HMCS Moncton (K139)
![]() HMCS Moncton, circa 1942
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History | |
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Name | Moncton |
Namesake | Moncton, New Brunswick |
Ordered | 24 January 1940 |
Builder | Saint John Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Saint John |
Laid down | 17 December 1940 |
Launched | 11 August 1941 |
Commissioned | 24 April 1942 |
Decommissioned | paid off 12 December 1945 |
Identification | Pennant number: K139 |
Motto |
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Honours and awards | Atlantic, 1942-1943[1] |
Fate | Sold in 1955 to the Santander . |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Flower-class corvette (original)[2] |
Displacement | 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons) |
Length | 205 ft (62.48 m)o/a |
Beam | 33 ft (10.06 m) |
Draught | 11.5 ft (3.51 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 16 knots (29.6 km/h) |
Range | 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h) |
Complement | 85 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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HMCS Moncton was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served on both coasts of Canada. She is named after Moncton, New Brunswick.
Background
Flower-class corvettes like Moncton serving with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes.
Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part, to better represent the people who took part in building them. This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W. Nelles. Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named. Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts, while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear. Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas.[9]
Construction
She was ordered on 24 January 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down bym St. John Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. at Saint John on 17 December 1940 and was launched on 11 August 1941. She commissioned into the RCN on 24 April 1942 at Saint John.[10] Moncton was the last of the RCN's original 64 Flower-class orders to be completed and her construction had been significantly delayed due to heavy demands on her builder for priority repair work on war-damaged ships.[11]
Wartime service
Following her commissioning, Moncton sailed to
From June 1942 to June 1943, Moncton was tasked to
Moncton was transferred to the RCN's Pacific Fleet in January 1944 and departed for
Following
Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted
Convoy | Escort Group | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
SC.87 | WLEF | June 12–15, 1942[12] | 42 ships escorted without loss from Sydney, NS to Liverpool UK |
ON.103 | WLEF | June 12–26, 1942[13] | 52 ships escorted from Liverpool UK to Boston USA, Moncton joined the escort on June 21 |
SC.90 | WLEF | July 3–16, 1942[12] | 34 ships escorted from Sydney NS to Liverpool UK, Moncton on escort from July 3–6 |
ON.109 | WLEF | July 3–18, 1942[13] | 28 ships escorted from Liverpool UK to Halifax NS, Moncton joined the escort from July 11–16 |
SC.93 | WLEF | July 24–August 7, 1942[12] | 45 ships escorted from Sydney NS to Liverpool UK, Moncton joined escort from July 24–26 |
ON.114 | WLEF | July 19–dispersal, 1942[13] | 32 ships escorted from Liverpool UK to dispersal. Moncton joined escort from July 30 to August 8 for Halifax bound ships |
BX.32? | WLEF | August 5–8, 1942 | Boston USA to Halifax NS. Conflicting information, though Moncton is not listed in Arnold Hague's database for this convoy, escort only possible if the remainder of ON.114 joined BX.32 before arrival in Halifax. |
BX.32B | n/a | n/a | Convoy itself is missing from Arnold Hague's database |
BX.35 | WLEF | August 26–28, 1942 | Boston USA to Halifax NS |
HX.203 | WLEF | August 16–28, 1942[14] | 39 ships escorted Halifax NS to Liverpool UK |
Convoy list
This is a list of the convoys that Moncton escorted:
- Convoy ON.114 (Jul 1942: Liverpool - Dispersed)
- Convoy BX.32 (Aug 1942: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy BX.32B (Aug 1942: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy BX.35 (Aug 1942: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy HX.203 (Aug 1942: Halifax - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.121 (12 Aug 1942: Liverpool - Dispersed)
- Convoy BX.35B (Aug 1942: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy ON.127 (Sep 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.99 (Sep 1942: Halifax - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.128 (Sep 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.103 (Sep 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.135 (Oct 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy ON.137 (Oct 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy ON.142 (Oct 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.108 (Nov 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy HX.214 (Nov 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.145 (Nov 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy ON.150 (Dec 1942: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.112 (Dec 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy HX.218 (Dec 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy HX.221 (Dec 1942: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy HX.222 (Jan 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.158 (Jan 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy ON.160 (Jan 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy HX.226 (Feb 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.167 (Feb 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.120 (Feb 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.174 (Mar 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy SC.124 (Mar 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy BX.44 (Apr 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy BX.46 (Apr 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy XB.48 (Apr 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy XB.44 (Apr 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy XB.46 (Apr 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy BX.44 (Apr 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy BX.46 (Apr 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy XB.44 (Apr 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy XB.46 (Apr 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy BX.48 (May 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy XB.55 (May 1943: Halifax - Boston)
- Convoy BX.48 (May 1943: Boston - Halifax)
- Convoy ONS.7 (May 1943: Liverpool - Halifax)
- Convoy SC.130 (May 1943: Halifax - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.190 (Jun 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy ONS.10 (Jun 1943: Liverpool - Halifax)
- Convoy SC.133 (Jun 1943: Halifax - Liverpool)
- Convoy XB.60 (Jun 1943: Halifax - Cape Cod Canal)
- Convoy ON.193 (Jul 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy HX.248 (Jul 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.210 (Nov 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
- Convoy HX.269 (Dec 1943: NYC - Liverpool)
- Convoy ON.214 (Dec 1943: Liverpool - NYC)
The information for the convoys was obtained from two of the links below:
www.convoyweb.org.uk/ and www.warsailors.com
Civilian service
Moncton was sold by Crown Assets in 1955 into mercantile service and was re-flagged under the
Notes
- ^ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- ^ Ossian, Robert. "Complete List of Sailing Vessels". The Pirate King. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ^ Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. (1978). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare. Vol. 11. London: Phoebus. pp. 1137–1142.
- ISBN 0-517-67963-9.
- ISBN 0-8117-3275-4.
- ISBN 0-87021-913-8.
- ISBN 0-87021-450-0.
- ISBN 1-55125-052-7.
- ^ a b "HMCS Moncton (K 139)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
- ^ a b c "SC Convoys". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b c "ON Convoys". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "HX Convoys". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Moncton (5390034)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
References
- "Canada's Flowers: A History of the Corvettes of Canada", Author: Thomas G. Lynch, Published: 1981, Published by: Nimbus Publishing Ltd.
- "Corvettes Canada", Author: Mac Johnston, Published: 2008, Published by : John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.
- "Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy 1939-1945", Authors: Ken Macpherson & Marc Milner, Published: 1993. Published by: Vanwell Publishing Ltd.
- "Ships Of Canada's Naval Forces", Author: Ken Macpherson, Published:1 November 2002, Published By:Vanwell Publishing Ltd
- http://www.convoyweb.org.uk
- http://www.warsailors.com
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080804112902/http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/project_pride/home/index_e.asp Additional photos of HMCS Moncton can be found at the Royal Canadian Navy Heritage project.
- http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/827.html