HMCS ''Provider'' was a Fairmile

depot ship A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing an ...

constructed for 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 ...

during

World War II 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 ...

. Commissioned in December 1942, ''Provider'' served as a base ship in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and at

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 ...

. Following the war, the vessel was sold into commercial service and converted into a tanker in 1946. The ship re-entered service in 1947 and was renamed ''Maruba''. The ship sailed under this name until 1956, when it was sold and renamed ''Olaya''. Renamed ''Orgenos'' the same year, the tanker was acquired by the

Peruvian Navy The Peruvian Navy ( es, link=no, Marina de Guerra del Perú, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Addit ...

in 1960. In 1961, ''Orgenus'' was sold for scrap and broken up in Peru. The ship's registry was not deleted until 1992.

Description

''Provider'' was an

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

and between perpendiculars with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . The ship had a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of , a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 2,367 tons and a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provi ...

(DWT) of 3,455 tons. The vessel was powered by

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s turning two

screws A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

with a designed speed of , but a maximum speed of . The ship had a range of at . The ship was either armed with one naval gun and two cannon or one 12-pounder naval gun. The ship was designed to be a Fairmile B motor launch

and was fitted with a machine shop, spare accommodations and extra fuel and store spaces. The vessel had a ship's company of 107, with 20 officers and 87 ratings.

Service history

The vessel was constructed at the

Marine Industries Marine Industries Limited (MIL) was a Canadian ship building, hydro-electric and rail car manufacturing company, in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, with a shipyard located on the Richelieu river about 1 km from the St. Lawrence River. It employed up to ...

shipyard at Sorel, Quebec, in 1941–1942 and given the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

105. The ship was launched in December 1942 and named ''Provider''. ''Provider'' was commissioned on 1 December, the second vessel of its design to enter Canadian service after

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

. ''Provider'' sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia and was transferred to the

with two flotillas of Fairmile motor launches. However, while en route, ''Provider'' was damaged in a storm and was forced to return to Halifax. ''Provider'' departed Halifax on 29 December and arrived at

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

on 20 February 1943. There, ''Provider'' and the flotillas alleviated the shortage of patrol forces in the region, with ''Provider'' acting as the base ship for the Fairmiles. ''Provider'' sailed for

Guantánamo Bay Guantánamo Bay ( es, Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off ...

, Cuba and was joined there by the 73rd Flotilla of Fairmile motor launches. The two units then moved on to

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, Florida. ''Provider'' returned to Halifax on 23 April 1943. ''Provider'' was then allocated to Gaspé Force, arriving at Gaspé, Quebec, on 23 April in the

Gulf of St. Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence () is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a semi-enclosed sea, covering an area of about and containing about of water, at an average depth of . ...

. The vessel was then sent further up 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 ...

to Sept-Îles, Quebec, arriving on 29 June and remaining there until November. ''Provider'' then sailed for Halifax, before heading on to

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 ...

to serve as base ship for the 70th and 78th Fairmile flotillas. The vessel returned to Halifax on 31 July 1944, before being attached to , the Canadian training base at Bermuda until the end of May 1945. The ship returned to Halifax to become the base supply ship before 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 in ...

on 22 March 1946. The ship was sold in 1946 to Lunham & Moore (Tankers) Ltd and converted into a tanker. Registered in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, the vessel was renamed ''Maruba'' and re-entered service in 1947. ''Maruba'' was sold to Empresa Petrolera Fiscal in 1956, renamed ''Olaya'' and registered in

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...

. The same year, the vessel was renamed ''Orgenos''. In 1960, the

acquired ''Orgenos'' but the vessel was taken out of service in 1961 and sold for scrap. ''Orgenos'' was broken up in Peru in 1961, but the vessel's registry was not deleted until 1992.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Provider Auxiliary ships of the Royal Canadian Navy 1942 ships Auxiliary ships of the Peruvian Navy