HMCS Saguenay (D79)

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HMCS Saguenay (D79) was designed and laid down as an A class destroyer, completed as one of the 14 River-class (DD) destroyers built for the Royal Canadian Navy, and commissioned on May 22, 1931 in Portsmouth, England. Saguenay and her sister HMCS Skeena (D59) were the first ships specifically built for the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy). She arrived in Halifax,on July 3, 1931.

Contents

[edit] Particulars

  • Displacement: 1,337 Tons
  • Dimensions: 320' X 32'6" X 10'
  • Maximum Speed: 31 knots
  • Crew:10 Officers/ 171 Other Ranks (Non-Commissioned Members)

[edit] Armament

  1. 4 X 4.7" Rapid-Fire Naval Guns
  2. 8 X 21" Torpedo Tubes (2 x 4 Mounts)
  3. 2 X 2-Pounder Naval Cannon

Various refits resulted in:

  1. 2 X 4.7" Rapid Fire Naval Guns
  2. 1 X 3" Rapid Fire /Anti-Aircraft Defensive Gun
  3. 4 X 21" Torpedo Tube
  4. 6 X 20mm Hedgehog Naval Mortar

[edit] Operations and History in World War II

For the first month of World War II, HMCS Saguenay was assigned to convoy duties in the Halifax area. In late September 1939, she was assigned to the American and West Indies Squadron based at Kingston, Jamaica.

On October 23, 1939, the German-flagged tanker Emmy Friederich scuttled herself on encountering Saguenay in the Yucatan Channel, and thus became the Canadian destroyer's first war conquest. In December 1939, Saguenay returned to Halifax to join the local convoy escort force, with which she remained until October 16, 1940, when she was transferred to Greenock, Scotland to serve as a convoy escort on the North Atlantic run. On May 23, 1943, Saguenay was transferred again, from Greenock to Halifax, to serve with the Western Ocean Escort Force working from Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland.

Reduced to a hulk by a collision at sea, in October 1943 Saguenay was transferred to Digby, Nova Scotia, as a tender assigned to HMCS Cornwallis, the Royal Canadian Navy's training depot for new entries (recruits). She was used for teaching seamanship and gunnery until July 30, 1945, Paid Off in late 1945, and broken up in 1946.

[edit] Saguenay Mishaps

  • On December 1,1940, Saguenay was torpedoed 300 miles west of Ireland by the Italian submarine Argo while escorting Convoy HG-47, and managed to return to Barrow-in-Furness largely under her own power, but with 21 dead and without most of her bow. After repairs at Greenock, she returned to sea on May 22,1941.
  • On November 15,1942, Saguenay was rammed by the Panamanian freighter Azra off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The impact of the collision set off Saguenay's depth charges, which blew off her stern. She made port at Saint John, New Brunswick, where her stern was plated over, and in October 1943 she was towed to Cornwallis.

[edit] Commanding Officers

[edit] References

  • Macpherson, Keneth R. and Burgess, John. (1982)(Second Printing)The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-1981. Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-216856-1
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