HMCS Valleyfield
![]() HMCS Valleyfield
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History | |
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Name | Valleyfield |
Namesake | Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec |
Ordered | October 1941 |
Builder | Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Quebec City |
Laid down | 30 November 1942 |
Launched | 17 July 1943 |
Commissioned | 7 December 1943 |
Out of service | 7 May 1944 |
Identification | Pennant number:K 329 |
Honours and awards | Atlantic 1944[1] |
Fate | Torpedoed and sunk on 7 May 1944. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | River-class frigate |
Displacement |
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Length | |
Beam | 36.5 ft (11.13 m) |
Draught | 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load) |
Propulsion | 2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW) |
Speed |
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Range | 646 long tons (656 t; 724 short tons) oil fuel; 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km) at 15 knots (27.8 km/h) |
Complement | 157 |
Armament |
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HMCS Valleyfield was a
Valleyfield was ordered in October 1941 as part of the 1942–1943 River-class building program.[2][3] She was laid down on 30 November 1942 by Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co. at Quebec City and launched 17 July 1943.[3] She was commissioned into the RCN on 7 December 1943 at Quebec City.[2]
Background
The River-class frigate was designed by William Reed of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees. Originally called a "twin-screw corvette", its purpose was to improve on the convoy escort classes in service with the
Improvements over the corvette design included improved accommodation which was markedly better. The twin engines gave only three more knots of speed but extended the range of the ship to nearly double that of a corvette at 7,200 nautical miles (13,300 km) at 12 knots.
River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo sonar transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved radar and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes.[4]
Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941.[4][5] The design was too big for the locks on the Lachine Canal so it was not built by the shipyards on the Great Lakes and therefore all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the West Coast or along the St. Lawrence River below Montreal.[5] In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the United States Navy.[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Hmcs_valleyfield.jpg/220px-Hmcs_valleyfield.jpg)
War service
After beginning in St. Margaret's Bay, Valleyfield completed working up in
Sinking
After parting company with convoy
References
Notes
- ^ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMCS Valleyfield (K 329)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "Fact Sheet No. 21 – Canadian River Class Frigates". Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0920277225.
- ^ a b c d Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-boats – HMCS Valleyfield". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ^ a b c "HMCS Valleyfield". The Naval Museum of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ISBN 0-00-217909-1.
References
- Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John. The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Collins: Toronto, 1981. ISBN 0-00216-856-1