HMCS Ontario

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

HMCS Ontario (53 / 32)

Laid down by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland, as HMS Minotaur, this light cruiser was presented to the Royal Canadian Navy and on 26 April 1945 was commissioned at Belfast as HMCS Ontario. She was completed on 25 May, and after trials and workups, left the Clyde River on 2 July for the Pacific via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.

HMCS Ontario joined the 4th Cruiser Squadron, British Pacific Fleet, too late to see war service, but was employed in a variety of duties that took her to Hong Kong, Manila, and Japan. She arrived at Esquimalt, British Columbia on 27 November for refit.

HMCS Ontario was one of the vessels representing Canada at the naval review for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in June 1953. She spent the remainder of her career as a training ship, and was paid off on 15 October 1958. She arrived in tow for breaking up at Osaka, Japan, on 19 November 1960.

• Builder: Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Date laid down: 20 November 1941
• Date launched: 29 July 1943
• Date commissioned: 26 April 1945
• Date paid off: 15 October 1958
• Displacement: 8941.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 169.4 m x 19.2 m x 5 m
• Speed: 33 knots
• Crew: 730
• Armament: (post-war) nine 6-inch guns (152-mm) (3 x III), ten 4-inch guns (102-mm) (5 x II), fifteen 40-mm guns (3 x IV, 3 x I), and six 21-inch (533-mm) Torpedo Tubes (2 x III).

Motto: “Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permenet” (Loyal she has been and remains so)