RCN Flower class Corvettes: HMCS Edmundston (K106), HMCS Eyebright (K150), HMCS Fennel (K194), HMCS Fergus (K686)
HMCS Edmundston (K106)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Edmundston (K106) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned at Esquimalt on 21 Oct 1941, Edmundston was assigned after workups to Esquimalt Force. On 20 Jun 1942, she rescued 31 crew members of SS Fort Camosun, disabled by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-25 off the coast of Washington. She left Esquimalt for the Atlantic on 13 Sep 1942, arriving at Halifax on 13 Oct 1942, and was assigned to WLEF. On 4 Jan 1943, she commenced a five-month refit at Halifax, including fo’c’s’le extension, carried out workups at Pictou, then joined EG 5 at St. John’s. For the next ten months she was employed in support of North Atlantic, Gibraltar, and Sierra Leone convoys. She underwent a refit at Liverpool, NS, from May to Jul 1944, worked up in Bermuda in Aug 1944 and, in Oct 1944, joined the newly formed EG C-8. She served the remainder of the war as an ocean escort, leaving Londonderry on 11 May 1945 with HMCS Leaside K492 and HMCS Poundmaker K675, for the last time as escort for convoy ONS.50. She was paid off at Sorel on 16 Jun 1945 and sold for mercantile use, entering service in 1948 as Amapala, last noted under Liberian flag in Lloyd’s list for 1961-62.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Edmundston (K106) Flower class Corvette.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Edmundston (K106) Flower class Corvette.
HMCS Eyebright (K150)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette. Built for the RN, she was commissioned at Montreal on 26 Nov 1940 as HMS Eyebright. She arrived incomplete at Halifax on 11 Dec 1940 and, after working up, left on 21 Jan 1941, with convoy HX.104 for Sunderland. There she was completed on 16 Apr 1941, and proceeded to Tobermory to work up. Transferred to the RCN on 15 May 1941 and commissioned as HMCS Eyebright K150, she was later allocated to EG 4 (RN), based at Iceland, whence she sailed on 12 Jun 1941 to join convoy OB.332 for Halifax. She joined Newfoundland Command in Jun 1941, and for the next five months was employed as escort to convoys between St. John’s and Iceland. In Nov 1941 she began a refit at Charleston, SC, resuming escort duty late in Jan 1942, and arrived at Londonderry with her first transatlantic convoy, SC.66, on 6 Feb 1942. In Jan 1943, she joined EG C-3, and in Jul 1943 commenced two months’ refit at Baltimore, MD, including fo’c’s’le extension. Following repairs at Pictou and workups at Bermuda in the summer of 1944, she joined EG W-3, WLEF, and saw continuous service in the western Atlantic until the end of the war, with one further round trip to Londonderry as a temporary member of EG C-5. HMCS Eyebright was returned to the RN at Belfast on 17 Jun 1945, and sold in 1947 for conversion to a whale-catcher. She entered service in 1950 as the Dutch Albert W. Vinke, last appearing in Lloyd’s list for 1964-65.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
(IWM Photo, FL6174)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
(Ken Macpherson Photo, Naval Museum of Alberta)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Eyebright (K150) Flower class Corvette.
HMCS Fennel (K194)
(USN Naval History and Heritage History Photo)
HMCS Fennel (K194) Flower class Corvette, 6 Sep 1943.
HMCS Fennel (K194) Flower class Corvette. Built at Sorel for the RN, she was launched on 20 Aug 1940. In Dec 1940 she was towed to Liverpool, NS for completion and commissioned there on 15 Jan 1941 as HMS Fennel. She left Halifax on 5 Mar 1941 with convoy HX.113 for the UK, and while there received finishing touches at Greenock. On 15 May 1941 she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned as HMCS Fennel K194. Following workups at Tobermory in Jun 1941 Fennel was assigned to NEF, first serving as an ocean escort between St. John’s and Londonderry. In Jun 1942, she commenced a year’s service with the newly formed WLEF. She underwent a refit at New York from mid-Jul to late Sep 1942. In Jun 1943, she was detached to EG C-2 for one round trip to ‘Derry, and on returning she went to Baltimore, MD, for a refit which included the extension of her fo’c’s’le, completing on 06 Sep 1943. After working up at Pictou she resumed her ocean escort duties with C-2, and on 06 Mar 1944, was one of seven escorts of HX.280 that hounded U-744 to its death. In Aug 1944 she had two months’ refit at Pictou, followed by three weeks’ workups in Bermuda and at year’s end transferred to EG C-1 for the duration of the war. HMCS Fennel arrived at Greenock 29 May 1945, from one of the last convoys, and was returned to the RN at Londonderry on 12 Jun 1945. She was sold in 1946 to Kosmos and became the whaling vessel Milliam Kihl. She was re-built as a buoy-boat in October 1948. Refitted as whaler in 1951 in Kiel, Germany. Laid up in 1960/1961. Last drifting season 1964/1965. Laid up again in Sandefjord. Sold to Norwegian ship breakers in Grimstad in 1966.
(USN Naval History and Heritage History Photos)
HMCS Fennel (K194) Flower class Corvette, 6 Sep 1943.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Fennel (K194) Flower class Corvette, 6 Sep 1943.
HMCS Fergus (K686)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Fergus (K686) Flower class Corvette. Commissioned at Collingwood on 18 Nov 1944, HMCS Fergus was the last corvette launched for the RCN. She arrived at Halifax in mid-Dec 1944, and early in Jan 1945, proceeded to Bermuda to work up. Arriving at St. John’s on 2 Feb 1945, she joined EG C-9, with which she was to served on North Atlantic convoy duty until VE-day. She left Greenock early in Jun 1945 for return to Canada, was paid off on 14 July 1945 at Sydney and placed in reserve at Sorel. Sold for mercantile use in November, she was renamed Camco II and, in 1948, Harcourt Kent. She was wrecked on Cape Pine, Newfoundland, 22 Nov 1949.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Fergus (K686) Flower class Corvette.