RCN River class Frigates: HMCS Valleyfield (K329), HMCS Victoriaville (K684), HMCS Waskesiu (K330), HMCS Wentworth (K331)
HMCS Valleyfield (K329)
(Bob Fenton Photo)
HMCS Valleyfield (K329) River class Frigate. 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 Frigate.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Valleyfield (K329) River class Frigate.
HMCS Victoriaville (K684)
(Bob Macklem Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (K684) River class Frigate. 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.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (K684) River class Frigate.
(Lieutenant Edgar Thorne Peter Stanger, RCNVR Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (K684) River class Frigate, passing under the Reversing Falls bridge, Saint John, NB.
(Lieutenant Edgar Thorne Peter Stanger, RCNVR Photo)
German U-boat U-190 flying the black flag of surrender, photographed from HMCS Victoriaville (K684) River class Frigate, May 1945.
(DND/RCN Photo)
HMCS Victoriaville (320) River class Frigate.
HMCS Waskesiu (K330)
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4821046)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) River class Frigate, 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 Frigate, Signalman Ken Worsencroft, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR), Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 1944.
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) River class Frigate.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) River class Frigate.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) River class Frigate.
(Ron Bell Photo)
HMCS Waskesiu (K330) River class Frigate.
HMCS Wentworth (K331)
(Gary Metford Photo)
HMCS Wentworth (K331) River class Frigate. She 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) River class Frigate.
(DND Photo, Maritime Museum of British Columbia)
HMCS Wentworth (K331) River class Frigate.