Canadian River-class destroyer

The River class was a class of fourteen destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) that served before and during the Second World War. They were named after Canadian rivers.

The River class was a dissimilar collection of warships, consisting of twelve vessels purchased from the Royal Navy and two built specifically by British yards for the RCN. They included two A class, five C class, two D class, one E class, two F class, one G class and one H class.

and were the first ships specifically built for the RCN and were adapted from the Royal Navy's A class.

History

The majority of the River-class ships began the Second World War with the same equipment that they were built with; however, this was gradually modified as the war progressed. Modifications included removing gun mounts to make room for additional depth charge and torpedo systems, as well as adding new communications and radar masts. The River class were the backbone of the RCN destroyer fleet and served as leaders of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force during the Battle of the Atlantic. Four of the class were lost and one severely damaged during the war: and were sunk by collisions in 1940; was torpedoed by in 1942, and ''Skeena'' was driven aground on Viðey Island near Reykjavík, Iceland in 1944. ''Saguenay'' lost much of her stern in a November 1942 collision, and was subsequently relegated to training duties. The surviving ships were all decommissioned and scrapped following the war.

1939

On 23 October 1939, the German-flagged tanker ''Emmy Friederich'' scuttled herself on encountering ''Saguenay'' in the Yucatán Channel.

1940

On 8 March 1940 ''Assiniboine'', along with intercepted and captured the German merchant ship ''Hannover'' near Jamaica. ''Hannover'' was later converted into .

On the night of 25 June 1940, ''Fraser'' was tasked to join the destroyer and light cruiser on Operation Aerial to rescue 4,000 refugees trapped by the German Army from the coast of Bordeaux, France. The warships encountered rough seas and poor visibility, forcing the commanding officer of ''Fraser'' to close quarters with the other two vessels. ''Fraser'' executed a turn to port to bring the ship behind ''Calcutta'' but in doing so, the two ships collided. The bow of the heavier ''Calcutta'' sliced into ''Fraser'' with such force that the destroyer was cut into three pieces. ''Fraser'' lost 47 sailors, and a further 19 were lost from ''Calcutta''. Many of the survivors from ''Fraser'' transferred that summer to ''Margaree'' and were lost when that vessel sank on 22 October 1940 as a result of a collision with the freighter .

''Margaree'' was lost on 22 October 1940, when she collided with the freighter MV ''Port Fairy'' at position . Of the 176 aboard ''Margaree'' at the time, 34 were rescued by ''Port Fairy'', but the other 142, including the captain and four other officers, were lost.

In November, ''Ottawa'' assisted in sinking the Italian submarine .

1941

1942

On 31 July 1942, ''Skeena'' and depth charged and sank the German submarine while escorting ON 115 at .

While escorting convoy SC-94 on 6 August 1942, ''Assiniboine'' achieved her first victory when she rammed, depth charged and shelled south of Cape Farewell, Greenland.

On 14 September 1942, while escorting Convoy ON-127 east of St. John's, Newfoundland, ''Ottawa'' was torpedoed by . Less than 30 minutes later, unable to maneuver, she was hit by a second torpedo. The second attack broke her in half, sinking her. 114 crew lost their lives, including the commanding officer, while 65 survivors were rescued by nearby vessels.

On 15 November 1942, ''Saguenay'' was rammed by the Panamanian freighter ''Azra'' off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The impact of the collision set off ''Saguenay''s depth charges, which blew off her stern. She made port at Saint John, New Brunswick, where her stern was plated over. On 23 May 1943, ''Saguenay'' was transferred to Halifax, to serve with the Western Ocean Escort Force working from Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland. In October 1943 ''Saguenay'' was towed to Digby, Nova Scotia, as a tender assigned to , the Royal Canadian Navy's training depot for new entries (recruits). She was used for teaching seamanship and gunnery until 30 July 1945, paid off in late 1945, and broken up in 1946.

''St. Laurent'' had her first victory on 27 December 1942 when she was credited with sinking while escorting Convoy ON 154 north of the Azores, along with the corvettes , and .

1943

On 2 March 1943 ''Assiniboine'' was damaged by her own depth charges during a battle with . She made Liverpool on 7 March and took 3 months to repair.

, formerly HMS ''Fortune'' joined the River class in May 1943. HMCS ''Gatineau'' joined in June.

1944

On 6 March 1944 at 1830 hrs, the German U-boat was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position following a lengthy hunt to exhaustion. It was initially torpedoed by the British and an unsuccessful attempt was made at towing the submarine to port. The U-boat was subsequently sunk by depth charges from ''Icarus'', Canadian corvettes and , Canadian frigate , Canadian destroyers HMCS ''Chaudière'' and , and the British corvette .

''St. Laurent'' was credited with the 10 March 1944 sinking of in the North Atlantic, along with the destroyer , corvette and frigate .

On 6 July 1944, ''Ottawa'' and ''Kootenay'' were detached from a convoy to assist HMS ''Statice'' with a submarine contact off Beachy Head, Sussex. As ''Ottawa'' swept the area, she gained sonar contact and attacked with depth charges. Shortly afterward, large amounts of debris appeared on the surface, including caps marked ''U-678''.

On 7 July 1944, ''Kootenay'', ''Ottawa'', and the corvette depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the English Channel south-west of Brighton.

On 18 August ''Kootenay'', ''Ottawa'', and ''Chaudière'' depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle. On 20 August, the same ships depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the Bay of Biscay west of Brest.

''Skeena'' was lost in a storm on the night of 24 October 1944. She was anchored off Reykjavík, Iceland and dragged her anchor and grounded in waves off Viðey Island with the loss of 15 of her crew. Her hulk was written off and sold to Icelandic interests in June 1945; she was then raised and broken up. Her propeller was salvaged and used in a memorial near the Viðey Island ferry terminal.uboat.net page
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1945

On 14 February 1945 ''Assiniboine'' collided with merchant ship ''Empire Bond'' in the English Channel. She made Sheerness for repairs and was operational again in early March.

Ships

Notes and references

Sources

* Butterley, Keith, and Macpherson, Ken. ''River class destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy''. 2nd ed. St. Catharines, Ont. : Vanwell Pub., c2008.
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* Macpherson, Kenneth R. and Barrie, Ron. (2002)(Third Edition) ''The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002''. Vanwell Publishing.
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External links

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Destroyer classes

River class destroyers