HMCS ''Malaspina'' was a Canadian government fisheries patrol vessel pressed into service with 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 1917 and again in 1939 and which therefore saw service during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

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 ...

. The vessel was constructed in 1913 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland and patrolled the fisheries along the

West Coast of Canada , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

. A sister ship of CGS ''Galiano'', ''Malaspina'' was also taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy, and both ships mixed civil duties with naval patrol and examination work, including

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

training and trials, for much of the war. ''Malaspina'' survived the war and returned to fisheries protection work in 1920. In 1939, following the outbreak of the Second World War, ''Malaspina'' was again commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy, serving as a patrol and

examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

and subsequently as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

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 ...

in 1945 and sold for scrap in 1946.

Description

''Malaspina'' was designed as coastal patrol vessel. The vessel had a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 392, was long between perpendiculars with a beam of and a draught of . The ship was divided into twenty watertight compartments by both transverse and longitudinal bulkheads. The vessel was powered by a

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

driving one

screw 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 f ...

creating . This gave ''Malaspina'' a maximum speed of . In Royal Canadian Navy service, the ship was armed with one

QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss The Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1885 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. There were ma ...

gun mounted forward and had a

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

of 33.

Construction and career

The vessel'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 by Dublin Dockyard in

, Ireland and the vessel was launched on 6 July 1913. ''Malaspina'' was completed in August 1913. The date on which ''Malaspina'' became a government ship differs between the sources, with Macpherson & Barrie claiming the vessel joined in 1913 and Maginley & Collin, 1914. Upon joining the government fleet, ''Malaspina'' became a fisheries patrol vessel on the West Coast of Canada. After the First World War broke out, ''Malaspina'' and sister ship ''Galiano'' alternated between naval and civic duties along the Pacific coast, being retained as part of the government fleet. This included performing examination duties at

Esquimalt 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 ...

, British Columbia. On 1 December 1917, ''Malaspina'' was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy, detailed with the duty of intercepting contraband in the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

. Following the First World War, ''Malaspina'' was

on 31 March 1920. The Royal Canadian Navy and returned to the

Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

's Marine Service as a patrol vessel. ''Malaspina'' remained in this service until 6 September 1939 when, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the vessel rejoined the Royal Canadian Navy. ''Malaspina'' was deployed on patrol and ship examination duties along the West Coast before joining as a

. ''Malaspina'' was paid off on 31 March 1945 and sold for scrap the following year. The ship was broken up by Wagner, Stein & Green at their site in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

in the third quarter of 1951.

Citations

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Converted civilian vessels of the Royal Canadian Navy at hazegray.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malaspina, HMCS Patrol vessels of the Royal Canadian Navy 1913 ships Auxiliary ships of the Royal Canadian Navy Canadian Government Ship Dominion Government Ships