HMCS Ottawa

There have been 4 vessels named HMCS Ottawa in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Ottawa (1st  of the name) (H60)

Completed in 1932 as HMS Crusader, this “C” Class destroyer was purchased and commissioned as HMCS Ottawa on June 15, 1938, at Chatham, England. She arrived at Esquimalt, British Colombia on November 7, and, with war approaching, left for Halifax, Nova Scotia, almost one year later on escort duties. While escorting convoy ON.127, she was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine U-91 in the North Atlantic on September 13, 1942. One hundred and fourteen of her ship’s company were lost. Postwar reassessment of U-boat kills credit HMCS Ottawa with a share in the sinking of the Italian submarine Faa Di Bruno in the North Atlantic on November 6, 1940.

HMCS Ottawa (2nd of the name) (H31)

Completed as HMS Griffin in 1936, this “G” Class destroyer served with the Royal Navy until commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Griffin on March 20, 1943. She was renamed HMCS Ottawa on April 10. She served in the North Atlantic and took part in the invasion of France with the Escort Group 11. Following patrols in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay, she took part, in the destruction of 3 German submarines.  She returned to Canada for refit on October 1944 in which waters she remained until paid off on November 1, 1945, in Sydney, Nova Scotia. HMCS Ottawa was broken up in 1946.

HMCS Ottawa (3rd of the name) (229)

Built by Canadian Vickers in Montréal, Quebec, the St-Laurent class destroyer HMCS Ottawa was commissioned there on November 10, 1956. She was converted to a helicopter-carrying destroyer in 1963. In 1968, she was the first designated francophone naval unit. HMCS Ottawa conducted North Atlantic Treaty Organization and allied exercises, fisheries and sovereignty patrols during the Cold War. She was paid off on July 31, 1992, and left Halifax in tow for India on April 4, 1994, to be broken up.

HMCS Ottawa (4th of the name) (341)

The Halifax Class frigate HMCS Ottawa was launched in Saint John, New Brunswick, on May 31, 1996, and was commissioned in Cornwall, Ontario, on September 28, 1996. She transferred to Esquimalt, British Columbia, in late 1996. On June 16, 1998, HMCS Ottawa sailed to join the USS Abraham Lincoln’s Carrier Battle Group in the Adriatic, enforcing the United Nations trade embargo against Iraq. She was the first Canadian unit to be assigned to such a group. HMCS Ottawa continues to contribute to the defence of Canada and to the global Campaign against terrorism.

Motto: “Egor Beofor” (Ocean Beaver)

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1939-1945
• Normandy 1944
• English Channel 1944
• Biscay 1944