HMCS Runnymede

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

HMCS Runnymede (K678)

At first called twin-screw corvettes, this type was designed for the Royal Navy and was intended to remedy the latter’s shortcomings as an ocean escort. A far more habitable ship than the smaller corvette, it was also faster and had twice the endurance. The Royal Navy frigates were named for rivers and hence known as the River Class; the Royal Canadian Navy units were named for towns and cities. The River Class frigates were used as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic.

Alternatively named for York Township of Ontario because there was another unit named HMCS York in the Canadian Navy; the River Class frigate HMCS Runnymede was commissioned on 14 June 1944 at Montréal, Québec, and arrived in Bermuda for workups toward the end of July.

On 21 August HMCS Runnymede returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to become Senior Officer’s ship of Escort Group C-5, and was to wear its barber pole stripes the rest of her career. She left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, toward the end of May 1945 and made her passage home as escort to convoy ON.305. She left Halifax on 20 June for Esquimalt, British Columbia, arriving 18 July, and early in August commenced refit in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Work was soon suspended and she sailed for Esquimalt to be placed in reserve, though she was not paid off until 19 January 1946. Sold in 1947, she was reportedly expended as part of a breakwater at Kelsey Bay, British Columbia, in 1948.

• Builder: Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montréal, Québec
• Date laid down: 11 September 1943
• Date launched: 27 November 1943
• Date commissioned: 14 June 1944
• Date paid off: 19 January 1946
• Displacement: 1468.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 91.9 m x 11.1 m x 2.7 m
• Speed: 19 knots
• Crew: 141
• Armament: two 4-inch (102-mm) (1 x II), one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 x II), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

Atlantic 1944-1945