HMCS ''Fort William'' ( pennant J311) was a that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Entering service in 1942, the minesweeper participated 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 ...

as a convoy escort and in 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 ...

. Following the war, the ship was laid up, but was reacquired during the Korean War. ''Fort William'' never re-entered service with the Royal Canadian Navy and in 1957, was sold to Turkey. Renamed ''Bodrum'' by the Turkish Navy, the ship was discarded in 1971.

Design and description

A British design, the ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were smaller than the preceding s in British service, but larger than the in Canadian service.Chesneau, p. 64Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 167 They came in two versions powered by different engines; those with a diesel engines and those with vertical triple-expansion steam engines. ''Fort William'' was of the latter design and was larger than her diesel-engined cousins. The minesweeper was

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 ...

, had 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 .Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 180 ''Fort William'' 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 . She had a complement of 6 officers and 77 enlisted. ''Fort William'' had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The minesweeper could carry a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

. ''Fort William'' was armed with a single quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder () 12 cwt HA gun mounted forward.Macpherson (1997), p. 70 The ship was also fitted with a QF 2-pounder Mark VIII aft and were eventually fitted with single-mounted QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns on the bridge wings.Macpherson (1997), p. 58 The 2-pounder gun was later replaced with a twin 20 mm Oerlikon mount. Those ships assigned to convoy duty had two

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

launchers and four chutes to deploy the 40 depth charges they carried.

Operational history

The minesweeper was ordered as part of the 1941–1942 construction programme. The ship's keel was laid down on 18 August 1941 by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co at their yard in Port Arthur, Ontario. Named for a community in Ontario, ''Fort William'' was launched on 30 December 1941. The ship was commissioned on 25 August 1942 at Port Arthur.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 190 The ship arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 24 September 1942 and underwent further dockyard work after a number of defects were found in ''Fort William''s construction. The repairs took until October to complete, when the minesweeper began her work ups. In November, ''Fort William'' was assigned to Halifax Force as a local convoy escort and patrol vessel. On 11 January 1943 the minesweeper collided with ''Lisgar'' in Halifax Harbour, suffering significant damage. ''Fort William'' underwent repairs at Halifax that took a month to complete. In June 1943, the minesweeper transferred to Newfoundland Force, the local escort and patrol unit based at

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

. ''Fort William'' remained with that group until February 1944, when the minesweeper returned to Halifax to undergo a refit. Following the completion of the refit, the ship then sailed to Europe as part of Canada's contribution to the

. Upon arrival in March, ''Fort William'' was assigned to the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla. During the invasion, ''Fort William'' and her fellow minesweepers swept and marked channels through the German minefields leading into the invasion beaches in the American sector. The 31st Minesweeping Flotilla swept channel 3 on 6 June. While operating off Port-en-Bessin, ''Fort William'' and

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 ...

fouled their sweeps on a wreck. While recovering their sweeps they came under fire from a shore battery near Saint-Laurent. The shore battery was silenced by naval gunfire from the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

. The Canadian ''Bangor''s spent most of June sweeping Channel 14, the widened area that combined assault channels 1 to 4. The minesweepers spent the following months clearing the shipping lanes between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Towards the end of 1944, the minesweepers were also being used as a cross channel convoy escorts. In March 1945, ''Fort William'' returned to Canada to undergo another refit. The vessel rejoined the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla and remained in European waters until 21 September 1945. After returning to Canada, the minesweeper was paid off at

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

on 23 October 1945. ''Fort William'' was placed in strategic reserve at Sorel, Quebec in 1946. In June 1951 the minesweeper was reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Korean War and modernized. The vessel was taken to Sydney, Nova Scotia and given the new hull number FSE 195 and re-designated a coastal escort. However, the ship never recommissioned and remained in reserve at Sydney until 29 November 1957 when ''Fort William'' was formally transferred to the Turkish Navy. Renamed ''Bodrum'' by the Turkish Navy, the vessel remained in service until 1971 when it was discarded. The vessel was broken up in Turkey in 1971.

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort William (J311) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy Ships built in Thunder Bay 1941 ships World War II minesweepers of Canada