HMCS ''Canso'' ( pennant J21) was a initially constructed for 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 ...

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 ...

. Transferred to 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 submar ...

in 1942, the minesweeper saw service on both the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and East Coasts of Canada as a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

escort and patrol vessel. The vessel participated in the invasion of Normandy and spent the final years of the war in European waters. ''Canso'' was returned to the Royal Navy following the war and was

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...

for scrap in 1948.

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. 177 They came in two versions powered by different engines; those with a

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-ca ...

s and those with vertical triple-expansion steam engines. ''Canso'' was of the latter design and was larger than her diesel-engined cousins. ''Canso'' 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, an ...

, had a beam of and a draught of . The minesweeper 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. ''Canso'' had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The minesweeper could carry a maximum of of fuel oil. British ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were armed with a single 12-pounder () 12 cwt HA gun mounted forward. For anti-aircraft purposes, the minesweepers were equipped with one QF 2-pounder Mark VIII and two single-mounted QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns.Macpherson (1997), p. 38 The 2-pounder gun was later replaced with a twin 20 mm Oerlikon mount. As a convoy escort, ''Canso'' was deployed with 40 depth charges launched from two depth charge throwers and four chutes.

Operational history

The minesweeper was ordered as part of the British 1940 construction programme. The ship'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 30 December 1940 by North Vancouver Ship Repairs at their yard in North Vancouver,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Named for a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, ''Canso'' was launched on 9 June 1941. Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy, the ship was commissioned on 5 March 1942 at

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Following work ups, the minesweeper joined Esquimalt Force in May 1942, the local patrol and

escort force operating out of

Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

. ''Canso'' was one of the warships added to the west coast patrol force after the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

. The main duty of ''Bangor''-class minesweepers after commissioning on the West Coast was to perform the Western Patrol. This consisted of patrolling the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

, inspecting inlets and

sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

and past the Scott Islands to Gordon Channel at the entrance to the

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

and back. In July 1943, ''Canso'' was transferred to the Atlantic Coast, arriving on 19 August at

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 ...

and joined Halifax Force upon arrival, the local patrol and escort force. She remained with the unit until February 1944 when the minesweeper was sent to European waters as part of Canada's contribution to the invasion of Normandy. After arriving at Plymouth on 7 March, ''Canso'' was assigned during the lead-up to the invasion to the 32nd and 16th Minesweeping Flotillas. ''Canso'' was with the 16th Minesweeping Flotilla on D-day was assigned to the assault sweep during the landings on 6 June. The 16th Minesweeping Flotilla was detailed with clearing channel 1 in the American sector. The minesweepers completed their work unmolested by the Germans ashore. Their work completed, the minesweeper returned to Plymouth, sailing for the invasion zone again the next day. The 16th Minesweeping Flotilla spent the following weeks sweeping the invasion zone and the sea lanes to it. On 16 June they swept a channel in front of the cruiser , which was carrying King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. In August 1944, the minesweeper sailed for Canada to undergo a refit at

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

. Following the refit, ''Canso'' returned to European waters. She joined the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla upon her return and took part in the last large-scale combined operation in the European theatre in an attack on German naval bases in France that had been left untouched by Allied war effort to that point. Departing Plymouth on 12 April 1945, the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla began operations in the mouth of the Gironde estuary on 14 April. They completed their duties on 16 April, unmolested by the Germans. While returning to Plymouth, the flotilla encountered a German trawler and captured it. ''Canso'' and the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla spent the next five months sweeping the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. The minesweeper 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 ...

on 24 September 1945 and returned to the Royal Navy. ''Canso'' was taken to Sheerness and laid up, never entering service with the Royal Navy. On 1 January 1948, the vessel was sold to Young to be

at Sunderland.Colledge, p. 121

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Canso (J21) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Navy Ships built in North Vancouver 1941 ships World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy