HMCS ''Cayuga'' was a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

that served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

from 1946 until 1964. She saw action in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. She was named for the Cayuga nation, a First Nations people of Canada.

Construction and career

''Cayuga'' was ordered in April 1942 as part of the 1942 building programme. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 7 October 1943 by

Halifax Shipyards The Halifax Shipyard Limited is a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1889, it is today a wholly owned subsidiary of Irving Shipbuilding, Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and is that company's l ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

and launched 28 July 1945.Macpherson and Barrie, p. 240 ''Cayuga'' was commissioned on 20 October 1947 at Halifax with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

R04. On 4 February 1948, ''Cayuga'' transferred to the west coast for

Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt () is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Jua ...

. In October 1948, ''Cayuga'' joined the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

, destroyers , and the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

in sailing to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

; the largest deployment of the Royal Canadian Navy following the war. In March 1950, with ''Ontario'' and , the destroyer participated in a training cruise to Mexico, making several port visits.

Korean War

''Cayuga'' served a total of three tours of Korea, the last in 1954 after the conflict had ended. ''Cayuga'' was part of this initial first dispatch of three ships by Canada to Korea, departing Esquimalt on 5 July 1950. In 1952, ''Cayuga'' was reconstructed as a

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

and given the new

hull number A hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the Hull Identification Number (HIN) is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varie ...

218. It was on this vessel that Ferdinand Demara, "the great impostor", served while impersonating a Canadian medical officer. After the Korean War, ''Cayuga'' served as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

on the west coast. On 1 January 1955, ''Cayuga'' was assigned to the Second Canadian Escort Squadron. The initial commanding officer of the group was Commander Henry H. Davidson, captain of ''Cayuga''. In November 1955, the Second Canadian Escort Squadron was among the Canadian units that took part in one of the largest naval exercises since the Second World War off the coast of California. In January 1959 she transferred back to Halifax. There the destroyer escort served as a training ship until being

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

on 27 February 1964. The destroyer was sold for scrap and

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1965.

RCSCC Cayuga

In 1954 the 30th Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps, RCSCC Exeter, was renamed after HMCS ''Cayuga'' and renumbered 140, and continues to operate to this day, on CFB Wainwright,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. RCSCC Cayuga is approximately 25 strong. The corps shares the same motto and badge as its namesake.

Badge

The Ship's badge is blazoned Or, an Indian of the Cayuga tribe, facing dexter, in kneeling posture, right knee on the ground, left leg bent and forward, two feathers in hair, lower part of body clad, upper bare, a quiver of arrows pendant from the left shoulder, the base resting on ground beside the right knee, the Indian holding a bow and arrow in the "ready" position all gules. When used to represent HMCS ''Cayuga'', the name plate is in the livery colours, i.e. red with gold lettering, but when used to represent the RCSCC, it uses a gold nameplate with black lettering. The naval version has gold maple leaves at the base, but the cadet version has red leaves.

Notes

References

* * * Robert Crichton, ''The Great Imposter'', Random House, New York, 1959 * * * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cayuga (R04) Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal Canadian Navy Cold War destroyers of Canada Korean War destroyers of Canada 1945 ships Ships built in Nova Scotia