RCN Flower class Corvettes: HMCS Arrowhead (K145), HMCS Arvida (K113), HMCS Asbestos (K358), HMCS Atholl (K15)
HMCS Arrowhead (K145)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4821042)
HMCS Arrowhead (K145) Flower class Corvette. Built for the RN, she was commissioned at Sorel on 22 Nov 1940 as HMS Arrowhead K145. After arriving at Halifax on 3 Dec 1940 she carried out workups and sailed on 21 Jan 1941, with convoy HX.104 for Sunderland. There she was in dockyard hands for the two months’ work required to complete her fully. After working up at Tobermory HMS Arrowhead joined EG 4, Iceland Command (RN). On 15 May 1941, she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned as HMCS Arrowhead K145. In Jun 1941 she transferred to the newly formed NEF. For the rest of 1941 she escorted convoys between St. John’s and Iceland, proceeding early in Dec 1941 to Charleston, SC, for refit. Returning to Halifax in Feb 1942, she made one round trip to Londonderry before joining WLEF. In Jul 1942 she transferred to Gulf Escort Force, escorting Quebec/Gaspé-Sydney convoys, and in Oct 1942 joined Halifax Force and for two months escorted Quebec-Labrador convoys. On 30 Nov 1942 she rejoined WLEF at Halifax, to remain with it until Aug 1944. When this escort force was divided into escort groups in Jun 1943, HMCS Arrowhead became a member of EG W-7, transferring to W-1 in Dec 1943. During this period she underwent two major refits: at Charleston, SC, in the spring of 1943, and at Baltimore, Maryland, a year later. During the latter refit her fo’c’s’le was extended. In Sep 1944, she joined Quebec Force and was again employed escorting Quebec-Labrador convoys. In De 1944 she transferred to EG W-8, WEF, and served on the “triangle run” (Halifax, St. John’s, New York/Boston) for the balance of the war. On 27 May 1945, HMCS Arrowhead left St. John’s to join convoy HX.358 for passage to Britain, where she was paid off and returned to the RN on 27 Jun 1945, at Milford Haven. Sold in 1947 for conversion to a whale-catcher and renamed Southern Larkspur, she was finally broken up at Odense, Denmark, in 1959.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Arrowhead (K145) Flower class Corvette.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Arrowhead (K145) Flower class Corvette.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3199166)
HMCS Arrowhead (K145) Flower class Corvette, June 1945.
HMCS Arvida (K113)
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Arvida (K113) Flower class Corvette. Built at Quebec City, she was commissioned there on 22 May 1941 and arrived at Halifax on 06 Jun 1941. She joined Sydney Force in Jul 1941 acting as escort to local sections of transatlantic convoys until Sep 1941, when she joined Newfoundland Command. She left Sydney on 05 Sep 1941 to join her maiden ocean convoy, SC.43, and was thereafter in almost continuous service as an ocean escort until the end of 1943 . In Jun 1942, she became a member of EG C-4 and, in May 1943, of C-5. While escorting convoy ON.188 in mid-Jun, 1943, she was damaged by her own depth charges and arrived at Iceland on 16 Jun 1943 for repairs that took a week to complete. Three of HMCS Arvida‘s convoys received particularly rough handling by U-boats: ONS.92 (May 1942), ON.127 (Sep 1942), and SC.107 (Nov 1942). While with ON.127 she rescued survivors of the torpedoed HMCS Ottawa on 13 Sep 1942. She had major refits at Saint John (Jan – Apr 1942); Lunenburg/Saint John (Dec 1942 – Mar 1943); and Baltimore, MD. (Jan – Apr 1944). While at Baltimore she was given her extended fo’c’s’le, afterward joining EG W-7 of WLEF. In mid-May, 1944, she was sent to Bermuda to work up, returned to Halifax on 09 Jun 1944, and in Aug 1944 joined EG W-2. In Dec 1944 she transferred to W-8, remaining with that group until the end of the war. HMCS Arvida was paid off on 14 Jun 1945, at Sorel and later sold for commercial use, entering service in 1950 as the Spanish-flag La Ceiba.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Arvida (K113) Flower class Corvette.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Arvida (K113) Flower class Corvette with the Foc’sles were extended further aft. The extension to the foc’sle was because the crew compliment went from about 50 to over 100 and more mess space was required. Due to Radar, extra AA guns, more technical toys, the compliment increased far beyond the envisaged crew requirements. Sea keeping may have influenced the design change but human needs was foremost in the change. (Garth Clarkson)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3204126)
Survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship aboard HMCS Arvida (K113) Flower class Corvette, St. John’s, Newfoundland, 15 September 1942.
HMCS Asbestos (K358)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Asbestos (K358) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned at Quebec City on 16 Jun 1944, she arrived at Halifax on 09 Jul 1944 and later that month proceeded to Bermuda to work up. HMCS Asbestos left Bermuda on 21 Aug 1944 for St. John’s, where she joined EG C-2, and left on 10 Sep 1944 for HFX.307, her maiden convoy to Britain. For the rest of the war she was steadily employed as a North Atlantic escort and left Londonderry for the last time at the beginning of Jun 1945. Paid off on 08 Jul 1945, she was laid up at Sorel for disposal. In 1947 she was sold to the Dominican Republic but was wrecked on the Cuban coast en route there. She was later salvaged and taken to New Orleans for scrapping.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Asbestos (K358) Flower class Corvette.
HMCS Atholl (K15)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Atholl (K15) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned on 14 Oct 1943, at Quebec City, HMCS Atholl arrived at Halifax in Nov 1943 and returned there in mid-Dec 1943 for two months’ repairs after working up at Pictou, Nova Scotia. In Feb1944, she was assigned to EG 9, Londonderry, and made her passage there in March as escort to convoy HX.281. She had scarcely arrived when it was decided that the group should consist only of frigates, and she returned to Canada in Apr 1944 with ONM.231, joining EG C-4 at St. John’s. She served the rest of the war as a mid-ocean escort except for time out under refit at Sydney and Halifax (Dec 1944 – Apr 1945). Early in Jun 1945, she left Londonderry for the last time, and was paid off on 17 Jul 1945 at Sydney and laid up at Sorel. She was broken up at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1952.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Atholl (K15) Flower class Corvette.
(DND Photo via CFB Esquimalt Naval Museum)
HMCS Atholl (K15) Flower class Corvette.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Atholl (K15) Flower class Corvette.