RCN Corvettes (Castle class): HMCS Humberstone (K497), HMCS Huntsville (K499), HMCS Kincardine (K490), HMCS Leaside (K492)
HMCS Humberstone (K497)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Humberstone (K497) Castle class Corvette. Built at Glasgow, Scotland, she was laid down and launched as HMS Norham Castle. On completion she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned as HMCS Humberstone K497 at Glasgow on 06 Sep 1944. After working up at Tobermory she arrived in October at Londonderry to join EG C-8, then forming. She left ‘Derry 22 Oct 1944 to join convoy ON.261 for her first Atlantic crossing and continued in service as an ocean escort for the remainder of the war. HMCS Humberstone left Londonderry 12 May 1945, for her last convoy, ONS.50, and in Jun 1945 sailed to Esquimalt, where she was paid off on 17 Nov 1945 . She was sold to Chinese owners in 1946 and converted for merchant service as Taiwei, subsequently undergoing five more name-changes before becoming the Korean South Ocean in 1954. She was broken up at Hong Kong in 1959.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Humberstone (K497) Castle class Corvette.
(Michael Goodfellow Photo)
HMCS Humberstone (K497) Castle class Corvette, St. Johns, Newfoundland.
HMCS Huntsville (K499)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Huntsville (K499) Castle class Corvette. Built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Troon, Scotland, she was laid down and launched as HMS Woolvesey Castle K461. On completion she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned as HMCS Huntsville on 6 Jun 1944, on the Clyde. She worked up at Stornoway early in July and joined EG C-5 at Londonderry later that month, leaving on 11 Aug 1944 for ONS.248, her first convoy. In Nov 1944 Huntsville missed a convoy while under repair in Halifax and acted as local escort to one convoy from St. John’s to New York – seemingly the only ship of her class to visit there. Rejoining the Atlantic convoy cycle in Dec 1944, she left Londonderry for the last time on 16 Apr 1945, to meet ON.297. In May 1945 she commenced refit at Halifax, completed in Aug 1945, and in Sep 1945 she was placed in reserve. Paid off for disposal on 15 Feb 1946 at Halifax, and sold that year, she entered service in 1947 as SS Wellington Kent. Renamed Belle Isle II in 1951. Following a collision near Trois-Rivieres., Quebec, on 19 Aug 1960, she grounded and burned out.
(Colin Trotter Photo)
HMCS Huntsville (K499) Castle class Corvette.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3398246)
HMCS Huntsville (K499) Castle class Corvette, view from the mast looking aft towards HMCS Long Branch (K487) Flower class Corvette, 16 Nov 1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3398247)
HMCS Huntsville (K499) Castle class Corvette, bow view, 20 Nov 1944.
HMCS Kincardine (K490)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Kincardine (K490) Castle class Corvette. Laid down and launched as HMS Tamworth Castle, she was, on completion, transferred to the RCN and commissioned at Middlesbrough on 19 June 1944 as HMCS Kincardine. After working up at Tobermory and Stornoway she arrived at Londonderry late in Aug 1944 to join EG C-2 but had to return to her builder’s for repairs. Returning to Londonderry in mid-Sep 1944, she remained on local duties until 02 Oct 1944, when she left to join ON.257, her first convoy. HMCS Kincardine served as an ocean escort for the remainder of the war, leaving ‘Derry for the last time at the beginning of Jun 1945. Briefly allocated to HMCS Cornwallis for training in Jul 1945, she then underwent a minor refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia. She was placed in maintenance reserve at Halifax in Oct 1945, and then she was paid off there on 27 Feb 1946. Later that year she was sold to the French government and resold in 1947 to Moroccan interests, to be renamed Saada.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Kincardine (K490) Castle class Corvette.
HMCS Leaside (K492)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Leaside (K492) Castle class Corvette. Laid down and launched as HMS Walmer Castle K460, she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned on 21 Aug 1944, at Middlesbrough as HMCS Leaside K492. Following workups at Tobermory in Sep 1944 HMCS Leaside arrived at Londonderry early in Oct 1944 to join EG C-8, then forming. She sailed on 22 Oct 1944 to meet ON.261, her first convoy, and served the rest of the war as an ocean escort. On 11 May 1945, HMCS Leaside K492, HMCS Edmundston K106 and HMCS Poundmaker K675 departed Londonderry for the last time as escort for convoy ONS.50. HMCS Leaside left St. John’s in Jun 1945 for Esquimalt, where she was paid off for disposal on 16 Nov 1945. Sold in 1946 to the Union Steamship Co., Vancouver, she was converted to a coastal passenger vessel and renamed Coquitlam. In 1950 she was renamed Glacier Queen. In 1970 she stripped in anticipation of becoming a floating restaurant but the plans for the restaurant fell through and she was left as a hulk. The hulk sank in Cook Inlet, Alaska, on 8 Nov 1978, but was raised and towed to sea and scuttled in Jan 1979.
(Robert Cooke Photo)
HMCS Leaside (K492) Castle class Corvette on the day of her commissioning.