HMCS Sackville (K181)

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HMCS Sackville as restored, moored alongside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Canada. The paint scheme on her hull is called dazzle camouflage, first employed in World War I.

HMCS Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 9, 2006

HMCS Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 9, 2006. Showing four-inch deck gun and Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon.

HMCS Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 9, 2006. Picture showing Oerlikon 20mm Anti-aircraft gun and depth charge releasing device at stern of ship.

HMCS Sackville (K181) was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Canadian Navy. She was laid down at Saint John, New Brunswick on May 28, 1940, launched on May 15, 1941 and commissioned on December 30, 1941. Like several other Canadian Flower-class corvettes, Sackville was named after a Canadian town, in this case Sackville, New Brunswick.

In World War II she protected transatlantic convoys as part of the Second Battle of the Atlantic, escorting merchant ships and troop ships between St. John's, Newfoundland and Londonderry Port, Northern Ireland. In September 1943 she took part in the battle of convoys ON-202 and ONS-18 and was damaged, possibly by a torpedo detonated by one of her depth charges. Because of this damage, she was retired from active service and used as a training ship.

She was decommissioned on April 8, 1946. Most Flower-class corvettes were scrapped after the war. But Sackville had a long career. She spent a long time serving the Canadian Department of Fisheries. Later she was restored to her World War II appearance, and now serves as a floating museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the ports where escorts met their convoys.

[edit] External links

• A link to the HMCS Sackville's official site.
• Another site with a gallery of photos of HMCS Sackville.
• The 1993 film "Lifeline to Victory" was filmed aboard HMCS Sackville.
• Of the 236 corvettes that were laid down in Canada and Britain, 111 sailed from Canadian slips