class), bridge.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950916)
HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) (River-class), bridge, ca 1944.
HMCS Toronto (K538)
(Thomas J. Simpson Photo)
HMCS Toronto (K538) (River-class). Laid down as HMCS Giffard (K538), she was renamed and commissioned on 6 May 1944, at Lévis as HMCS Toronto (K538). She arrived at Halifax on 28 May 1944 leaving on 18 Jun 1944 for a month's working-up in Bermuda. In Aug 1944, HMCS Toronto was allocated to EG 16, Halifax, but for the next few weeks operated principally from Sydney. Following repairs in Nov 1944 she joined Halifax Force and was employed locally until May 1945, when she began five months' training duty at HMCS Cornwallis. Paid off on 27 Nov 1945, she was placed in reserve at Shelburne, but was re-commissioned on 26 Mar 1953, after conversion to a Prestonian class ocean escort (319). She was paid off for the last time on 14 Apr 1956, having been lent to the Norwegian Navy, which renamed her HNoMS Garm. She was permanently transferred in 1959, and re-classed in 1965 as a torpedo boat depot ship - simultaneously renamed HNoMS Valkyrien, she served a further 13 years before being disposed of.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Toronto (K538) (River-class).
HMCS Valleyfield (K329)
(Bob Fenton Photo)
HMCS Valleyfield (K329) (River-class). Built at Quebec City, she was commissioned there 7 Dec 1943. She arrived at Halifax on 20 Dec 1943 and commenced working up in St. Margaret's Bay, completing the process in Bermuda. She left Halifax at the end of Feb 1944, to join EG C-1 and sailed for the UK with convoy SC.154, but was detached to Horta en route, escorting a tug and its tow, the rescue ship Dundee. Her next assignment was to escort the damaged HMCS Mulgrave, in tow from Horta for the Clyde. The three left the Azores on 14 Mar 1944 and joined convoy SL.151 (from Sierra Leone) three days later. HMCS Valleyfield made one return trip to Canada, and on her next trip left Londonderry on 27 Apr 1944 with convoy ON.234. On 7 May 1944, HMCS Valleyfield was sunk by a single acoustic torpedo by U-548 (Kptlt Eberhard Zimmermann) 0435hrs, 50 miles SE of Cape Race, 46-03N 52-24W. At the time, HMCS Valleyfield was part of escort group C1, performing a search for the U-boat. HMCS Valleyfield sank so quickly that other ships in the group did not immediately realize what had happened. A combination of the ship's quick sinking, the delay in rescue efforts, and the cold water resulted in only 38 survivors with 125 crew members including LCdr English lost. Survivors were rescued by HMCS Giffard (K402). She was the only RCN ship of her class to be lost.
(Bob Fenton Photo)
HMCS Valleyfield (K329) (River-class).
HMCS Victoriaville (K684)
(Bob Macklem Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (K684) (River-class). Commissioned on 11 Nov 1944, at Quebec City, she arrived at Halifax on 03 Dec 1944 and late that month proceeded to Bermuda to work up. In Feb 1945, she was assigned to EG C-9, leaving Halifax on 27 Feb 1945 to join convoy SC.168 for her passage to Londonderry, where the group was based. HMCS Victoriaville (K684) spent the balance of the war on North Atlantic convoy duty. She left Barry, Wales, on 02 May 1945 to pick up convoy ON.300 on her way home to Canada, and on 12 May 1945 escorted the surrendered U-190 into Bay Bulls, Newfoundland. She began tropicalization refit at Saint John, NB, on 24 May 1945, but work was stopped on 20 Aug 1945, and on 17 Nov 1945 the ship was paid off at Sydney and laid up at Shelburne. Subsequently sold to Marine Industries Ltd., she was re-acquired by the RCN and re-commissioned on 25 Sep 1959, following conversion to a Prestonian class ocean escort (320). On 21 Dec 1966, she assumed the name and duties of the retiring diving tender HMCS Granby, but was paid off 31 Dec 1973, and sold for scrap the following year.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (K684) (River-class).
HMCS Waskesiu (K330)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4821046)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class), 1944. The first frigate completed on the west coast, HMCS Waskesiu was commissioned at Victoria on 16 Jun 1943, and left for Halifax on 8 Jul. She worked up in Bermuda the following month, returning to Halifax on 11 Sep 1943, and late in Oct 1943 left for Londonderry to join EG 5, re-numbered EG 6 on 21 Nov 1943. HMCS Waskesiu served chiefly in UK waters, but early in 1944 supported Gibraltar and Sierra Leone convoys. On 24 Feb 1944, while escort to SC.153, she sank U-257, and in Apr 1944 made a trip to North Russia to bring back convoy RA.59. On 28 Apr 1944, HMCS Waskesiu, HMCS Grou K518, HMCS Outremont K322 and HMCS Cape Breton K350 departed Kola Inlet with Convoy RA.59; arriving at Loch Ewe on 6 May 1944. She was present on D-Day. On 14 Sep 1944 she left 'Derry with ONF.253 for Canada, and soon after arriving began an extensive refit at Shelburne. On its completion in Mar 1945, she proceeded to Bermuda to work up, following which she sailed for Londonderry via Horta. She left 'Derry for Canada late in May 1945, proceeding to Esquimalt in Jun 1945 to commence tropicalization refit, but work suspended in Aug 1945 and she was paid off into reserve on 29 Jan 1946. She was sold to the Indian government in 1947 for conversion to a pilot vessel, and re-named Hooghly in 1950.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3560512)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class), Signalman Ken Worsencroft, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR), Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 1944.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class).
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class).
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class).
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) (River-class).
HMCS Wentworth (K331)
(Gary Metford Photo)
HMCS Wentworth (K331) (River-class). HMCS Wentworth was commissioned on 7 Dec 1943, at Victoria and arrived at Halifax 24 Jan 1944. She left for Bermuda to work up, but defects forced her to return and the working-up exercises were carried out in St. Margaret's Bay. In Jun 1944 she joined EG C-4, becoming Senior Officer's ship in Aug 1944, and remained continuously on convoy duty until Feb 1945, when she commenced a major refit at Shelburne, from 7 Mar to 9 Aug 1945. She was paid off on 10 Oct 1945, to reserve in Bedford Basin, and broken up in 1947 at Sydney.
(Gary Medford Photo)
HMCS Wentworth (K331).
(DND Photo, Maritime Museum of British Columbia)
HMCS Wentworth (K331).
