HMCS Kokanee (K419)
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 HMCS Kokanee (K419) |
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| Career (Canada) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Kokanee Lake |
| Builder: | Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt |
| Laid down: | 25 August 1943 |
| Launched: | 27 November 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 6 June 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 December 1945 |
| Renamed: | Bengal |
| Homeport: | Halifax |
| Fate: | sold to India, converted to pilot vessel |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | River class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,445 tonnes (empty), 2,216 tonnes (full load) |
| Length: | 301.5 ft (91.9 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft (11 m) |
| Draught: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, VTE, 2 boilers, 2 reciprocating main engines; 5,500 hp (4,100 kW) |
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,200 nautical miles (13,300 km)s at 12 knots (22 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 21.725 days |
| Complement: | 141 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Type 271 or SU type radar |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
HF/DF (High Frequency Direction Finder) |
| Armament: | 1 4" single (later dual), 1 12 Pdr, 4 20 mm guns, 1 Hedgehog ASW mortar, 4 Mk.IV depth charge throwers, 150-200 depth charges |
HMCS Kokanee (K419) was a River class frigate that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1944-1945.
The Kokanee was named after Kokanee Lake in southeastern British Columbia.
She was commissioned into the RCN with pennant number K419 on 6 June 1944 at the Esquimalt naval base. She departed for the Atlantic coast, arriving at HMC Dockyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 24 July 1944 and was tasked to Bermuda in August 1944 to work up her new crew.
She returned to northern waters, arriving in St. John's in September and was assigned to Escort Group C-3 as the Senior Officer's Ship.
She spent the remainder of the Battle of the Atlantic on convoy duty and also earned battle honours in the Battle of the St. Lawrence between September-November 1944 when she escorted convoys from Quebec City to the Cabot Strait and Strait of Belle Isle.
The Kokanee spent the winter of 1944-1945 on the North Atlantic, escorting her final convoy ON.304 west from Derry, Northern Ireland on 25 May 1945.
She departed Halifax for Esquimalt in June and commenced refit there for tropicalization as part of the expected invasion of the Japanese Home Islands (Operation Downfall). VJ Day was declared after Japan's surrender in August 1945 while Kokanee was still in refit; she completed refit on 4 October 1945.
The downsizing of the RCN saw her paid off on 21 December 1945 and was placed in reserve status.
She was sold to a Canadian shipbroker in 1947 and resold to the Government of India in 1948. She was converted to a pilot vessel for the Hooghly River and renamed Bengal in 1950.
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