HMCS Mimico

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

HMCS Mimico (K485)

Named after a town now part of Toronto, the Flower class corvette HMCS Mimico was laid down as HMS Bulrush, but was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned on February 8, 1944, at Sunderland, United Kingdom.

On April 18, after working up at Stornoway, Scotland, she arrived at Oban, Scotland, where she was assigned to Western Approaches Command for escort duty in connection with Operation OVERLORD. She arrived off the Normandy beaches with a convoy on the day after D-Day. HMCS Mimico remained on escort duty in the Channel, and was briefly assigned to Portsmouth Command, based at Sheerness, England, in September. In February and March of 1945, she refitted at Chatham, England, before returning to Sheerness to resume her previous role until late in May, when she left the United Kingdom for the last time.

She was paid off on July 18, 1945, and laid up at Sorel, Quebec. Sold for use as a whaler, she entered service in 1950 as Olympic Victor but passed into Japanese hands in 1956 and was renamed Otori Maru No. 12. Renamed again as Kyo Maru No. 25 in 1962, she last appears in Lloyd’s Register for 1977-1978.

• Builder: John Crown & Sons Ltd., Sunderland, United Kingdom
• Laid down: February 22, 1943
• Date launched: October 11, 1943
• Date commissioned: February 8, 1944
• Date paid off: July 18, 1945
• Displacement: 985.6 tonnes
• Dimensions: 63.5 m x 10.1 m x 2.9 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 2-pound (0.9 kg) gun, two 20-mm (2 single mounts) guns, one Hedgehog mortar, and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Normandy 1944
• Atlantic 1945
• English Channel 1945