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HMCS Algonquin (R17)

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HMCS Sioux AWM P05890.046.jpeg
Sister ship HMCS Sioux in the 1950s
History
Canada
NameAlgonquin
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number602
Laid down8 October 1942
Launched2 September 1943
Commissioned28 February 1944
Out of service6 February 1946
Refit1954
Identificationpennant number: R17 Later DDE 224
Motto
  • A coup sur
  • ("With sure stroke")[1]
Honours and
awards
  • Norway, 1944
  • Normandy, 1944
  • Arctic, 1944–1945[1]
FateScrapped April 1971
BadgeBlazon Sable, a base barry wavy argent and azure of four, from which issues an Indian's arm embowed proper wearing arm and wrist bands argent and holding a fish spear in bend argent transfixing an eel Or[1][2][3]
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeV-class destroyer
Displacement2,700 long tons (2,743 t)
Length362 ft 9 in (110.57 m)
Beam35 ft 8 in (10.87 m)
Draught10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 2-shaft Parsons geared turbines
  • 40,000 shp (29,828 kW)
Speed31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Range4,860 nmi (9,000 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h)
Complement250
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Valentine and HMCS Algonquin.

HMCS Algonquin was a V-class destroyer, laid down for the Royal Navy as HMS Valentine (R17) and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on completion during the Second World War. She saw service in the Second World War escorting the aircraft carriers that bombed the Tirpitz in March 1944 and providing naval gunfire support to the Normandy landings. The destroyer was to participate in the Pacific Campaign but the war ended before her arrival in that theatre. Algonquin was converted in 1953 to a frigate and spent the majority of her remaining career in the Atlantic, being paid off in 1970.

Discover more about HMCS Algonquin (R17) related topics

U and V-class destroyer

U and V-class destroyer

The U and V class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1942–1943. They were constructed in two flotillas, each with names beginning with "U-" or "V-". The hull was nearly identical to the preceding ships of the S and T classes, but the U and V class ships had different bridge and armament fits. The flotillas constituted the 7th Emergency Flotilla and 8th Emergency Flotilla, built under the War Emergency Programme. These ships used the Fuze Keeping Clock HA Fire Control Computer.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The Royal Canadian Navy 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 submarines, 12 coastal defence vessels, eight patrol class training vessels, two offshore patrol vessels, and several auxiliary vessels. The RCN consists of 8,570 Regular Force and 5,100 Primary Reserve sailors, supported by 3,800 civilians. Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee is the current commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and chief of the Naval Staff.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

Aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.

German battleship Tirpitz

German battleship Tirpitz

Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship, Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.

Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in eastern Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast Pacific Ocean theater, the South West Pacific theater, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Soviet–Japanese War.

Frigate

Frigate

A frigate is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.

Service history

Ordered as Kempenfelt by the Royal Navy, the destroyer's keel was laid down on 8 October 1942.[4][5] The ship's name was changed to Valentine in 1942.[4] The destroyer was launched on 2 September 1943.[5] Valentine was renamed Algonquin and commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 28 February 1944.[4][a]

Following her commissioning, Algonquin was sent to Scapa Flow to work up with her sister Sioux.[6] They were then assigned to the British Home Fleet's 26th Destroyer Flotilla.[5] Departing on 29 March 1944 from Scapa Flow, the flotilla joined the escort screen on 31 March for the force sent to cover the Russian convoy JW 58. On 3 April they join the fleet sent to bomb the German battleship Tirpitz in Operation Tungsten.[6][7] On 26 April Algonquin escorted a strike force hunting for German ships near the Norwegian Lofoten Islands.[5][8] On 6 May, Algonquin deployed as part of a force comprising two aircraft carriers and five other destroyers. Aircraft from the carriers attacked two German convoys and sank two ships for the loss of two aircraft.[9] Algonquin and the 26th Destroyer Flotilla began training for Operation Neptune, the naval component of the Normandy invasion. The flotilla departed Scapa Flow on 28 May for Portsmouth.[8] Algonquin and sister Sioux provided gunfire support to the landings on Juno Beach.[10]

Invasion of Normandy

Algonquin's 4.7-inch gun crew during the Invasion of Normandy.
Algonquin's 4.7-inch gun crew during the Invasion of Normandy.

On 6 June 1944, Algonquin left the Solent at 06:45am as part of the assault fleet for Juno Beach, the Canadian sector of the invasion. After arrival, Algonquin began performing her gunfire support mission, firing at her first target; a pair of 75 mm (3 in) guns located behind houses west of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. Following their destruction, Algonquin shifted to destroying houses harbouring snipers along the Nan Red sector.[11] By mid-morning, Algonquin fired only intermittently and the destroyer's gunfire was controlled from shore-based army observers. Around 10:00am, Algonquin was called upon to take out a battery of three 88 mm (3 in) guns 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) inland from Courselles.[12] The destroyer spent the rest of the time with the invasion fleet on D-day moving around and coming under air attack.[13]

On 7 June, the ship shelled a series of houses that was being used by snipers. Algonquin, with Sioux was used on Guards Patrol around the anchorage. On 10 June, the destroyer shuttled Vice-Admiral Percy W. Nelles to Normandy and followed this up on 18 June by ferrying General Harry Crerar, commander of Canadian invasion forces, and his staff to France. The following day, the ship performed a fire support mission for an attack by Royal Marines between Ouistreham and Cabourg.[13] On 24 June, Algonquin, with Sioux, shelled a German battery near Franceville before departing shortly after for Scapa Flow.[14]

Northern operations

After returning from invasion duties, Algonquin was made part of the destroyer force for the Home Fleet again.[15] From 9–11 August 1944, Algonquin and Sioux are among the escorts for a carrier force sent to attack German airfields at Gossen, Norway and disrupt German shipping in the Lepsoyren Channel and Harhanesfjord.[16][17] The Home Fleet departed on 16 August to carry out attacks, named Operation Goodwood, on Tirpitz lying at Kaafjord, splitting into two groups.[18][19] Algonquin and Sioux were part of the force under the command of Rear-Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor.[18] The escort carrier HMS Nabob was part of the task force, manned by a Canadian crew.[15] The escort carrier was torpedoed by a U-boat on 22 August, suffering significant damage.[20] Algonquin was dispatched to aid the damaged ship arriving on 23 August, taking 203 members of the crew off.[5] The destroyer later transferred the Nabob personnel to another ship and returned to fleet off Norway.[21]

On 11 September, Algonquin formed part of the screening force for another strike against German shipping off Norway. Upon returning from this mission, the destroyer escorted convoys to Murmansk and back. Only two ships were torpedoed, both on the trip back to the United Kingdom.[22] Algonquin escorted a British force from 14–15 October sent to perform air-mining and attacks on Axis shipping routes along the coast of Norway near Frohavet.[23] From 26–28 October, Algonquin is among the escort for the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable during attacks on Norway as part of Operation Athletic.[24]

During the night of 12/13 November, Algonquin deployed as part of Operation Counterblast, with the cruisers HMS Kent and Bellona and the destroyers Myngs, Verulam and Zambesi were deployed based on "Ultra" intelligence and attacked the German convoy KS 357 between Listerfjord and Egersund.[25][26] The freighters Greif and Cornouailles were sunk, as were the minesweepers M 427 and M 416 and the submarine chasers UJ 1221, UJ 1223 and UJ 1713.[25] Algonquin took part in the sinking of the three submarine chasers and one merchant vessel.[26][27] On 22 November, Algonquin was part of the screen for airstrikes on Norway.[28] On 27 November Algonquin was among the escorts for Implacable during raids on German shipping along the coast of Norway.[25] The destroyer returned to the region for more airstrikes on 6 December.[28] From 7–14 December, the ship escorted a British carrier force in support of Operation "Urbane" for the convoy RA 62 off the coast of Norway.[29]

On 30 December, Algonquin sailed with the Murmansk-bound convoy JW 63 from Loch Ewe, Scotland to Kola Inlet, Russia, arriving on 8 January 1945.[28][30] The destroyer returned with RW 63, departing Kola Inlet on 11 January. RW 63 comprised 29 ships. During the return trip, the convoy was scattered by a storm in which gale winds reached 85 knots (157 km/h; 98 mph) which delayed its arrival at Loch Ewe until 21 January.[28][31] The destroyer returned to Norwegian waters escorting more airstrikes in January 1945. In February, Algonquin and Sioux sailed to the Minch to meet Puncher, the second Canadian-manned escort carrier, after which Algonquin sailed for Canada on 5 February.[32]

Algonquin arrived in Canada in February 1945 for a tropicalization refit at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Work was complete by August when she departed to join the British Pacific Fleet, though she did not arrive by the war's end, being in the Eastern Mediterranean on VJ-day. Following a brief stop at Alexandria, Egypt she crossed the Indian and Pacific Oceans to her homeport at Esquimalt, British Columbia. The destroyer was paid off into reserve and laid up on 6 February 1946.[5]

Cold War service

Valentine's bell aboard the Iroquois-class destroyer Algonquin
Valentine's bell aboard the Iroquois-class destroyer Algonquin

Algonquin was modernized to a Type 15 frigate at Esquimalt and recommissioned on 25 February 1953 with the hull number 224. She was not selected for duty in the Korean War and was instead posted to CFB Halifax on the North Atlantic coast where she spent much of the next 14 years working with Canada's NATO allies.[5] The First Canadian Escort Squadron came into being on 10 November 1953 as part of Atlantic Command with Algonquin as its flagship. The squadron was initially composed of Algonquin and the Prestonian-class frigates Lauzon, Prestonian and Toronto.[33] In September the First Canadian Escort Squadron took part in the NATO naval exercise "New Broom II" and in October "Morning Mist" before performing a two-month training cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, making several port visits.[34][35] The squadron returned to Canada on 10 December 1954.[35] In January 1958, Algonquin collided with HMCS Nootka while operating in the Atlantic with the First Canadian Escort Squadron.[36]

Algonquin returned to Esquimalt in 1967 and was paid off on 1 April 1970. She was sold for scrap and broken up in Taiwan in 1971.[5]

Discover more about Service history related topics

Keel

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. The laying of the keel is often the initial step in the construction of a ship. In the British and American shipbuilding traditions, this event marks the beginning date of a ships construction.

HMCS Sioux (R64)

HMCS Sioux (R64)

HMCS Sioux was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy which fought in the Second World War and the Korean War. She was launched as HMS Vixen for the British Royal Navy before being transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. She was then named for the Sioux people of Canada's western provinces.

Home Fleet

Home Fleet

The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.

Operation Tungsten

Operation Tungsten

Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. The operation sought to damage or destroy Tirpitz at her base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway before she could become fully operational again following a period of repairs.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.

Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold, to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, and just west of the British beach Sword. Taking Juno was the responsibility of the First Canadian Army, with sea transport, mine sweeping, and a naval bombardment force provided by the Royal Canadian Navy and the British Royal Navy as well as elements from the Free French, Norwegian, and other Allied navies. The objectives of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on D-Day were to cut the Caen-Bayeux road, seize the Carpiquet airport west of Caen, and form a link between the two British beaches on either flank.

Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados

Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados

Saint Aubin-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department, in northwestern France. Administratively, it is part of the arrondissement of Caen and the canton of Courseulles-sur-Mer. It is 2.1 km east of Bernières-sur-Mer, 4 km north of Douvres-la-Délivrande and 16 km north of Caen.

Courseulles-sur-Mer

Courseulles-sur-Mer

Courseulles-sur-Mer, commonly known as Courseulles, is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Until 1957, the town's name was simply Courseulles. It lies 3 km west of Bernières-sur-Mer and 18 km north of Caen.

Percy W. Nelles

Percy W. Nelles

Admiral Percy Walker Nelles, was a flag officer in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 January 1934 to 15 January 1944. He oversaw the massive wartime expansion of the RCN and the transformation of Canada into a major player in the Battle of the Atlantic. During his tenure U-boats raided the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canadian Northwest Atlantic command was created, and the RCN provided up to 40% of all escort forces in the North Atlantic. His handling of the RCN's war effort had its opponents however, and he was removed from his post as Chief of the Naval Staff in January 1944. He was sent to London as Overseas Naval Attaché, coordinating RCN operations for Operation Overlord. He retired in January 1945 as a full admiral.

Harry Crerar

Harry Crerar

General Henry Duncan Graham Crerar was a senior officer of the Canadian Army who became the country's senior field commander in the Second World War as commander of the First Canadian Army in the campaign in North West Europe in 1944–1945. A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, Ontario, Crerar was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Non-Permanent Active Militia in 1909, serving with the 4th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, which was based in Hamilton, Ontario. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the artillery in the First World War, during which he was mentioned in despatches and made a member of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). Electing to remain in the army as a professional soldier after the war, he attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1923 to 1924, and the Imperial Defence College in 1934. He was appointed Director of Military Operations & Military Intelligence in 1935 and Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada in 1939.

Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marines can trace their origins back to the formation of the "Duke of York and Albany's maritime regiment of Foot" on 28 October 1664, and can trace their commando origins to the formation of the 3rd Special Service Brigade, now known as 3 Commando Brigade on 14 February 1942, during the Second World War.

Ouistreham

Ouistreham

Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France.

Source: "HMCS Algonquin (R17)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 12th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Algonquin_(R17).

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Action of 28 January 1945

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Notes
  1. ^ Macpherson and Barrie give two commissioning dates for Algonquin; 7 and 17 February.[5]
Citations
  1. ^ a b c Arbuckle, p. 5
  2. ^ The Insignia and Lineages of the Canadian Forces: Volume 2, Part 1: Extant Commissioned Ships (PDF). Canadian Forces. 8 January 2008. pp. 2–3 to 2–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  3. ^ An explanation of heraldic terms
  4. ^ a b c Colledge, p. 425
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 63
  6. ^ a b Schull, p. 230
  7. ^ Rohwer, p. 314
  8. ^ a b Schull, p. 232
  9. ^ Rohwer, p. 322
  10. ^ Rohwer, p. 331
  11. ^ Schull, p. 275
  12. ^ Schull, p. 283
  13. ^ a b Schull, p. 313
  14. ^ Schull, p. 384
  15. ^ a b Schull, p. 371
  16. ^ Rohwer, p. 349
  17. ^ Schull, pp. 371–372
  18. ^ a b Rohwer, p. 350
  19. ^ Schull, pp. 372–373
  20. ^ Schull, p. 374
  21. ^ Schull, pp. 375–376
  22. ^ Schull, p. 376
  23. ^ Rohwer, p. 352
  24. ^ Rohwer, p. 369
  25. ^ a b c Rohwer, p. 371
  26. ^ a b Schull, pp. 377–378
  27. ^ Rohwer, p. 372
  28. ^ a b c d Schull, p. 378
  29. ^ Rohwer, p. 376
  30. ^ Rohwer, p. 380
  31. ^ Rohwer, p. 386
  32. ^ Schull, p. 399
  33. ^ "Escort Squadron Formed at Halifax". The Crowsnest. Vol. 6, no. 1. Ottawa: Queen's Printer. pp. 2–3.
  34. ^ "Escort Squadron Touring "Med"". The Crowsnest. Vol. 7, no. 1. Ottawa: Queen's Printer. p. 3.
  35. ^ a b "Squadron Back From "Med" Cruise". The Crowsnest. Vol. 7, no. 3. Ottawa: Queen's Printer. January 1955. pp. 2–3.
  36. ^ "Say Seaman Forgot Order of Skipper". Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. The Canadian Press. 13 June 1958. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
References
  • Arbuckle, J. Graeme (1987). Badges of the Canadian Navy. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing. ISBN 0-920852-49-1.
  • Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron (2002). The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002 (Third ed.). St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing. ISBN 1-55125-072-1.
  • Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Revised & Expanded ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Schull, Joseph (1961). The Far Distant Ships: An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in the Second World War. Ottawa: Queen's Printer.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
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