HMCS ''Trois Rivières'' ( pennant J269), alternatively spelled ''Trois-Rivieres'' and ''Trois-Rivières'', was a that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. The ship entered service in 1942 and served as a patrol and convoy escort vessel 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 ...

. Following the war, the minesweeper was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and renamed ''MacBrien''. The vessel was sold for scrap and broken up in 1960.

Design and description

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

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 .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, 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 Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s. The ''Bangor'' class came in two versions. ''Trois Rivières'' 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 wings.Macpherson (1997), p. 58 For those ships assigned to convoy duty, they were armed with two depth charge launchers and two chutes for the 40 depth charges they carried.

Operational history

The minesweeper was ordered as part of the 1940–1941 construction programme. The ship's keel was laid down on 9 December 1940 by

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 ...

at their yard in Sorel, Quebec. Named for a community in Quebec, ''Trois Rivières'' was launched on 30 June 1941. The ship was commissioned on 12 August 1942 at Sorel.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 189 The minesweeper was assigned to the

Western Local Escort Force Western Local Escort Force (WLEF) referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys from North American port cities to the Western Ocean Meeting Point (WOMP or WESTOMP) near Newfoundland where ships of the Mi ...

after arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia in August 1942. ''Trois Rivières'' transferred to Newfoundland Force, the patrol and escort force operating from

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 ...

, in November 1942. Beginning in October 1943, ''Trois Rivières'' began a refit at Dalhousie, New Brunswick, that in different stages, took the ship to Halifax and Saint John, New Brunswick before completing in January 1944. Following the refit the ship returned to Newfoundland Force. In February 1945, the minesweeper underwent another refit, this time at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which lasted until May. The ship returned to Newfoundland Force and remained with the group until its disbandment in June. ''Trois Rivières'' was paid off on 31 July 1945 and turned over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on 3 August 1945.Haycock, p. 177 Renamed ''MacBrien'' by the RCMP, the ship served on the

East Coast of Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundla ...

until transferred on permanent loan for conversion to a naval research vessel. However, the conversion was not completed and ''MacBrien'' was declared surplus on 13 June 1959. The vessel was sold for scrap and broken up in 1960.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trois Rivières (J269) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy Ships built in Sorel-Tracy 1941 ships World War II minesweepers of Canada