HMCS Sackville

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

HMCS Sackville (K181)

Commissioned on 30 December 1941 at Saint John, New Brunswick, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Sackville arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 12 January 1942. She joined Newfoundland Escort Force after working up, and on 26 May left St. John’s, Newfoundland, to escort convoy HX.191 as part of the newly formed Escort Group C-3. In April 1943, she transferred to Escort Group C-1, and that September briefly joined Escort Group 9 in support of the beleaguered combined convoy ONS.18/ON.202, which lost six merchant vessels and three escorts. In October HMCS Sackville transferred to Escort Group C-2 for the balance of the war. She underwent two major refits: at Liverpool, Nova Scotia and at Halifax from 14 January to 2 May 1943; and at Galveston, Texas, from late February to 7 May 1944 when her forecastle was extended. Upon her return from working up in Bermuda in June 1944 she made a crossing to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Soon after leaving for the westward journey she split a boiler and had to return to Londonderry for repairs. She left again on 11 August as escort to convoy ONS.348, refitted at Halifax, and in September briefly became a training ship at the Officers’ Training Establishment HMCS Kings in Halifax.

In October, at Halifax, she began refit and reconstruction to a loop-laying vessel, and work was still in progress by Victory-in-Europe Day. The ship was paid off on 8 April 1946, but re-commissioned 4 August 1950 as a depot ship. She was refitted in 1950 but remained inactive until 1953, when as a Canadian Naval Auxiliary Vessel (CNAV), she began a survey of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that was to last several years. 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. She is designated as the Canadian Naval memorial and is saluted by warships entering and leaving Halifax harbour. In the summer months, she is berthed beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax and open to visitors.

• Builder: Saint John Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Saint John, New Brunswick
• Date laid down: 28 May 1940
• Date launched: 15 May 1941
• Date commissioned: 30 December 1941
• Date paid off: 8 April 1946
• Displacement: 965.2 tonnes
• 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 (2 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

Atlantic 1942-1944