HMCS Sioux (R64)
 HMCS Sioux circa. August 1951 - February 1952, probably in Korean waters | |
| Career (UK/Canada) |   |
|---|---|
| Name: |
HMS Vixen HMCS Sioux (R64/225) |
| Ordered: | 1941 Construction Programme |
| Builder: | J. Samuel White, Cowes |
| Laid down: | 31 October 1942 |
| Launched: | 14 September 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 21 February 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 October 1963 |
| Motto: | Then I will fight |
| Honours and awards: | Normandy, 1944<br/ >Arctic, 1944-1945<br/ >Atlantic, 1945<br/ >Korea, 1950-1952 |
| Fate: | Scrapped at La Spezia, Italy, August 1965 |
| Notes: | Colours: White and vermilion |
| Badge: | Blazon Argent, a Sioux Indian head proper facing the dexter and wearing an appropriate feather head-dress of a Sioux Chief |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | V class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,710 tonnes (1,683 long tons) |
| Length: | 362 ft 10 in (110.59 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 8 in (10.87 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) |
| Propulsion: |
2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers Geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp (29,828 kW) 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 36 knots (41 mph; 67 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,860 nmi (9,000 km) at 29 kn (54 km/h) |
| Complement: | 230 (14 officers) |
| Armament: | • 4 × 4.7 in (120 mm) guns (2×2)<br/ >• 6 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns (2×2, 2×1)<br/ >• 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes<br/ >• 2 × Squid triple ASW mortars |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: | 26th Destroyer Flotilla (WWII) |
| Operations: |
World War II Korean War |
HMCS Sioux (R64) was a V class destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy that saw service in World War II.
She was launched as HMS Vixen for the British Royal Navy. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy, into which she was then commissioned 21 February 1944 while fitting out, and was completed on 5 March 1944.
Second World War Service
Sioux was based with the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. Her duties involved escorting convoys to Russia (RA-58/JW-58 in April 1944); raids on German coastal shipping off the coast of Norway; and attempts to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, which was anchored at Altenfjord, Norway. On D-Day, Sioux provided naval gunfire off Juno Beach. In February 1945, after escorting convoy JW-64 to Polyarnoe; she was sent from there as part of a relief expedition to convey 500 inhabitants of a Norwegian island, left without food or fishing boats by the Germans, to safety. On 17 February 1945, she returned with convoy RA-64, fighting both determined JU-88 attacks and Arctic gales, and sailed to Halifax immediately thereafter, to prepare for transfer to the British Pacific Fleet and operations against Japan.[1]
Post War Service
She wore pennant R64 until she was paid off into reserve shortly after the war. She emerged again, fully modernized, in 1950, to participate in the Korean War. She helped provide naval support for the troops that landed at Inchon in September 1950, the first entry of Canadian forces in the war. In 1953 she was one of a number of Royal Canadian Navy ships which took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[2]
She wore pennant 225 until she was finally paid off in October 1963.
Ship's bell
The Chatham and Area Royal Canadian Naval Association branch acquired HMCS Sioux's ship's bell, which was used for baptism of babies onboard ship. The names of 48 children christened aboard the 'V' Class destroyer are inscribed on the bell.[3]
See also
- List of ships of the Canadian Navy
References
- ↑ Lawrence, Hal. A Bloody War; One Man's Memories of the Canadian Navy, 1939-1945. Signet Books, 1980
- ↑ Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
- ↑ http://www.jproc.ca/sioux/siouxbell.html HMCS Sioux
Publications
- Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
External links
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