HMCS Brandon
There have been 2 vessels named Brandon in the Royal Canadian Navy.
HMCS Brandon (1st of the name) (K149)
Commissioned at Québec City, Québec, on July 22, 1941, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Brandon arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on August 1. In September, she joined Newfoundland Command in St. John’s and served as an ocean escort to and from Iceland until December, when she arrived in the United Kingdom for 3 months’ repairs at South Shields, England. From mid-March 1942, she served on the Newfoundland-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and run almost continuously until September 1944. From December 1942 onward, she served with Escort Group C-4, helping defend the hard-pressed convoy HX.224 in February 1943 and in the following month escorting convoys to and from Gibraltar. In August 1943, she began a 3-month refit at Grimsby, England, including forecastle extension. She left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, September 2, 1944 to join her last transatlantic convoy, ONS.251, and after 2-months’ refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, worked up in Bermuda. On February 5, 1945, she arrived at St. John’s to join Escort Group W-5, Western Escort Force, in which she served until the end of the war. Paid off at Sorel, Québec, on June 22, 1945, she was broken up at Hamilton, Ontario in 1945.
HMCS Brandon (2nd of the name) (710)
In May 1992, a contract was let to Halifax Shipyards Ltd, Halifax to build 12 Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) of the Kingston Class. They were designed to commercial standards and intended to conduct coastal patrols, minesweeping, law enforcement, pollution surveillance and response and search and rescue duties. The ships were fitted with modular payloads to carry out the assigned duties.
HMCS Brandon left Halifax on March 17, 1999, and headed to Esquimalt, British Columbia, and was commissioned there on June 5, 1999. Crewed almost entirely by naval reservists, she has participated in a variety of national and international operations and exercises, including fisheries and sovereignty patrols. She has supported junior naval officer training and assisted both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Customs Canada in carrying out their duties. She maintains a close relationship with her namesake city and her crew participates in many municipal activities.
Motto: “Vires Acquires Eundo” (She Acquires Strength Through Progress)