HMCS Sudbury (K162)

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USS Intensity (ex-HMS Milfoil), in 1943.

HMS Sudbury was built, in Ontario in 1941, as a Flower Class corvette, for escort work during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic. Like most Canadian Flower Class corvettes the Sudbury was named after a Canadian city. Sudbury, Ontario is a mining town north of Lake Huron.

S.S. SUDBURY

In the early fifties the Sudbury was acquired by Pacific Mills, then Harold Elworthy, owner of Victoria, BC based Island Tug and Barge bought her in 1954 and converted her to an ocean-going tugboat. Unusually, and uniquely for any of the Flower class corvettes, she retained her original name after passing into private ownership.

The Sudbury and her crew specialized in deep-sea salvage and completed many dramatic operations, but made their reputation in November/December 1955 when they pulled off the daring North Pacific rescue of the Greek freighter Makedonia.

The Sudbury towed the disabled vessel for 40 days through some of the roughest weather imaginable before arriving safely into Vancouver to a hero's welcome. The incident made headlines around the world and for the next decade the Sudbury and her 65-meter sister ship Sudbury II, purchased by Island Tug in 1958, were the most famous tugs on the Pacific coast.

The original Sudbury was eventually badly damaged during repairs by a boiler explosion, and was dismantled for scrap in 1966. Following the mergers that created Sea Span International, the Sudbury II remained in service until 1979 when she was sold and converted into a fishing vessel by her new owners. In 1982 she sank in Hecate Strait.