RCN Minesweepers (Bangor Class): HMCS Kentville (J312), HMCS Lachine (J266), HMCS Lockeport (J100)
HMCS Kentville (J312)
(RCN Photo)
HMCS Kentville (J312) (Bangor-class). Built at Port Arthur, Ontario, she was commissioned there on 10 Oct 1942. HMCS Kentville arrived at Halifax on 15 Nov 1942, having escorted a Quebec-Sydney convoy en route. After working up, she was assigned to Halifax Force in Jan 1943. With the exception of the period between May and Nov 1943, when she served with Sydney Force, she spent her entire career based at Halifax. In May 1944, she underwent a refit at Charlottetown, on completion of which in Jul 1944 she proceeded to Bermuda for working up, returning to Halifax in mid-Aug 1944. HMCS Kentville was paid off into reserve, first at Shelburne and then, in 1946, at Sorel. She was re-acquired by the RCN in 1952, refitted and placed in reserve at Sydney, and was again commissioned (182) during the summer of 1954. Transferred on 29 Nov 1957 to the Turkish Navy and renamed Bartin, she remained in service until 1972.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Kentville (182) (Bangor-class).
HMCS Lachine (J266)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lachine (J266) (Bangor-class). Built at Levis, Quebec, she was commissioned at Quebec City on 20 June 1942, HMCS Lachine arrived at Halifax on 4 Jul 1942 and, after repairs and workups, was assigned to Sydney Force in Sep 1942. In Oct 1942 she was transferred to WLEF, and in Jun 1943, became a member of EG W-6, one of the force’s newly created escort groups. She served with Halifax Force from Jun 1944 until VE-Day, and on 31 Jul 1945, was paid off at Shelburne. During the war she underwent two refits: the first, at Dalhousie, NB, from Oct to Nov 1943; the second, at Lunenburg, from Dec 1944 to Mar 1945, followed by workups in Bermuda. An intended transfer to the marine section of the RCMP as Starnes did not materialize, and HMCS Lachine was sold in 1945 for conversion to a salvage tug.
HMCS Lockeport (J100)
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lockeport (J100) (Bangor-class). Built for the RN by North Vancouver Ship Repairs Ltd., at Vancouver but transferred to the RCN for manning. She was commissioned on 27 May 1942, and served with Esquimalt Force until 17 March 1943, when she left for Halifax. On her arrival there on 30 Apr 1943 she was assigned briefly to WLEF and, in Jun 1943, to Halifax Force. In Nov and Dec 1943, she was lent to Newfoundland Force but was withdrawn owing to engine trouble. On 9 Jan 1944, while en route to Baltimore for refit, her engines broke down in a storm, and she made 190 miles under improvised sail before being towed the rest of the way to her destination.
Upon her return to Halifax in Apr 1944, HMCS Lockeport was ordered to Bermuda to work up, and on the homeward journey she escorted the boats of the 78th Motor Launch Flotilla . Returning to Sydney Force in May 1944, she was frequently an escort to the Port-aux-Basques/Sydney ferry. She left Canada on 27 May 1945, for the UK, and was returned to the RN at Sheerness on 2 Jul 1945, to be broken up three years later at Dorkin, Gateshead.
HMCS Lockeport (J100), a wartime minesweeper, literally “sailed” 200 miles after a violent storm put her engines out of commission in January 1944. The enterprising crew members sewed all the hammocks together and lashed them to the masts as a foresail and a mizzen. The ship made good progress despite a heavy list to port and was eventually towed safely into port.
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lockeport (J100) (Bangor-class).
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lockeport (J100) (Bangor-class).
(DND Photo)
HMCS Lockeport (J100) (Bangor-class).