HMCS Trail

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

HMCS Trail (K174) / Flower-class corvette

Commissioned at Vancouver, British Columbia, on 30 April 1941, HMCS Trail left Esquimalt, British Columbia for the east coast on 31 May, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 27 June. In August, she joined Newfoundland Command, departing St. John’s on 23 August to escort convoy HX.146 as far as Iceland. During the year, she made four round trips there, and on 20 January 1942 left St. John’s to join convoy SC.65 for the first of two round trips to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She returned to Halifax on 2 April and, after a brief refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, joined Halifax Force in June. Between July and November, she was escorted convoys between Labrador and Quebec City, Quebec, also calling at Gaspé and Hamilton Inlet, Labrador.

HMCS Trail arrived at Halifax in November to join Western Local Escort Force for the balance of the war, serving as a member of Escort Groups W-6 (from June 1943); W-5 (from April 1944); and W-4 (from December 1944). She underwent a refit at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from mid-July to 3 September 1943, followed by work-ups at Pictou, Nova Scotia, and a further refit at Liverpool from July to 23 October 1944. Following the latter, that included extension of her forecastle, she underwent additional repairs at Halifax before proceeding to Bermuda for work-ups in December. Departing for Boston, Massachusetts, on 7 January 1945 to resume service with Western Local Escort Force, HMCS Trail spent the rest of the war there. She was paid off on 17 July at Sorel, Quebec, and was broken up at Hamilton, Ontario in 1950.

• Builder: Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
• Date laid down: 20 July 1940
• Date launched: 17 October 1940
• Date commissioned: 30 April 1941
• Date paid off: 17 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 guns (2 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-1945
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942