HMCS Drummondville (J253)

HMCS Drummondville
Career (Canada)
Name: Drummondville
Namesake: Drummondville, Quebec
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Builder: Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal, Quebec
Laid down: 1 October 1941
Launched: 21 May 1941
Commissioned: 30 October 1941
Decommissioned: 29 October 1945
Identification: Pennant number: J253; 1949 - J181
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic 1942-45,[1] Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942[2]
Fate: Sold for mercantile use. Sank 1963.
General characteristics
Class and type:Bangor-class minesweeper
Displacement:673 long tons (684 t; 754 short tons)
Length:180 ft (54.9 m)
Beam:28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Draught:8.3 ft (2.5 m)
Propulsion:Twin shaft; 2 H&W diesel engines, 2,400 bhp;
Speed:16 knots (30 km/h)
Crew:70
Armament:
  • 1 x QF 4 in (101.6 mm)gun
  • 1 x QF 2 pdr Mark VIII
  • 2 x twin 0.303 in (7.70 mm) machine guns

HMCS Drummondville was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic.

War service

Commissioned on 30 October 1941 she served with several detachments for the first three years of her career including the WLEF, the Gulf Escort Force and the Halifax Local Defence Force. On 6 July 1942 while escorting a convoy from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Halifax she encountered and fought off U-132 who managed to sink three ships in an hour and a half.[3] She joined the Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF) in February 1944. She was refitted at Louisburg, Nova Scotia before being sent to Bermuda in August for her working up. She continued working with the NEF until the end of the war in June 1945. From then until October 1945 she was occupied with general coastal duties. She was paid off on 29 October 1945 and placed in strategic reserve at Sorel, Quebec.[4]

Post war service

After the war she remained in strategic reserve until 1952 when her status was upgraded to reserve and sent to Sydney. However she was never recommissioned and was sold. She was converted to the merchant ship SS Fort Albany and served as such until she was sunk in a collision near Sorel on 8 December 1963. She was raised and broken up in 1964.[4] In 1949 her pennant number was changed to J181.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Royal Canadian Warships - The Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence - Second World War". Veterans Affairs Canada. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  3. ↑ German, Tony (1990). The Sea is at our Gates : The History of the Canadian Navy. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Inc. p. 117. ISBN 0-7710-3269-2.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Macpherson, Ken (1981). The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Toronto: Collins. pp. 120–121. ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
  5. ↑ Ready, Aye, Ready. "HMCS Drummondville". Retrieved 27 July 2013.

References