HMCS Pictou

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

HMCS Pictou (K146)

Commissioned at Québec City on 29 April 1941, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Pictou arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 12 May. She joined Newfoundland Command and left St. John’s, Newfoundland on 6 June with convoy HX.131 for Iceland, one of the first two corvettes to escort an HX convoy. She remained on the St. John’s-Iceland run for the rest of the year. After brief repairs at Halifax she returned to St. John’s where breakdowns forced her to turn back from three successive convoys. She finally crossed with convoy HX.180 in March 1942 to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, carried out further repairs in Liverpool, England, and, on completion early in June, joined Escort Group C-4.

On 5 August, while escorting convoy ON.116, she was rammed in a fog near St. John’s by the Norwegian SS Hindanger, and suffered severe damage to her stern. After completing repairs at Halifax on 20 September she joined Escort Group C-2. On her return from the United Kingdom with convoy ON.149 in December 1942, she required further repairs in Halifax, followed immediately by refit in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. In May 1943, she joined Escort Group C-3, and on 17 December left Londonderry for the last time. From early January to 31 March 1944, she was refitted at New York, where she received her extended forecastle. She then proceeded to Bermuda for three weeks’ workups, returning in mid-June to join Escort Group W-5, Western Escort Force. Paid off on 12 July 1945 at Sorel, Québec, HMCS Pictou was sold for conversion to a whale-catcher, entering service in 1950 as the Honduran-flag Olympic Chaser. Again sold in 1956, she served as Otari Maru No. 7 until converted to a barge in 1963.

• Builder: Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd., Lauzon, Québec
• Date laid down: 12 July 1940
• Date launched: 5 October 1940
• Date commissioned: 29 April 1941
• Date paid off: 12 July 1945
• 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) gun, two 20-mm gun (2 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges.

Battle honours

Atlantic 1941-1945