HMCS Sackville (K181) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

HMCS Sackville was a Flower-class corvette

Flower class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...

that served in the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship

Museum ship

A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

located in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

and the last surviving Flower-class corvette.

Wartime service

Sackville was laid down as Patrol Vessel 2 at the Saint John Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

Saint John Shipbuilding

Saint John Shipbuilding was a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Saint John, New Brunswick. It operated from 1923-2003.-History:Numerous shipyards were located on the shores of Courtney Bay in the east end of Saint John Harbour where extensive mud flats dried at low tide.In 1918 it was...

of Saint John

Saint John, New Brunswick

City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

in early 1940, the second of the Flower-class corvettes

Flower class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...

ordered by the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

. She was launched on 15 May 1941 by Mrs. J. E. W. Oland, wife of the captain of the port, with the Mayor and entire town council of her namesake town

Sackville, New Brunswick

Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...

in attendance. Sackville was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 30 December 1941 by Captain J. E. W. Oland, husband of the ship's sponsor. Her first commanding officer, Lieutenant W. R. Kirkland, RCNR was appointed on 30 December but didn't join Sackville until 2 January. Kirkland was discharged in March 1942 as "unsuitable" after a poor-working up trip to Newfoundland

Dominion of Newfoundland

The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...

in late February. The first lieutenant reported that Kirkland had been unable to discharge his duties and had been abusive to his officers. After rescuing the survivors from the sunken Greek ship Lily, Sackville was unable to re-locate her convoy, ONS 68. The first lieutenant then took the step of relieving Kirkland and assuming command. The original crew was reposted to other RCN ships and the already trained crew of under Lieutenant-Commander Alan H. Easton, RCNR was drafted onto the ship on 6 April 1942. Also in April Sackville received Canadian-built SW1C radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

and worked up at Halifax and St. Margarets Bay.

The ship was finally assigned to Escort Group C-3 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...

along with two others, ( and ), on 15 May 1942 to replace corvettes going for refit. In August 1942 Sackville fought a series of fierce actions escorting Convoy ON-115. Deprived of air cover by heavy fog, the convoy was attacked by two successive U-boat "wolfpacks" off the coast of Newfoundland. On August 3, Sackville caught the German submarine U-43 on the surface and, as the submarine dove, made a series of depth charge attacks that blew U-43 out of the water. The submarine managed to survive but had to flee to Europe for repairs. The next day Sackville attacked U-704 as it dived, causing the submarine to break off its attack leaving Sackville to rescue two survivors from an abandoned but still floating merchant ship. Only a few hours later, Sackville detected U-552 on the surface with radar and landed a four inch shell on the submarine's conning tower followed by a depth charge. U-552 nearly sank but managed to regain control and creep back to Germany heavily damaged. Sackville's attacks had played a key role in allowing the 41 ship convoy to escape with the loss of only two ships.

Sackville continued in her escort role until starting an extensive refit in Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all of Queens County, Nova Scotia...

in January 1943. She returned to service in April and was assigned to Escort Group C-1 where she remained until reassigned to a new group Escort Group 9 in July. The group was disbanded following the loss of three of its ships on 20–22 September and the ship assigned to group C-2, where the ship remained on Atlantic escort work until going for refit in Galveston, Texas

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

in February 1944.

Returning to Halifax in May 1944 the vessel worked up in Bermuda and was then assigned to Escort Group C-2 which left for Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

escorting convoy HX-297 on 29 June 1944.

At Derry the boilers were cleaned, which revealed a serious leak in one of them. Repairs were unsuccessful and the ship was no longer considered suitable for convoy escort work. Since the ship had only recently been modernized she was reassigned for training at HMCS King on 29 August 1944.

However almost immediately afterwards the decision was made to convert her to a Loop Layer, laying anti-submarine indicator loop

Anti-submarine indicator loop

An anti-submarine indicator loop was a submerged cable laid on the sea bed and used to detect the passage of enemy submarines. Developed by the Royal Navy during World War I, they were extensively used by the Allies during World War II to protect harbours against submarine attack.They worked as...

s across harbour entrances, her damaged boiler removed to provide storage for the cable and the 4 inch gun replaced with a pair of cranes. She remained in this role until paid off in April 1946 and laid up in reserve.

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted

Convoy	Escort Group	Dates	Notes
HX HX convoys The HX convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. They were east-bound convoys and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia from where they sailed to ports in the United Kingdom... 175		13-15 Feb 1942	27 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland Iceland Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
SC SC convoys The SC convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys that ran during the battle of the Atlantic during World War II.They were east-bound slow convoys originating in Sydney, Cape Breton ; from there they sailed to ports in the UK, mainly Liverpool.For a time after the entry of the... 72		28 Feb-5 March 1942	19 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON ON convoys The ON convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Battle of the Atlantic .-History:... 70		11–15 March 1942	30 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland

HX 191	MOEF group C3 Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...	28 May-5 June 1942	24 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
ON 104	MOEF group C3	17–27 June 1942	36 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 90	MOEF group C3	6–15 July 1942	32 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 115	MOEF group C3	25 July-4 Aug 1942	Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 3 ships torpedoed (2 sank)
HX 202	MOEF group C3	12-17 Aug 1942	43 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON 121	MOEF group C3	17-20 Aug 1942	34 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 98	MOEF group C3	2-11 Sept 1942	69 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 131	MOEF group C3	19-28 Sept 1942	54 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 210	MOEF group C3	7-14 Oct 1942	36 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 141	MOEF group C3	26 Oct-3 Nov 1942	59 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 109	MOEF group C3	15-27 Nov 1942	Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 2 ships torpedoed (1 sank)
ON 152	MOEF group C3	10-19 Dec 1942	15 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland

ON 184	MOEF group C1 Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...	16–25 May 1943	39 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 242	MOEF group C1	6–14 June 1943	61 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 190	MOEF group C1	25 June-3 July 1943	87 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 247	Escort Group 9	14–19 July 1943	71 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 195	Escort Group 9	1-8 Aug 1943	51 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 252	Escort Group 9	20-27 Aug 1943	52 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
Convoys ONS 18/ON 202	Escort Group 9	19-25 Sept 1943	Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 7 ships torpedoed (6 sank)
SC 143	MOEF group C2 Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...	2-11 Oct 1942	Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 1 ship torpedoed & sunk
ONS 21	MOEF group C2	23 Oct-2 Nov 1943	33 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 265	MOEF group C2	11-20 Nov 1943	51 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ONS 24	MOEF group C2	1-13 Dec 1943	29 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 271	MOEF group C2	22-29 Dec 1943	53 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ONS 27	MOEF group C2	14-18 Jan 1944	32 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
ON 220	MOEF group C2	18-19 Jan 1944	54 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland

HX 297	MOEF group C2	30 June-10 July 1944	116 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland

Civilian service

Most Flower-class corvettes were scrapped shortly after the war however Sackville was laid up in reserve. She was reactivated in 1952 and converted to a research vessel for the Department of Marine and Fisheries. The armament was removed, the hull repainted black in place of the original dazzle camouflage

Dazzle camouflage

Dazzle camouflage, also known as Razzle Dazzle or Dazzle painting, was a camouflage paint scheme used on ships, extensively during World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II...

and the new pennant number 532 painted on the hull (changed to 113 in the late 1950s). A laboratory was built on the aft superstructure in 1964 and the bridge enclosed in 1968. She remained in service until December 1982, with her last cruise in July 1982.

Museum ship

The original intention had been to acquire , which had been sold to the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

and renamed Juan Alejandro Acosta but this vessel was wrecked (along with another Flower-class corvette - Cristobal Colon, the former )
by Hurricane David

Hurricane David

Hurricane David was the fourth named tropical cyclone, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season. A Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, David was among the deadliest hurricanes in the latter half of the 20th century, killing...

in 1979. This left Sackville as the sole remaining Flower-class corvette.

The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust (now the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust) on 28 October 1983 and restored to her 1944 appearance (apart from minor details in her camouflage and the presence of the "barber pole" red and white pattern around her funnel which had been removed before 1944). It had originally been planned to restore the ship to her 1942 appearance but this proved too expensive.

She currently serves the summer months as a museum ship

Museum ship

A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

moored beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a Canadian maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a member institution of the Nova Scotia Museum and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection of over 30,000 artifacts...

in Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

, while spending her winters securely in the naval dockyard at CFB Halifax

CFB Halifax

Canadian Forces Base Halifax is Canada's east coast navy base and home port to the Atlantic fleet, known as Maritime Forces Atlantic....

under the care of Maritime Forces Atlantic

Maritime Forces Atlantic

In the Canadian Forces, Maritime Forces Atlantic is responsible for the fleet and operations of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. The Commander of MARLANT is a two-star Rear Admiral....

, the Atlantic fleet of Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

. Sackvilles presence in Halifax is considered appropriate, as the port was an important North American convoy assembly port during the war.

In September 2003, Sackville broke loose during Hurricane Juan

Hurricane Juan

Hurricane Juan was a significant hurricane that struck the southern part of Atlantic Canada in late September 2003. It was the tenth named storm and the sixth hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Juan formed southeast of Bermuda on September 24, 2003 out of a tropical wave that tracked...

and struck the schooner Larinda

Larinda

The Larinda is a recreational schooner inspired by the 1767 Boston schooner HMS Sultana. It was built over a period of twenty-six years in the backyard of its owner and launched in 1996...

, a yacht inspired by the 1767 Boston schooner , moored beside her. The schooner's owners sued the Naval Memorial Trust in 2009 but the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in Sackvilles favour on August 4, 2011, concluding that the Trust had taken all necessary and appropriate precautions to secure Sackville.

Sackville makes her first appearance each spring when she is towed by a naval tug from HMC Dockyard to a location off Point Pleasant Park

Point Pleasant Park

Point Pleasant Park is a large, partially forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula. It once hosted several artillery batteries, and a well-preserved 18th century Martello tower can be found there...

on the first Sunday in May to participate in the Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies held at a memorial in the park overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour

Halifax Harbour

Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...

. Sackville typically hosts several dozen RCN veterans on this day and has also participated in several burials at sea

Burial at sea

Burial at sea describes the procedure of disposing of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship or boat. It is regularly performed by navies, but also can be done by private citizens in many countries.-By religion:...

for dispersing the ashes of RCN veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic at this location.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Wartime service

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted

Civilian service

Museum ship

See also

External links