HMCS ''Waskesiu'' was a of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

. The frigate served as a convoy escort in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was the first frigate constructed and commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy. Following the war, the vessel was sold to India where it was renamed ''Hooghly''. Named for the town of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, there was already a warship named "Prince Albert". The Royal Canadian Navy then named the ship after the town closest to Prince Albert National Park. ''Waskesiu'' was ordered in October 1941 as part of the initial 1942-1943 River-class building programme.Macpherson and Barrie, p.83 The ship was laid down on 2 May 1942 by

Yarrows Ltd. Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

at Esquimalt, British Columbia and launched 3 April 1943. The frigate was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 16 June 1943 at

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

with the pennant number K 330.

Background

The River-class frigate was designed by William Reed of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees. Originally called a "twin-screw corvette", its purpose was to improve on the convoy escort classes in service with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

at the time, including the . The first orders were placed by the Royal Navy in 1940 and the vessels were named for rivers in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, giving name to the class. In Canada they were named for towns and cities though they kept the same designation. The name "frigate" was suggested by Vice-Admiral

Percy Nelles Admiral Percy Walker Nelles, (7 January 1892 – 13 July 1951) was a flag officer in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 January 1934 to 15 January 1944. He oversaw the massive wartime expansion of the RCN and ...

of the Royal Canadian Navy and was adopted later that year.Macpherson, pp. 6–7, 15 Improvements over the corvette design included improved accommodation which was markedly better. The twin engines gave more of speed but extended the range of the ship to nearly double that of a corvette at at . Among other lessons applied to the design was an armament package better designed to combat

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s including a twin mount forward and one 2-pounder gun aft. 15 Canadian frigates were initially fitted with a single 4-inch gun forward but with the exception of , they were all eventually upgraded to the double mount. For underwater targets, the River-class frigate was equipped with a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar and depth charge rails aft and four side-mounted throwers. River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes. Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941. The design was too big for the shipyards on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

so all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the west coast or along the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Service history

After commissioning, ''Waskesiu'' transferred to the east coast of Canada. From there, the frigate worked up in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, returning to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

on 11 September 1943. The vessel was assigned to convoy escort group EG 5 based out of

Londonderry Port Londonderry Port, now operating as Foyle Port, is a port located on Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland. It is the United Kingdom’s most westerly port and an important northerly port on the island of Ireland. The current port is at Lisahally, Co ...

and sailed in October to join the group. The group was later renumbered EG 6 in November 1943. This convoy escort group operated in the Atlantic Ocean, guarding the convoy routes between Gibraltar, Sierra Leone and Great Britain.McGregor, p.1 On 7 January 1944, was sunk by torpedo. ''Waskesiu'' screened while the frigate picked up survivors.McGregor, p.2 On 24 February while escorting convoy SC 153, the group encountered the .Rohwer and Hümmelchen, p.308 ''Waskesiu'' picked up a sonar contact and moved to engage. In concert with ''Nene'', the contact was gained and lost four times. Ordered to give up the chase, ''Waskesiu'' was permitted one more attack, an attack which drove the damaged

to the surface. ''Waskesiu'' opened fire with its main armament, scoring four hits on the submarine's

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

. Eventually the sustained gunfire crippled the vessel, and the crew abandoned the sinking submarine. ''Waskesiu'' was the first Royal Canadian Navy frigate to score a U-boat kill. Supported by ''Nene'', the two ships rescued survivors of ''U-257''.McGregor, p.3-5 In April 1943, ''Waskesiu'' traveled to North Russia, escorting convoy RA 59 to Great Britain. In May the warship reported for invasion duty as EG 6 was assigned to cover the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

. The task set for EG 6 was to perform an anti-submarine patrol guarding the western edge of the English Channel from Land's End to

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.McGregor, p.8 On 14 September, ''Waskesiu'' departed for Canada as part of escort group C-3. Upon arrival, the frigate was ordered to Shelburne, Nova Scotia to begin an extensive refit. The refit was completed in March 1945 and workups were performed in Bermuda. Following the refit, ''Waskesiu'' returned to English waters, remaining until May 1945 when the frigate returned once again to Canada. Switching coasts, ''Waskesiu'' began a tropicalization refit for future service in the Pacific Ocean in June 1945 at Esquimalt. However, due to the end of the war in the Pacific, work was halted in August. ''Waskesiu'' was

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 in ...

into reserve on 29 January 1946 at Esquimalt. Declared surplus, the frigate was sold to the Indian government in 1947 for conversion to a pilot vessel. In 1950, the ship was renamed ''Hooghly''.Colledge, p.677

References

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakesiu, HMCS River-class frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943 ships Ships built in British Columbia