HMCS Moose Jaw

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

HMCS Moose Jaw (K164)

Built at Collingwood, Ontario, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Moose Jaw was commissioned at Montréal, Quebec, on June 19, 1941, and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 27. After working up, she arrived at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on August 25 to join Newfoundland Command, and on September 5, sailed with her sister-ship HMCS Chambly for exercises. The 2 were ordered to reinforce convoy SC.42 that lost 18 ships, and just before joining on September 10, they surprised and sank U-501. HMCS Moose Jaw, which had rammed the U-boat, required 10 days’ repairs at Greenock, Scotland, following which she arrived at Tobermory, Scotland, on October 1 to work up. For the next 4 months, she operated between St. John’s and Iceland, but in January 1942 she arrived at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, from SC.64, the inaugural Newfoundland-Londonderry convoy. On February 19, 1942, she ran aground on the south entrance to St. John’s harbour en route to join convoy HX.176, and although refloated soon afterward proved to be holed and leaking in several places. Temporary repairs were carried out at St. John’s from February 20 to March 5, and permanent repairs at Saint John, New Brunswick, from March 15 to June 25. Briefly assigned to Western Local Escort Force, she was detached in September for duties in connection with Operation TORCH, and made her passage to the United Kingdom with convoy SC.107, which lost 15 ships to U-boats.

During the next 5 months, HMCS Moose Jaw was employed escorting United Kingdom-Mediterranean convoys, returning to Halifax on April 20, 1943. Refitted there, she joined Quebec Force at the end of May for escort duties in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, later transferring to Gaspé Force. She underwent a major refit, including forecastle extension, at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, from December 19, 1943, to March 23, 1944. After working up in St. Margaret’s Bay she left Halifax on May 1 for the United Kingdom to join Western Approaches Command, Greenock, Scotland, for invasion duties. She served in the Channel until September 1944, when she joined Escort Group 41, Plymouth, England, and escorted coastal convoys from her base at Milford Haven, England, until the end of the war.

HMCS Moose Jaw left for home in May 1945, was paid off at Sorel, Quebec, on July 8, and broken up at Hamilton, Ontario in 1949.

• Displacement: 965.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 62.5 m x 10.1 m x 3.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 2-pound (0.9 kg), two 20-mm guns (2 single mounts), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-1943
• Normandy 1944
• English Channel 1944-1945