HMCS Kenogami

There has been only one vessel named Kenogami in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Kenogami (K125)

Commissioned at Montréal, Quebec, on June 29, 1941, the Flower Class corvette Kenogami arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 4. She served briefly with Halifax Force before arriving at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on August 24 to join Newfoundland Command. She sailed on September 1 to join convoy SC.42 for Iceland, but remained with the convoy all the way to the United Kingdom, as it lost 18 ships in what proved to be one of the worst convoy battles of the war.

In February 1942, after 5 months of ocean escort duty between St. John’s and Iceland, she made her first trip to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, joining Western Local Escort Force on her return. Kenogami received an extensive refit at Halifax through June and July, and in October resumed her ocean escort duties with Escort Group C-1. The following month she took part in another fierce convoy battle, that of ONS.154, which lost 14 ships.

In March 1943, she made one round trip to Gibraltar, escorting follow-up convoys to the invasion of North Africa. On May 11, she left Londonderry for the last time attached to Escort Group B-4 (Royal Navy) with convoy ON.183. After a 2-month refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and workups at Pictou, Nova Scotia, Kenogami joined Western Local Escort Force’s Escort Group W-8. In April 1944, she transferred to W-4, but in December rejoined W-8 for the balance of the war. During this period she underwent a major refit at Liverpool between June and October 1944 including forecastle extension, followed by a 3-week workup in Bermuda.

Kenogami was paid off July 9, 1945 at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and broken up at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1950.

• Builder: Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Port Arthur, Ontario.
• Laid down: April 20, 1940
• Launched: September 5, 1940
• Date commissioned: June 29, 1941
• Date paid off: July 9, 1945
• Displacement: 950 tons
• Dimensions : 62.5 m x 10.1 mx 3.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 2-pound (0.9 kg) gun, two 20-mmguns (2 single mounts), one Hedgehog mortar, depth charges

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-1945
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942