Navy History

[Navy_Blue]

This was sent to everyone on the base today.  Thought this was another fitting place to put it 

On January 12, 1910 : 

The Naval Service Bill is introduced into the House of Commons. The government proposal is for a naval force of 11 ships, costing $3,000,000.00 annually. Though the house is split, the Naval Service Bill passes on the third reading.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Happy birthday, blue brethren!

Thank you for your service and sacrifices, in war and peace; and have a fine second century as Canada's senior service.

 

[mariomike]

Happy birthday, blue brethren!
Thank you for your service and sacrifices, in war and peace; and have a fine second century as Canada's senior service.

And four of her many fine ships!
HMCS FUNDY ( J88 ),  HMCS LOCKEPORT ( J100 ), HMCS UNGAVA ( J149 ), HMCS FORT ERIE ( K670 ).

 

[Pat in Halifax]

I meant to try to add to this on a daily(or weekly basis) and forgot. I will try to remember tomorrow. The original came from MARLANT Chief (correct me if I am wrong Navy Blue), so I did send him a bunch of stuff.
Is anyone here going to the William Hall VC stamp unvieling ceremony 2 Feb? I did some reading on him the last few days: quite the interesting story.
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/infos/William-Hall-INfo.pdf
The secondary story of his "blue" VC is interesting too.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

SORRY - FORGOT!
For the week of 15-21 March:

15th 1942-With the loss of her entire crew, the Canadian merchantman Sarniadoc is torpedoed and sunk by U-161 while transiting through the Caribbean Sea.

17th 1941-Halfway between Iceland and southern Norway, off the Faeroe Islands, the Canadian merchantman J.B. White is torpedoed and sunk by U-99 with a loss of two of her crew of 40. This would be one of the most costly U-boat attacks of the war on Allied supply lines. A total of 88 merchant ships in two convoys; HX229 and SC122 with four destroyers and two corvettes as escorts lose a total of 22 vessels to U-boat pack attacks.

17th 1942-The British merchantman Clare Lilley, after being loaded with small arms and munitions in New York City awaits a Halifax pilot in a storm off Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia.  Signaling problems and confusion caused by the storm cause the Clare Lilley to founder on the rocks killing five of her crew.  It would be the summer of 1999 before all the ammunition is safely removed and disposed of.

17th 1945-Just after suppertime after a fuelling stop in the Azores, the minesweeper HMCS Guysborough is struck by a torpedo fired from U 878. With no injuries and damage confined to the stern area, Damage Control parties step into action and stop the ingress of water even though the ship is dead in the water. Unfortunately, 45 minutes later, U 878 fires another torpedo into Guysborough causing her to sink in short order. Even still, only 2 crew are lost but in the 19 hours following until their rescue the next day, 49 more succumb to their injuries or exposure.

20th 1945-After exhausting all other avenues, HMCS New Glasgow sinks U-1003 after ramming her off the coast of Northern Ireland.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week of 22 -28 March:

22nd 1944-U-802 strikes off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia sinking the Canadian merchantman Watuka.  The armed trawler HMCS Anticosti is able to pick up 25 of her crew of 26.

24th 1941-The Rush-Bagot Agreement, established following the War of 1812 and limiting Naval power on the Great Lakes is modified to allow vessels of Canada and the United States to transit to the Atlantic from the various shipyards inland.

24th 1944-“The Great Escape”-Canadian Rod Ball of Kitchener, Ontario, a gunner in a Lancaster bomber shot down the previous June, along with 75 other POWs, escapes from Stalag Luft III at Sagan in East Prussia.  None would make it out of Germany and out of the total, 50 captured by the Gestapo are executed under orders from Hitler himself.  Among the murdered are six Canadians; James Wernham of Winnipeg, Manitoba, George Wiley of Windsor Ontario, Patrick Langford of Penticton BC, George McGill of Toronto Ontario, Henry Birkland of Calgary Alberta, and Gordon Kidder of St. Catherine’s Ontario.  At war’s end, the Allies would track down and hang 14 Nazis for their involvement in the massacre.

24th 1945-Nearly 3000 transport aircraft and gliders rendezvous to deliver two Divisions, the 17th US Airborne Division and the 6th British Airborne Division including 600 men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion across the Rhine to establish a bridgehead codenamed Operation Plunder.  It is during this action that Cpl Fred Topham from Toronto, after repeatedly risking his life to remove casualties after the 1st Battalion landed “practically on top” of a German machine gun position, is awarded the Victoria Cross.

25th 1941-Off Freetown, West Africa, the German raider Kormoran captures the Canadian merchantman Canadolite taking her entire crew of 44 as prisoners of war.

26th 1940-The Liberal government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King wins the largest majority election since Confederation with a solid holding in Quebec where the threat of crisis if conscription were introduced is an ominous cloud.

26th 1941-In the early morning hours, the Armed Yacht HMCS Otter, while awaiting the arrival of a British submarine off Sambro Head mysteriously and very quickly burns to the water line. Though the bulk of the crew make it into the water and 22 survive, 19 more crewmembers are lost or succumb to exposure. It is later determined that a generator fire quickly ignited the wooden hulled vessel turning it into an inferno.

I have added a couple "Non-Navy" here to 'mix it up' a little and to ensure that some of you don't feel 'slighted'!!

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Sorry - I was out of touch last week - family emergency

For the week of 29 Mar - 4 Apr:

29th 1945-An acoustic torpedo from U-246 ends HMCS Teme’s part in the war when it blows most of her stern away killing four crewmembers in the process.

30th 1944-781 aircraft of Bomber Command including Canada’s No. 6 Bomber Group attack the German city of Nuremberg in an attempt to bomb Germany right out of the war.  German radar and high winds cause havoc among the bomber formations and 21 night fighter squadrons from Luftwaffe III Fighter Division attack the advancing formations.  In one of the most horrific nights in Bomber Command's history, 94 bombers are shot down, 13 of them from No. 6 Bomber Group.  The attempt to bomb Germany out of the war is disastrously unsuccessful and the idea is put aside and a new tasking; softening up Germany's defenses and destroying her vital communications links in advance of a European invasion, is now the priority.

31st 1941-The armed merchantman HMCS Prince Henry attempts to intercept two suspicious vessels off Peru.  Two large explosions ensue as the crews of both ships scuttle their vessels.  Interrogation of the crewmembers reveals the two vessels to have been the German merchantmen Hermonthis and Muenchen.

1st 1938-As a prelude to war, Halifax Harbour, deemed a military priority receives No. 116 Auxiliary Squadron later formed as a Coast Artillery Cooperation Unit. It’s primary role: spotting various seaward targets and directing the many coastal batteries protecting the harbour.  Upon declaration of war, No 116 is disbanded due to obsolete and insufficient aircraft.  ‘A’ Flight of No. 118 Squadron base out of St. John, New Brunswick remains the sole air defence umbrella until November of 1939 when RCAF No. 1 Fighter Squadron is formed at RCAF Station Dartmouth flying Hawker Hurricanes.  In turn No. 1 Squadron is sent overseas for the Battle of Britain in March of 1940. It would be August of that year before No. 118 Squadron would fly steady cover over the harbour approaches and three more months before they would receive modern aircraft; P-40 Kittyhawks.  Eastern Air Command, which stretched east from the Ontario-Manitoba border to include Newfoundland would set up 30 radar sights and establish 22 air stations including 13 Bomber Reconnaissance and 8 Fighter Squadrons.  Of these, RCAF Station Dartmouth (now Shearwater) would become home to 9 Bomber Reconnaissance and 5 Fighter Squadrons at the height of the war.

1st 1942-The Canadian merchantman Robert W. Pomeroy strikes a mine off Cromer, England in the North Sea and sinks with the loss of one of her crew of 23.

4th 1941-Order in Council PC 2385; The Merchant Seaman Order is introduced in federal cabinet in Ottawa empowering Canadian authorities to remove, by force if deemed necessary, any troublesome crew members from foreign or Canadian vessels, regardless of registry while they are in Canadian ports.  This new ruling would stand the test of time in November 1943 when the belligerence of the crew of the burning munitions freighter S.S. Volunteer nearly cause a repeat of the December 1917 Halifax explosion.

4th 1942-A Catalina flying boat piloted by RCAF Squadron Leader Leonard J. Birchall of St. Catherines, Ontario while on patrol southeast of Ceylon sights a large Japanese Naval Force steaming toward Ceylon.  After getting this message out, his radio is shot out by attacking Mitsubishi Zeros and the Catalina is eventually destroyed by cannon fire from a Zero.  Birchall would go on to become a POW in Japanese hands but won the DFC(Distinguished Flying Cross) for his gallantry in warning of the impending attack during this sortie.  He would later be awarded the Order of the British Empire for intervening when prisoners would be beaten or denied medical attention at the hands of their Japanese captors.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week of 5 - 11 April

6th 1941-Hitler's Wermarcht invades Yugoslavia.  Though not a major pivoting point of World War Two, Yugoslavia's invasion was the first test of an organization envisioned, designed and initially financed by Canadian businessman William Stephenson. Ten days prior to the invasion ciphers leaked out to Serbian General Richard Simovic paint a glossy picture of Allied plans at a rather desolate time. Acting on these 'theories' Simovic seizes power and stalls the subsequent German advance.  Although it will never be known for sure, it is speculated that this delay may have saved Moscow from capture in the fall of 1941.  William Stephenson continued throughout the war to set up, train and put into place a multi-nation espionage organization which in turn led to the setting up of the US Office of Strategic Services(OSS) which has since become the CIA. 'A Man called Intrepid', after the war Stephenson was ranked with Churchill, Roosevelt, Alexander and Montgomery as "...the small group of men without whom the Allies would not have won the war."  Said J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI chief, in a letter to William Stephenson:  "When the full story can be told, I am quite certain that your contribution will be among the foremost in having brought victory."

7th 1941-Off the coast of Sierra Leone, West Africa, the Canadian merchantman Portadoc is torpedoed and sunk by U-124.  The crew of the submarine tends to the wounded, repair the lifeboat and gives Portodoc’s crew a heading to Freetown.  Though the crew survives and makes it to land, they would come ashore in French Guinnea, loyal to the Vichy French government, subsequently becoming Prisoners of War.  Months later, a prisoner exchange is arranged and the survivors are permitted to "march" to the Sierra Leone border to be repatriated to Canada by years end.  By then, however, 7 more of Portadoc's crew have succumbed to the elements.

8th 1942-The Park Steamship Company is established out of Montreal to coordinate Canada's merchant fleet of ships built by Canadian shipyards.  Work is then contracted out to shipping agents and companies.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week of 12 - 18 Apr (Sorry for the tardiness - falling behind - PER season...yeah!!!)

13th 1945-1st and 2nd Corps of the 1st Canadian Army sweep across Holland against a demoralized but far from beaten enemy. From Groningen on the North Sea, 2nd Corps pushes forward.  Meanwhile, to the east the 4th Canadian and 1st Polish Armoured Divisions cross the German plain to Emden, Wilhelmshaven and Oldenburg joined by May 3rd by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. In western Holland, 1st Corps advances to Arnhem, then Appeldorn and by April 17th, the German forces are pushed back 30 miles from their initial defensive position on the River Ijssel

13th 1945-HMCS Uganda, new to the Pacific theatre and under Royal Navy control, participates in strikes at airfields on the island of Formosa.  Using main armament of 6” guns against attacking Japanese aircraft, Uganda’s gunners knock down one of the defenders in the first shots fired in anger at sea by a Canadian warship against the Japanese. From Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander Allied Naval Forces Pacific:  “The report of your successful attacks on the enemy is most gratifying. Congratulate you on the illustrious manner in which the forces of your command initiated their operations in the Pacific.”

14th 1944-HMCS Swansea in consort with HMS Pelican coordinate their efforts to sink U-448 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland.

16th 1945-Conducting minesweeping and anti-submarine patrols off Halifax harbour, HMCS Esquimalt is torpedoed and sunk off Sambro Island by U-190 with the loss of 44 of her crew. Striking her stern on, the torpedo obliterates the entire after end of the ship and it sinks beneath the waves in less than 4 minutes.  Though several aircraft overfly the area and two other minesweepers pass within two miles, it is only after being in the water for over six hours that survivors are rescued by HMCS Sarnia.. Esquimalt has the dubious honour of being the last RCN vessel lost to enemy action of World War II.  Ironically, on May 12th, U-190 would be escorted into Bays Bull, Newfoundland by HMC Ships Victoriaville and Thorlock and on June 4th, into St John’s as a war prize.

16th 1945-In one of their final sorties of the war, RAF 617 “Dambusters” Squadron led by Canada’s ‘King of the Pathfinders’ Johnnie Fauquier, sinks the German pocket battleship Lutzow in Swinemunde in the Baltic.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week of 19-25 Apr

20th 1942-In the Caribbean off the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Canadian merchantman Vineland is torpedoed and then subjected to surface gunfire from U-154 finally sinking with the loss of one of her crew of 37.

22nd 1944-HMC Ships Matane and Swansea attack U-311 in the mid-Atlantic, however there is no evidence of a confirmed kill.  It is not until well after the war when German submarine records are examined that Matane and Swansea are credited with the sinking.

22nd 1945-Operations in western Holland are halted for humanitarian reasons.  The head of the local German police and Allied commanders agree on a temporary ceasefire and on April 29th, the first airdrop and truck load of what would become 1,000 tons a day of food and fuel arrives in “no man’s land”.  Reports after the war would show that over 100,000 people were starving in Holland and thousands had already died.

24th 1944-A Sunderland flying boat with RCAF 423 Squadron attacks U-672 on the surface in the mid-Atlantic.  U-672 is severly damaged but limps back to it's home port in France never to sail again.

25th 1943-Chief of Imperial General Staff, General Sir Alan Brooks invites Canadian General Andy McNaughton to contribute the First Canadian Infantry Division and the First Army Tank Brigade for an upcoming deployment: Operation Husky; the invasion of Sicily, slated for the second week of July.

25th 1944-HMC Ships Haida, Athabascan and Huron along with the British destroyer HMS Ashanti and cruiser HMS Black Prince are formed into Force 26, part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla.  Almost immediately, they are dispatched to intercept three German destroyers suspected to be sailing from St. Malo off France's northern coast.  In a spectacular night time action, several hits on an unknown number of German ships are observed and the German destroyer T-29 is sunk and destroyers T-24 and T-27 limp back to Brest both having suffered hits.  It is during the jockeying to fire on the mortally wounded T-29 that Ashanti rams Huron leaving Haida and Athabascan alone to bear the brunt of responsibility in the coming days.

25th 1945-No. 6 Bomber Group (RCAF) participates in it’s last action of the war contributing 192 of the 482 aircraft sent to bomb the shore batteries at Wangerooge controlling the approaches to the vital ports of Breman and Wilhelmshaven.

And...because I am taking a MUCH NEEDED break next week!!!!:
For the week of 26 Apr - 2 May:

27th 1942-In the House of Commons in Ottawa, a plebiscite is held to determine the necessity for conscription.  After much discussion and political in-fighting, it is decided that conscription will be implemented 'if necessary'.

29th 1943-General Guy Simonds is appointed commander of the First Canadian Infantry Division and First Army Tank Brigade after it’s previous commander, British Major General HLN Salmon is killed in a plane crash enroute to Cairo for briefings on the upcoming invasion of Sicily.

29th 1944-HMC Ships Haida and Athabascan in action north of Brest, France come under heavy enemy fire from the two German destroyers remaining from the previous days action.  In the melee, Athabascan is hit but does not lose power and continues to fight.  An explosion aft lights up the sky and Athabascan is doomed.  She sinks with the loss of 128 men including her Captain, Lieutenant Commander J.H. Stubbs. Haida continues the fight and one of the German destroyers, T-27 is run up on a beach damaged from gunfire and the second, T-24 escapes also suffering damage.  Haida returns to the point of Athabascan's demise and picks up survivors before heading west to the safety of the British coastal waters 100 miles away.  Aside from the deaths of 128 of her crew, 86 more Athabascan crew members are taken prisoner.

30th 1945-Adolph Hitler, father of the Thousand Year Reich, along with his wife of less than a day, Eva Braun, commit suicide in the Fuhrer bunker amongst the ruins of Berlin just 12 years after his meteoritic rise to the German Chancellery. Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Hitler’s chosen successor, delays the surrender to the Allies to assist his troops and civilians in reaching the western Allied lines. The Soviets are so feared by this point, their desire to revenge the slaughter of millions of Russians that even Allied commanders sympathize and allow wholesale crossing into Allied territory for the next 8 days until an official armistice is declared.

And because I will be on a MUCH NEEDED break next week:
For the week 26 Apr - 2 May:

27th 1942-In the House of Commons in Ottawa, a plebiscite is held to determine the necessity for conscription.  After much discussion and political in-fighting, it is decided that conscription will be implemented 'if necessary'.

29th 1943-General Guy Simonds is appointed commander of the First Canadian Infantry Division and First Army Tank Brigade after it’s previous commander, British Major General HLN Salmon is killed in a plane crash enroute to Cairo for briefings on the upcoming invasion of Sicily.

29th 1944-HMC Ships Haida and Athabascan in action north of Brest, France come under heavy enemy fire from the two German destroyers remaining from the previous days action.  In the melee, Athabascan is hit but does not lose power and continues to fight.  An explosion aft lights up the sky and Athabascan is doomed.  She sinks with the loss of 128 men including her Captain, Lieutenant Commander J.H. Stubbs. Haida continues the fight and one of the German destroyers, T-27 is run up on a beach damaged from gunfire and the second, T-24 escapes also suffering damage.  Haida returns to the point of Athabascan's demise and picks up survivors before heading west to the safety of the British coastal waters 100 miles away.  Aside from the deaths of 128 of her crew, 86 more Athabascan crew members are taken prisoner.

30th 1945-Adolph Hitler, father of the Thousand Year Reich, along with his wife of less than a day, Eva Braun, commit suicide in the Fuhrer bunker amongst the ruins of Berlin just 12 years after his meteoritic rise to the German Chancellery. Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Hitler’s chosen successor, delays the surrender to the Allies to assist his troops and civilians in reaching the western Allied lines. The Soviets are so feared by this point, their desire to revenge the slaughter of millions of Russians that even Allied commanders sympathize and allow wholesale crossing into Allied territory for the next 8 days until an official armistice is declared.

1st 1942-The Canadian merchantman James E. Newsom is attacked with gunfire from the surfaced U-69 northeast of Bermuda.  Her small crew of nine manages to survive and reach Bermuda.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For 3 - 9 May
3rd 1941-Although her crew suffers no casualties, the Canadian merchantman Europa is bombed during a Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool, England.

3rd 1945-The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion cross the River Elbe to link up with Russian troops at Wismer, 50 miles east of Hamburg.

4th 1945-The only Canadian warship to see action in the Far East, HMCS Uganda shells Sukuma airfield on one of Japan’s southern islands during the U.S.M.C. landings at Okinawa.

5th 1942-Sailing from Bermuda to St. John, New Brunswick with 272 crew and passengers aboard, the Canadian passenger freighter Lady Drake is torpedoed and sunk by U-106 just over the horizon north of Bermuda.  Six crew along with six passengers perish.

5th 1945-The German 21st Army Group Commander, Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz unconditionally surrenders his troops to Lieutenant General Charles Faulkes, 1st Canadian Corps Commander formally ending hostilities in Holland.  Since crossing the Rhine in March, over 1400 Canadians are dead.

6th 1944-After parting company with convoy ONM 234, the frigate HMCS Valleyfield is struck by an acoustic torpedo fired from U-548 off Cape Race, Newfoundland losing 125 of her crew.

7th 1942-With terrible loss of life, the Canadian merchantman Mildred Pauline is shelled and sunk by U-136 while on the last leg of her journey from Barbados to St. John's, Newfoundland.  There are no survivors.

7th 1945-Manned by a British crew, the Canadian merchantman Avondale Park is torpedoed and sunk in the Firth of Forth off Scotland by U-2336 losing 3 of her crew.

8th 1942-The Canadian merchantman Mont Louis is torpedoed and sunk off British Guyana by U-162.  8 of her crew of 21 survive and make it to Georgetown in Guyana.

8th 1942-U-125 strikes off the Cayman islands sinking the Canadian merchantman Calgorite with torpedoes and subsequent surface fire.  The entire crew of 45 survives after taking to the vessel’s lifeboats.

8th 1942-The Newfoundland registered merchantman Kitty’s Brook is torpedoed and sunk off Cape Sable by U-588 with the loss of 9 crew.

8th 1945-VE Day.  The war in Europe is over.  Canadian troops across Holland enter Dutch cities to a hero’s welcome; Utrecht, Amersfoort, Hilversum, Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam.  With fields of tulips in full bloom, this is the post card image most Canadian soldiers have of the Dutch countryside.  In Amsterdam, Canadian and Dutch troops parade before Queen Wihelmina and soldiers of both Canadian Corps pledge assistance in any way to help Holland get back on her feet.  After 5 years and 8 months, tens of millions of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, and a continent laid in ruins, the war in Europe is over.  For 42,000 Canadians, there is no returning. There homes are in the soil of Italy, France, Holland, Britain and other lands, and in the eternal sea.

8th 1945-Halifax suffers it's worse explosion of the war, not by bombs but by thousands upon thousands of service personnel along with some of the civilian population rioting in the streets to celebrate the announcement of Germany's defeat.  It is V-E Day and years of frustration, emotion and anguish culminate in a riot in the streets.  Unfortunately, the blame will eventually fall on Rear Admiral L.W. Murray even after his successful wartime tenure as Commander-in-chief Canadian Northwest Atlantic.

9th 1941-While sailing across the North Atlantic bound for England with convoy OB-318, the Newfoundland merchantman Esmond is struck by a German torpedo.

For 10 - 16 May
10th 1940-The Germans invade Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg by air and land.  Remnants of the 1st Canadian Division are later sent to assist the remainder of the BEF(British Expeditionary Force) and beleaguered French army in halting the German advance.  Days later, Winston Churchill, recently installed as British Prime Minister after Neville Chamberlains resignation utters those famous words:  "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.  Victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

10th 1942-The Battle of the St. Lawrence begins in earnest.  In the early hours, U-553 is sighted near Cape Ray, Newfoundland.  Later in the day, the submarine is attacked by aircraft just south of Anticosti Island but no damage is inflicted allowing U-553 to freely prowl the waters around the island.  Just after midnight a successful surface attack on the British steamer Nicoya sends the first of many England bound ships to the bottom right at Canada's front door.  This is the first ship sunk by enemy fire in Canadian waters since the War of 1812.

10th 1945-2 days following the announcement of Germany’s defeat, U-889 surrenders off Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

11th 1944-The 1st Canadian Corps comprising the 1st Canadian Division and the 5th Armoured Division is put to the test in what is a first since 1918 seeing an entire Canadian corps attack on a European battlefield.  In the Liri valley below Monte Cassino, on Italy's western coast, Canadian troops along with the 8th Indian Division prepare to attack the mountain stronghold.  After many failed attempts with huge losses to the Allies and repeated air bombardment, it is determined that Monte Casino must be taken at any and all costs.  Finally by the 18th, after intense fighting, the Abbey at Monte Casino is overrun establishing a foothold for the British 8th Army in the Liri valley to commence the advance north through the German's impregnable Hitler Line.

11th 1945-U-190 surrenders to RCN ships off Newfoundland three days following the war’s end.  Still intact at the Crow’s Nest Officers Club in St. John’s, Newfoundland is the submarine’s logbook tracing her last weeks of wartime action.

12th 1940-Ypres, a gate vessel on the submarine nets guarding Halifax harbour is accidently struck and sunk by the British battleship HMS Revenge.  All 18 crew members of Ypres survive.

12th 1942-The Dutch Cargo steamer Leto is sent to the bottom of the Gulf of St. Lawrence by U-553 within sight of the communities of Chloridorme and St. Yvon, Quebec.  This would be the first merchantman sunk in the St. Lawrence River causing the Royal Canadian Navy to hastily piece together the 'St. Lawrence Escort Force' comprised  of minesweepers, armed yachts and motor launches.  By the end of 1942, 2 escort vessels and 14 merchantmen are lost.

13th HMCS Drumheller and HMS Lagan combine their efforts with a Sunderland flying boat from RCAF 423 Squadron and a Swordfish torpedo bomber from the aircraft carrier HMS Biter to sink U-753 in the North Atlantic.

15th 1941-HMCS Sackville slips stern first into Courtenay Bay from St. John Shipbuilding and Drydock Company's slips in St. John, New Brunswick.  She is one of 123 corvettes and easily the largest number of a single class of ships to be launched in Canadian history.  Though one in a story of many, HMCS Sackville remains Canada's last corvette and now serves as a memorial on Halifax's waterfront to Canada's lost Naval mariners.

15th 1942-"Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do and Do Without" preaches the government.  In  a serious but reflectively humerus edict, C.D. Howe, Minister of Munitions and Supply, or as he was later coined;  "Minister of Everything" announces the following regulation:  "Conserve your tires...No person may buy or sell, borrow or lend, barter or exchange, mortgage, give away or receive as a gift, burn, cut, destroy, or otherwise dispose of a usable tire or tube."

16th 1943-30 RCAF aircrew flying with RAF 617 Bomber Squadron depart southern England for the Rhine dams at Mohne, Eder and Sorpe with inovatively designed bombs in the bays of their Avro Lancasters.  The Mohne and Eder are successfully breached, but the Sorpe holds after two explosions fail to bring it down.  Of 133 aircrew, 56 are missing including 13 Canadians.  One of these 13 is Pilot Officer John Fraser who is one of three to be captured by the Germans and sit out the remainder of the war as a POW in German hands.
Also, for anyone on the DIN, if you go to:
http://halifax.mil.ca/N4MAT/BComd/english/CNC%20WEBPAGES/NSCP/nscp_ship_history_index.htm,
there are namesake histories for mainly current serving ships. If yours isn't there, PM me, as it may not have made it on to the website yet

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week 17 -23 May
17th 1944-Major J.K. Mahony with the Westminster Regiment holds ground as tanks from Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment are severely mauled by German defences on the ‘Hitler Line’ south of the Liri River valley on Italy’s west coast.  Twice wounded, he and his men take 50 German prisoners, knock out a Panther tank and three self-propelled guns as well as inflict heavy casualties on the German defenders.  For his efforts he is awarded the Victoria Cross while the Reconnaissance troop officer with the Lord Strathconas; Lt E.J. Perkins is awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

19th 1943-The Canadian merchantman Angelus is shelled and severely damaged by surface fire from U-161 north of Bermuda losing seven of her crew.

19th    1944-A scout platoon from the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment ‘bumps’ the Hitler Line north of the Liri River in western Italy.  Though just a probe, the attack proves a theory set forth by LtCol. DC Cameron; the line is breakable.  By the 22nd, along with the 48th Highlanders, the Canadians enter Pontecorvo.  The road to Rome is open.

20th 1941-The Newfoundland merchantman Rothermere is one of several merchant ships torpedoed and sunk east of Newfoundland by a U-boat pack, while sailing in convoy HX-126, with the loss of 22 crewmembers.

21st 1942-In two separate incidents, the Canadian merchantmen Toronduc and Troisduc are torpedoed and sunk by patrolling U-boats in the Caribbean; Toronduc by U-69 off Martinique losing 21 of her crew, and Troisduc west of Jamaica by U-588 with no loss of life.

22nd 1942-Southeast of Bermuda, the Canadian merchantman Frank B. Baird is sunk by surface fire from U-158.  All of her crew is rescued.

23rd 1940-The 1st Canadian Division's Commander, General Andy MacNaughton is called upon by a desperate British War Office to lend his Canadian division to support the beleaguered British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France.  After studying the situation quickly unfolding around Dunkirk, he informs London that there is no hope in the 1st Division providing a solution to the situation.  The Division, poised to sail from Dover is ordered back to their barracks in Aldershot.  Dejected and discouraged, the Canadians make their way back to what is coined "The great retreat from Dover" and "The Plymouth Panic".  Ironically, after the debacle at Dunkirk, the 1st Canadian Division is the only intact and fully equipped division in England.  From being a reluctant partner in war, Canada suddenly becomes Britain's ranking ally in a war for it's own survival.

23rd 1941-The first 7 of 107 "Flower" class corvettes Canadian built for the RCN, sail from Halifax for St. Johns, Newfoundland.  They are HMC Ships Chambley, Orillia, Collingwood, Cobalt, Wetaskiwin, Albernie and Agassiz and are sent to bolster the 'Newfoundland Escort Force'.  This force comprises 6 Canadian destroyers and 17 corvettes along with 7 destroyers, 3 sloops and 5 corvettes of the Royal Navy.  Throughout the war this force constantly expands encompassing French, Norwegian, Polish, Belgium and Dutch ships, all under the command of RCN Rear Admiral L.W. Murray.

23rd 1944-At 4:59 a.m., the first of over 800 heavy guns bellows as the attack on the Hitler Line stretching across central Italy commences.  As the men of the 1st Canadian Corps, reinforced since Ortona, stare out at the Apennines across a 2000 yard front, they have no idea how thoroughly the Germans have dug in, having felled entire forests and remolded the land.  Hitler's personal orders are that the line will be held at all costs.  Although advances are made across the entire front, German defensive fire from the right flank is murderous.  Here the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Canadian Division comprising the Princess Patricias Light Infantry, Seaforth Highlanders and the Loyal Edmonton Regiment suffer increasing casualties with little advance.  In the centre, the 3rd Brigade's Carleton and York Regiment with the 25th British Tank Brigade breach the line and further reinforcements from the Three Rivers Regiment tanks and the West Nova Scotia and Royal 22nd Regiments allow the 3rd Brigade to reach their objective.  On the left, the 1st Brigade with the Hastings and Prince Edward and Royal Canadian Regiments along with the 48th Highlanders also reach their objective.  In all, Canadian casualties total over 900 with the bulk coming from the 2nd Brigade's right flank but all across the Italian boot, advances are made penetrating the invincible Hitler Line. The final objective is in sight: Rome.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week 24 - 30 May:

24th 1940-HMC Ships Restigouche, Skeena and St. Laurent sail from Halifax for Britain in the first wartime passage.  HMCS Fraser which has been recalled from Bermudan waters and arrives in Plymouth, England on June 1st meets them.  A week later, they join an RN force tasked with fending off German U-boats and E-boats and rescuing remnants of a once proud army off the French coast of Dunkirk.

27th 1940-The Royal Navy and a ragtag fleet of small boats begins evacuating remnants of the BEF and French army from Dunkirk rescuing some 340,000 soldiers.

27th 1941-Having been harassed by British Swordfish aircraft from the decks of HMS Ark Royal for several days now, the German battleship Bismarck is closed by Force 'H', probably the largest Naval force formed with one goal in mind.  Finally, just after 10:30 am, the coup de grace is delivered by HMS Dorsetshire, and the mighty Bismarck sinks beneath the waves 500 miles due west of Brest, France.  Included in this force are the destroyers HMCS Saguenay, Columbia and Assiniboine.  Though not directly involved in the attacks, they are employed with several Royal Navy vessels sweeping the waters surrounding the force for German submarines.  From Bismarck's crew of just over 2100, only 110 are picked up from the frigid waters.

30th 1942-Every available suitable aircraft on the British Isles is thrown into the first 1000 plane raid.  Approximately 500 Canadian aircrew fly this night with their own and RAF squadrons.  The city of Cologne is reduced to over 6,000 acres of rubble leading to the evacuation of over 200,000 civilians.  Winston Churchill declares:  "This is the herald of what Germany will receive, city by city, from now on."

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week 31 May - 6 June

31st 1941-Commodore LW Murray is appointed commander of the Newfoundland Escort Force, later the Mid-Ocean Escort Force reporting directly to the British Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches.

31st 1942-Within sight of the residents of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the Canadian merchantman Liverpool Packet is torpedoed and sinks after an attack by U-432 losing 2 of her crew of 23.

1st 1940-The Newfoundland Escort Force is established to provide escort protection across the entire Atlantic Ocean.  Based out of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canadian escorts are directed from this, the western terminus to provide cover for convoys to a point in the mid-Atlantic where they are turned over to the Royal Navy.  The route traveled is still referred to as the Iceland Run.

1st 1943-War strikes close to home as for the first time, mines are sighted in the waters off the approaches to Halifax harbour.

3rd 1940-With the fall of Denmark, the island of Greenland raises many eyebrows in both Europe and North America.  Would the island be turned over to Germany?  Canada's interests lay in the fact of Greenland's close proximity to Canada and its position in line with convoy routes presents a possible threat.  As the main supplier to the Allies of cryolite, used to manufacture aluminum, Greenland also holds a great strategic worth.  In a war of words, boardroom conflicts arise between the U.S. and Canada and England and Canada.  Canadian government officials suggest a small occupation force to forestall any German landing.  The U.S. State department emphatically disagrees while the British feel some sort of action is necessary.  When all is said and done, to appease all, Canada's Greenland invasion force comprises the Hudson Bay Supply Vessel Nascopie, one artillery officer(in civilian dress), two uniformed RCMP constables to act as interpreters, four more for various duties and a 4" coastal battery.  By 1941, the Americans would take over by arming local inhabitants and in 1942, a troop of U.S. Army regulars settled in until war's end.

3rd 1944-U-477 is sunk by RCAF Flight Lieutenant MacBride flying his Consolidated Canso out of Wick in Northern Scotland.  Although intense flack is encountered, the aircraft suffers minimal damage as the attack is pressed on. 

3rd 1944-The 2nd and 3rd Regiments of the First Special Service Force, an elite Canadian American unit are brought in to clear the last ten miles leading into Rome from the northwest.  On the 4th, the 1st Regiment is hurried in to secure bridges to the north.  It is not until late on the 4th that the western bridges are taken and the 1st Regiment to the north establishes a claim of being the first Allied troops to enter Rome.  The cost once again for the breakout to Rome costs the Force dearly and Canadian losses alone are 37 killed, 135 wounded and 13 taken prisoner.  Total Canadian 1st Corps casualties in the days leading up to the fall of Rome since the breakout from the Liri Valley are 789 killed, 2463 wounded and 116 taken prisoner.

4th 1945-Althought the war in Europe has been over for weeks, confusion and communication problems prevent confirmation of this fact to several patrolling German U-boat crews.  Finally, however, on this day, the U-boat war is declared officially over.  For the first time in 6 years, ship's lights go back on and the convoy system is disbanded.

6th 1944-D-Day, the invasion of German occupied Europe, is launched across a stretch of beach on the Normandy coastline just north of Caen, France.  30,000 men with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division are tasked with one of five beaches, code named JUNO, targeted by the Allies in the dawn assault.  Between the seaside communities of Courseulles sur mer and Ste. Aubin sur mer, members of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, the Royal Winnipeg and Regina Rifles as well as the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, Queen's Own Rifles and the Regiment de la Chaudiere lead the assault with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, Highland Light Infantry of Canada and the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders in reserve.  They are in turn supported by the 1st Hussars tanks, the Fort Garry tanks and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers in reserve.  Meanwhile, offshore, sixteen RCN minesweepers are tasked with clearing a path to the American beaches, UTAH and OMAHA.  Offshore of JUNO, HMC Ships Algonquin and Sioux along with 11 other destroyers, 11 frigates and 19 corvettes add their guns to the many others softening up the German defences.  Overhead, Spitfires of the RCAF's No. 127 Wing ensure air supremacy over JUNO during the entire assault and only on two occasions are German aircraft able to penetrate to the beach head.  Although none of the Allied units would reach their objectives for the day, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division is the closest holding a parcel of land roughly 5 miles wide by 7 miles deep.  Total Canadian casualties are considered to be light for an assault of this magnitude, with just 359 killed and 715 wounded, compared with 907 dead and 2460 wounded at Dieppe two years previous.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

For the week 7 - 13 June
7th 1944-HMC Ships Huron and Haida join Force 27 off the coast of France and are immediately dispatched to engage 3 German destroyers.  In the on again-off again battle over the coming days, fierce action sees one of the German destroyers run aground off Ill de Bas under heavy fire.  Another is sunk, and the third limps away after being severely damaged.  Although a relatively small action in the large scale of the D-Day landings, it serves to remove a major threat to surface craft transiting the Channel in the days following the Normandy landings.

7th 1944-On a night mission to Acheres in German occupied France, Avro Lancasters of RCAF 419 Bomber Squadron fly through the usual gauntlet of flak, searchlights and enemy fighters. Lancaster KB-732 VR-X (Exterminator) becomes the first Canadian built Lancaster to score a kill over German aircraft as rear gunner Sgt. Bill Mann and mid-upper gunner Sgt. Paul Burton concentrate their fire knocking down a Junkers Ju 88 night fighter. Both are awarded the DFC, the citation reading, “…displayed notable determination and devotion to duty throughout. On several occasions, they have driven off enemy aircraft and in doing so have displayed great coolness and cooperation.

8th 1944-Just 2 days after D-Day, the German's have mustered a sizable number of U-boats off the Normandy coast in an attempt to stem the flow of supplies reaching the Allies in their advance into France.  Canadian Flying Officer K.O. Moore piloting his Liberator bomber on anti-submarine patrol engages two U-boats, one right after the other on the moonlit night sinking both with depth charges inside a span of 22 minutes.  For his efforts, he is awarded the DSO(Distinguished Service Order) and the U.S. Silver Star.


8th 1944-In a flanking move, the West Nova Scotia Regiment supported by tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers attempt to capture a small airfield just west of Caen, France on D-Day + 1.  Nearly 300 are captured by the fanatical 12th SS Division with 23 being murdered after being captured.  These few days would be the Allies first exposure to the Hitler Youth; nothing more than teenagers worshipping Hitler as a god and who’s highest aim in life was to die.  These 23 murders along with 134 more with the Winnipeg Rifles, Cameron Highlanders and the Regina Rifles over the next few days would provide the basis for Canada's postwar case against the 12th Brigade's commander; Standartenfuhrer (SS Colonel) Kurt Meyer as a war criminal.

10th 1940-Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini declares war on the British Commonwealth and France.  Ten days later, units of the Italian Army enter southern France.

10th 1944-The frigate HMCS Teme is almost cut in two during a collision with the aircraft carrier HMS Tracker in the fog of the English Channel.  Teme loses 4 of her crew and is out of action until well into 1945.

10th 1944-“The first Allied squadrons to operate from French soil since the evacuation of Dunkirk.”  RCAF 441, 442 and 443 Squadrons in their Spitfires, Mustangs and Typhoons began daily sorties shooting up anything that moves behind the German lines as Allied troops regroup for the advance into occupied France.

12th 1940-Just after dawn, the destroyers HMCS Restigouche and St. Laurent come under fire from a German shore battery off the French coast.  In the early morning light, both destroyers exchange fire with the Germans and so for the first time in the war, Canadian ships engage the enemy.

12th 1944-Flying in a Lancaster bomber with RCAF No. 419 Squadron, 27 year old Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski from Winnipeg, Manitoba struggles to free the tail gunner after the aircraft is hit and set on fire by Luftwaffe fighters on a strike over Germany.  Unable to free him, he leaves the plane severely burned and on fire himself.  Though he would survive the jump, he dies days later due to the severity of his injuries, earning him the Victoria Cross.

12th 1944-After six days of fierce and brutal fighting, the Third Canadian Infantry Division is pulled from the fray at Normandy. After suffering 1017 fatalities and 1814 wounded; 70% of these in the ranks of the infantry, a rate higher than suffered during World War I, Canadian troops are pulled to the rear for a two-week period to regroup and reinforce. But lessons had been learned and tactics honed. Never again would ‘green’ Canadian troops be mauled to the extent they were following the D-Day landings.

13th 1940-Rear Admiral L.W. Murray arrives in St. John's to take command of the Newfoundland Escort Force.  From his Headquarters in the Newfoundland Hotel, with U.S. Admiral A.L. Briscoe operating out of Argentia, the coordination of all escorts, convoy routes and maritime aircraft is carried out.  By 1943, the Americans would withdraw their authority in this area and by early 1944, from his new offices in Halifax, Admiral Murray would assume command of all ships escorting the North America/United Kingdom convoys as well as the hunter-killer groups of ships and aircraft on the western side of the North Atlantic.

13th 1944-A Consolidated Canso out of Wick, Scotland with RCAF No. 162 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron piloted by Wing Commander Bill Chapman sights a periscope feather from a suspected U-boat while patrolling west of the Shetland Islands.  Although he conducts a near perfect four depth charge straddle of the submarine, surface fire from the submarine’s conning tower sets the Canso’s port engine afire.  Chapman settles the plane down on the waves and the crew is rescued but not before two succumb to exposure.  Nevertheless, U-715 becomes the fourth submarine sunk by No. 162 Squadron.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Lt Robert Hampton Gray

Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, the son of Boer War veteran John Balfour Gray, was born November 2, 1917 in Trail, British Columbia. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1940 serving in Portsmouth on HMS Raleigh and then HMS St Vincent. Completing flight training in Collins Bay, Ontario, he was accepted into the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy serving first on the carrier HMS Illustrious then in August of 1944, HMS Formidable. He was ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ for his determination and efforts during the attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord on August 29, 1944. HMS Formidable then moved to the Pacific, joining the BPF (British Pacific Fleet) in April 1945 to assist in strikes being carried out against Japanese Imperial Navy and Air Forces in the area of the Japanese home islands. On July 28, 1945 he single handedly sank a Japanese destroyer at the Naval Base Maisuru, north of Kyoto, resulting in his being awarded the DSC (Distinguished Service Cross)

On August 9, 1945 in the closing days of the war, while carrying out a dive-bombing attack on the Japanese destroyer Amakusu, his aircraft was hit and burst into flames dropping into Onagawa Bay near Tokyo, but not before one of his bombs struck, sinking the destroyer. For valour demonstrated in pressing his attack, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross being the only member of the RCN to receive this award and the last recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War II. Ironically, six days following this action, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.

His citation reads:

“For great bravery in leading an attack to within fifty feet of a Japanese destroyer in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire, thereby sinking the destroyer although he was hit and his own aircraft on fire and finally, himself killed. He was one of the gallant company of Naval Airmen who, from December 1944, fought and beat the Japanese from Palembang to Tokyo. The actual incident took place in the Onagawa Wan on the 9th of August 1945. Gray was leader of the attack, which he pressed home in the face of fire from shore batteries and at least eight warships. With his aircraft in flames, he nevertheless obtained at least one direct hit which sank it’s objective.

Lieutenant R.H. Gray, DSC, RCNVR, of Nelson, BC, flew off the Aircraft Carrier, HMS ‘Formidable’ on August 9th 1945, to lead an attack on Japanese shipping in the Onagawa Wan (Bay) in the island of Honchu, Mainland of Japan. At Onagawa Bay the fliers found below a number of Japanese ships and dived in to attack. Furious fire was opened on the aircraft from Army batteries on the ground and warships in the Bay. Lieutenant Gray selected for his target an enemy destroyer. He swept in oblivious of the concentrated fire and made straight for his target. His aircraft was hit, and hit again, but he kept on. As he came close to the destroyer, his plane caught fire but he pressed to within fifty feet of the Japanese ship and let go his bombs. He scored at least one direct hit, possibly more. The destroyer sank almost immediately. Lieutenant Gray did not return. He had given his life at the very end of his bombing run.”

A memorial to Robert Hampton Gray exists at Onagawa Wan (Bay), just a short distance from where his plane crashed. This is the only memorial dedicated to a foreign soldier on Japanese soil.

As well, the recently acquired FG-1 Corsair (Goodyear built) of Vintage Wings of Canada has been painted as the Hampton Gray Corsair