HMCS Agassiz

There has been only one vessel named Agassiz in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Agassiz (K129)

Commissioned at Vancouver, British Columbia, on January 23, 1941, the Flower class corvette HMCS Agassiz arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 13 and left on May 23 for St. John’s, Newfoundland, to join the newly formed Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF). She sailed early in June with a convoy for Iceland and was thereafter in continuous service as an ocean escort until the end of 1943. In September 1941, she took part in a major battle around convoy SC.44 rescuing survivors of her torpedoed sister-ship, HMCS Levis. She was also part of the escort of the hard-pressed convoy ON.115 in July 1942. On January 5, 1943, she commenced a major refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, completing in mid-March, and in April was assigned to newly designated Escort Group C-1. HMCS Agassiz arrived at New York on December 16, 1943, for another major refit, including extension of her forecastle, which was completed on March 4, 1944. After working-up in St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, in April, she joined Escort Group W-2 of Western Local Escort Force, transferring in August to W-7. HMCS Agassiz spent the remainder of the war with W-7, being paid off on June 14, 1945 at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and was broken up at Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1946.

• Builder: Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
• Laid down: April 29, 1940
• Launched: August 15, 1940
• Date commissioned: January 23, 1941
• Forecastle extension completed: in New York City, New York, March 4, 1944
• Date paid off: June 14, 1945
• Displacement: 950 tons
• Dimensions: 62.5 m x 10.1 m x 3.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 2-pound (0.9 kg) gun, two 20-mm guns, Hedgehog and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-45
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944