HMCS Cayuga

Named after the First Nation’s tribe, there has been only 1 vessel named Cayuga in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Cayuga (R04 / 218)

Commissioned at Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 20, 1947, the Tribal class destroyer HMCS Cayuga sailed on February 4, 1948 for her assigned base at Esquimalt, British Columbia. She left there on July 5, 1950, as Senior Officer’s ship of the first 3 Canadian destroyers to serve in Korean waters.

HMCS Cayuga carried out 3 tours of duty there, the last in 1954 after the armistice. In 1952, between the second and third tours, she was rebuilt as a destroyer escort. Returning from Korea in December 1954, she spent the next 4 years carrying out training on the west coast of Canada. HMCS Cayuga transferred to the Halifax in January 1959 for 5 more years in the same capacity.

Paid off at Halifax on February 27, 1964, she was broken up at Faslane, Scotland, the following year.

• Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Laid down: October 7, 1943
• Launched: July 28, 1945
• Date commissioned: October 20, 1947
• Date paid off: February 27, 1964
• Displacement: 1,927 tons
• Dimensions: 114.9 m x 11.4 m x 3.4 m
• Speed: 36 knots
• Crew: 259
• Armament: four 4-inch (102-mm) guns (2 x II), two 3-inch (76-mm) guns (1 x II), six 40-mm (6 x I), four 21-inch (533 mm) Torpedo Tubes (1 x IV) and two Squid mortars.

Motto: Onenh owa den dya (Now let us proceed)

Battle honours

• Korea 1950-52