HMCS Moose Jaw (K164)
HMCS Moose Jaw, circa 1941. |
| Career (Canada) |
|
| Name: |
HMCS Moose Jaw |
| Namesake: |
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
| Builder: |
Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood |
| Laid down: |
12 August 1940 |
| Launched: |
9 April 1941 |
| Commissioned: |
19 June 1941 |
| Decommissioned: |
8 July 1945 |
| Identification: |
Pennant number: K164 |
Honours and
awards: |
Atlantic 1941-43
English Channel 1944-45
Normandy 1944 |
| Fate: |
Scrapped in September 1949 in Canada. |
| General characteristics |
| Class and type: |
Flower-class corvette |
| Displacement: |
925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 ST) |
| Length: |
205 ft (62.48 m) o/a |
| Beam: |
33 ft (10.06 m) |
| Draught: |
11.5 ft (3.51 m) |
| Propulsion: |
- single shaft
- 2 x fire tube Scotch boilers
- 1 x 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
- 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
|
| Speed: |
16 knots (29.6 km/h) |
| Range: |
3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h) |
| Complement: |
85 |
Sensors and
processing systems: |
- 1 × SW1C or 2C radar
- 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
|
| Armament: |
|
HMCS Moose Jaw was a Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escort duties during World War II, and together with HMCS Chambly achieved the RCN's first U-boat kill of the war.
She was laid down at Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood on 12 August 1940 and launched on 9 April 1941. She was commissioned into the RCN two months later on 19 June.
Wartime service
- On 11 September 1941 Moose Jaw and Kenogami rescued 41 survivors from the British merchant ship Berury, which had been torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-207 east of Cape Farewell, Greenland.
- On 9 January 1942 Moose Jaw ran aground off the south entrance of St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland. She underwent temporary repairs at St. John's until 5 March 1942, then left for Saint John, New Brunswick for permanent repairs, which lasted until 25 June 1942.
- On 28 February 1945 Moose Jaw rescued six survivors from the British merchant ship Norfolk Coast, which was torpedoed and sunk by U-1302 south-west of Strumble Head.
Moose Jaw was decommissioned from the RCN on 8 July 1945 and scrapped in September 1949 in Canada.
Quote
- "Because the U-boats were operating against a slow-moving target it was to their advantage to break wireless silence in order to call in a gaggle of their friends and mount what they called a wolf-pack attack. Their system of attack was to concentrate ahead of the convoy at nightfall and allow the convoy to come to them while they saved the charge in their batteries. In one very serious battle, that connected with the convoy SC 42, it happened that two of my Newfoundland vessels had a week to spare and they were allowed to go on a training jaunt along the possible convoy routes in the vicinity of the East coast of Greenland, where U-boats were liable to be found, and by good luck, were in a position to reinforce the escort group involved. They joined the Convoy just at late dusk, coming down from ahead. In fact they came from outside the position of the U-boats waiting to attack. The U-boats had no eyes for anything but the Convoy ahead and did not expect attack from behind them. In this way the “Chambly” and “Moose Jaw” killed the RCN’s first U-boat” - Leonard W. Murray, Commander-in-Chief, Canadian Northwest Atlantic, 1943-1945[1]
References
- Notes
- ^ Notes prepared by Murray for CBC interview in 1967, Library and Archives of Canada, Admiral Murray papers, Collection MG30 E207
- Bibliography
External links