HMCS Fort Frances (J396)
 HMCS Fort Frances | |
| Career (Canada) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Fort Frances |
| Namesake: | Fort Frances, Ontario |
| Operator: | Royal Canadian Navy |
| Ordered: | 25 November 1942 |
| Builder: | Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company Ltd. |
| Laid down: | 11 May 1943 |
| Launched: | 30 October 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 28 October 1944 |
| Recommissioned: | 23 October 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 3 August 1945 |
| Out of service: | 5 April 1946 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: J396 |
| Honours and awards: | Atlantic 1945[1] |
| Status: | Transferred to Department of Mines and Technical Surveys 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Algerine-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 990 tons |
| Length: | 68.6 (225 ft) |
| Beam: | 10.8 (35.5 ft) |
| Draught: | 2.6 (8.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 3-drum Yarrow style water tube all welded boilers, 2 1250 HP triple expansion engines. |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Crew: | 107 |
| Armament: | 1 × 4" HA single 4 × 20mm twin guns 1 × Hedgehog ASW mortar Depth charges |
HMCS Fort Frances was an Algerine-class minesweeper that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily as a coastal convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Fort Frances, a town in northwestern Ontario.
Fort Frances was ordered on 25 November 1942 as part of the 1943 building program.[2] She was laid down on 11 May 1943 by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company Ltd. at Port Arthur and launched 30 October 1943.[2] She was commissioned into the RCN on 28 October 1944 at Port Arthur.[3]
War service
After working up in Bermuda in January 1945, Fort Frances returned to Halifax and joine dhte Western Escort Force escort groups W-8 and W-9 for short periods of time before the end of the war in Europe.[3] She was paid off into maintenance reserve on 3 August 1945.[3][2] She was recommissioned on 23 October 1945 and this deployment lasted until 5 April 1946, when she was paid off for the final time.[3]
Postwar service
In 1948, Fort Frances was transferred to the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys for use as a hydrographic ship. In 1958 she was converted into an oceanographic survey ship.[3][2] Three laboratories were installed along with the ability to carry up to 8 scientists, her main purpose being underwater acoustic research.[4] She served in this duty until she was sold in 1974 for breaking up.[3] In 2009, Fort Frances was presented with a framed history of the ship in commemoration of the Canadian Naval Centennial.[5]
See also
- List of ships of the Canadian Navy
References
- Notes
- ↑ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "HMCS Fort Frances (J 396)". uboat.net. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John (1981). The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Toronto: Collins. ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
- ↑ "Canadian oceanographic research ships" (PDF). Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 1961. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ↑ "Town presented piece of naval history". Fort Frances Times Online. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- References
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