HMCS Saguenay (D79)

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For other ships of the same name, see HMCS Saguenay.
Career (Canada) Flag of Canada Royal Canadian Navy
Commissioned: 1931-05-21
Decommissioned: July 1945
Motto: A l'erte (Ready to act)
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic, 1939-1942.
Badge: Blazon Sable, a bend wavy argent charged with two like cotises azure, surmounted by an Indian's head facing sinister and couped at the shoulder proper having a fillet gules about the temples, depending there from, tips downward, four feathers of the second pied of the last, and pendant from the ear an annulet silver.
General characteristics
Class and type: A class
River class
Displacement: 1,337 tons
Length: 320 ft (98 m)
Beam: 32.5 ft (9.9 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3.0 m)
Speed: 31 knots
Complement: 181
Armament: Original; Wartime modifications;

HMCS Saguenay (D79) was a River-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1931-1945.

She was similar to the Royal Navy's A-class and wore both pennants D79 and I79 during her service.

She was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Woolston, Hampshire and commissioned into the RCN on 21 May 1931 at Portsmouth, England. Saguenay and her sister HMCS Skeena (D59) were the first ships specifically built for the RCN. She arrived in Halifax, on 3 July 1931.

Contents

[edit] 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 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. Saguenay was assigned to Escort Group C-3 escorting convoys ON-93, HX-191, ONS-104, SC-90, ON-115, HX-202, ON-121, SC-98, ON-131, HX-210 and ON-141 prior to a collision while escorting SC-109.[1] 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. On May 23, 1943, Saguenay was transferred to Halifax, to serve with the Western Ocean Escort Force working from Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland. In October 1943 Saguenay was towed 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] 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
  1. ^ North Atlantic Run, Marc Milner, 1985, Naval Institute Press ISBN 0-87021-450-0

[edit] See also

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A-class destroyer
Royal Navy
Codrington (leader)  • Acasta  • Achates  • Acheron  • Active  • Antelope  • Anthony  • Ardent  • Arrow
Royal Canadian Navy
Saguenay  • Skeena
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy
v • d • e
River class destroyers
A class
Saguenay • Skeena
 Flag of Canada Royal Canadian Navy
C class
D class
E class
F class
G class
Ottawa (II)
H class
List of ships of the Canadian Navy
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