HMCS Kentville (J312)

Career (Canada)
Name: Kentville
Namesake: Kentville, Nova Scotia
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Builder: Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co, Port Arthur
Laid down: 15 December 1941
Launched: 17 April 1942
Commissioned: 10 October 1942
Decommissioned: 28 October 1945
Identification: pennant number:J312
Commissioned: 1954
Decommissioned: 30 September 1954
Identification: pennant number: 182
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic 1944-45[1][note 1]
Fate: Transferred to Turkish Navy, 1957
Career (Turkey)
Name: Bartin
Operator: Turkish Naval Forces
Acquired: 29 November 1957
Commissioned: 1957
Decommissioned: 1972
Identification: P-130
Fate: Registry deleted 1980
General characteristics
Class and type:Bangor-class minesweeper
Displacement:672 tons
Length:180 ft (55 m)
Beam:28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Draught:8 ft (2.4 m)
Propulsion:Single shaft, 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 triple expansion steam engines, 2,400 ihp.
Speed:16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement:6 officers, 77 men
Armament:1 × QF 12-pounder (3 inch (76 mm)) gun

1 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) guns
2 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns

2 × Mk.II DC throwers, 4 × DC rails, 40 depth charges

HMCS Kentville was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Kentville, Nova Scotia. After the war she was recommissioned for a short period with the Royal Canadian Navy before being sold to Turkey in 1957 and renamed Bartin. She served with the Turkish Naval Forces until 1972.

Kentville was ordered as part of the 1941-42 programme of minesweeper production.[2] She was laid down on 15 December 1941 by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co at Port Arthur, Ontario and launched 17 April 1942.[3] She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 10 October 1942 with pennant number J146 at Port Arthur.[4]

War service

After escorting a coastal convoy en route to Halifax, Kentville was assigned to Halifax Force in January 1943 after working up. She spent the majority of her war service working out of Halifax. In May 1943 she was assigned to Sydney Force, working out of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Her duties involved escorting coastal convoys in Atlantic Canada. She remained with the group until November 1943, when she transferred back to Halifax.[4]

During the course of her duties, she rescued the freighter Imperial Monarch in distress from heavy weather and the tug Foundation Franklin. Kentville saw enemy action in January 1945 when she defended her convoy against submarine attacks which sank two merchant ships. During the war her crew often took leave in her namesake town of Kentville.[5] On 14 January 1945 she picked up five survivors from the freighter Polarland, which had been sunk by U-1232.[3]

In May 1944, Kentville underwent a refit at Charlottetown, completing in July and working up in Bermuda until August. She returned to Halifax following workups and resumed her duties.[4] In April 1945, Kentville was one of four ships sent to hunt down the U-boat that had sunk HMCS Esquimalt. The search was unsuccessful.[6] She was paid off at Sydney on 28 October 1945 and placed in reserve at Shelburne.[4]

Postwar service

In 1946, Kentville was moved to Sorel, Quebec to be placed in strategic reserve. She was briefly recommissioned in 1954 under pennant number 182. After being mothballed again later that year, she was transferred to Turkey in 1957 where she was renamed Bartin and served until 1972.[4] Her registry was deleted in 1980.[7] Today her bell is preserved at the Kings County Museum in Kentville.

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Kentville served in the Battle of the St. Lawrence, but did not earn a battle honour.
Footnotes
  1. ↑ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  2. ↑ McClearn, Sandy (2007). "Bangor Class". hazegray.org. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "HMCS Kentville (J312)". uboat.net. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron (2002). The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces, 1910-2002 (3 ed.). St. Catharines: Vanwell Publishing Limited. p. 191. ISBN 1551250721.
  5. ↑ Daniel Sanford, "HMCS Kentville", Kings County Vignettes, (Kings County Museum: 1995) p. 43.
  6. ↑ Fisher, Robert C. (2011). "Within Sight of Shore - The Sinking of HMCS Esquimalt". CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.

External links