HMCS ''Granby'' was a that served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the 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 subma ...

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 opposi ...

. She saw action 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 Allies of World War II, ...

and the Battle of the St. Lawrence. After the war, she was transferred to the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

, however never saw service with them. She was recommissioned as a deep-diving tender in 1953 and served as such until 1966. She was named for

Granby, Quebec Granby is a town in southwestern Quebec, located east of Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 69,025. Granby is the seat of La Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality. It is the second most populated city in Estrie aft ...

Design and description

The ''Bangor'' class was initially to be a scaled down minesweeper design of the in

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 Fr ...

service.Brown, p. 124Chesneau (1980), p. 61 However, due to the difficulty procuring diesel engines led to the small number of the diesel version being completed. The ships displaced standard and fully loaded. They were

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

with a beam of and a draught of .Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 185 However, the size of the ship led to criticisms of their being too cramped for magnetic or acoustic minesweeping gear. This may have been due to all the additions made during the war with the installation of

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

, radar and

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 hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use h ...

s. The ''Bangor'' class came in two versions. ''Granby'' was of the diesel-powered version, being equipped with a 9-cylinder diesel engine driving two shafts that produced . This gave the ship a maximum speed of . The vessels carried of oil. The vessels had a complement of 6 officers and 77 ratings. The Canadian diesel-powered ''Bangor''s were armed with a single quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 12 cwt gun mounted forward. The ships were also fitted with a QF 2-pounder Mark VIII gun aft and were eventually fitted with single-mounted QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns on the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

wings.Macpherson (1997), p. 58 For those ships assigned to convoy duty, they were armed with two

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

Service history

''Granby'' was ordered as part of the 1940–41 building programme. The minesweeper's

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 17 December 1940 by Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd. at Lauzon, Quebec. The ship was launched on 6 September 1941 and commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 2 May 1942 at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 186 After working up, ''Granby'' was assigned to Sydney Force. She eventually transferred to the Western Local Escort Force (WLEF). In January 1943 WLEF organized its escorts into groups. ''Granby'' joined 24.18.5 alongside the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

and

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

. In June 1943, when WLEF reorganized its escort groups, ''Granby'' was assigned to group W-3. She remained with this group until May 1944 when she rejoined Sydney Force. In September 1943, ''Granby'' was among the warships deployed as part of the Canadian force to break up

Operation Kiebitz Operation Kiebitz was a failed German operation during World War II to organize the escape of four skilled U-boat commanders from a Canadian prisoner of war camp in Bowmanville, Ontario. The subsequent counter operation by the Royal Canadian Na ...

, the German plan to breakout

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

U-boat captains from a camp in Canada. Before actively rejoining the unit, ''Granby'' underwent a major refit at Lunenburg from June to October 1944. Following workups in November she returned to service. In February 1945, she transferred again, this time to Shelburne Force, lasting only two months with that group before switching to Halifax Force in April. She remained with that group (under repair) until being paid off on 31 July 1945.

Postwar service

After the war ''Granby'' was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Marine Unit, to be renamed ''Col. White''. However, she was never taken over. The Royal Canadian Navy however, recommissioned her on 23 May 1953 for conversion to a deep-diving tender. She was used, along with

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 ...

, in 1953 on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

to test the Royal Canadian Navy's

DATAR DATAR, short for ''Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving'', was a pioneering computerized battlefield information system. DATAR combined the data from all of the sensors in a naval task force into a single "overall view" that was then transmi ...

system. She served as a diving tender until 15 December 1966 when she was paid off for the final time. Her name and duties were transferred to the . The ship was put for sale and sold in 1975.Colledge, p. 271

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Granby (J264) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy Ships built in Lévis 1942 ships World War II minesweepers of Canada