HMCS OTTAWA (2nd) (H31)

HMCS OTTAWA (2nd)

HMCS OTTAWA (2nd)

The History of HMCS OTTAWA (2nd)

The second ship to bear the name HMCS Ottawa was a G-class destroyer with pennant number H31. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Griffin, she was constructed by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness. Her keel was laid on 20 September 1934, she was launched on 15 August 1935, and she was completed in 1936. As HMS Griffin she served in the Mediterranean and Home Fleets before the Second World War and on various escort and operational duties after hostilities began.

Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in early 1943 to replace the first HMCS Ottawa (sunk in 1942), she was commissioned as HMCS Griffin on 20 March 1943 and then renamed HMCS Ottawa on 10 April 1943. Converted for escort work, she joined the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and spent the next year protecting convoys in the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and the British Isles.

In May 1944 Ottawa became the senior ship of Escort Group 11, which included the Canadian destroyers Kootenay, Chaudiere, Gatineau, and St. Laurent. The group took part in Operation Neptune, providing an anti-submarine screen during the Normandy landings. Thereafter she conducted patrols in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay. On 7 July 1944 Ottawa, with Kootenay and the British corvette Statice, sank the German submarine U-678 southwest of Brighton.

On 18 August 1944, operating with Kootenay and Chaudiere, she sank U-621 in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle. Official Royal Canadian Navy records credit her with a share in the destruction of three German submarines in total during these operations. She earned the battle honours Atlantic 1939-45, Normandy 1944, English Channel 1944, and Biscay 1944.

Ottawa returned to Canada for a refit in October 1944 and remained in home waters until she was paid off on 1 November 1945 at Sydney, Nova Scotia. She was broken up in 1946.

HMCS OTTAWA (2nd) Statistical Data

  • Pendant: H31
  • Type: Destroyer
  • Class: RIVER Class British
  • Displacement: 1350 tonnes
  • Length: 323 ft
  • Width: 33 ft
  • Draught: 10.6 ft
  • Speed: 31 kts
  • Compliment: 10 Officers and 171 Crew
  • Arms: 2-4.7", 4-21" Torpedo Tubes (1 xIV), 6-20mm, Hedgehog
  • Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.
  • Keel Laid: 20-Sep-34
  • Date Launched: 15-Aug-35
  • Date Commissioned: 20-Feb-43
  • Paid off: 31-Oct-45

Remarks

Ex HMS GRIFFIN. Second ship named OTTAWA during WWII.

Photos

British G class destroyer HMS Griffin. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Ottawa (H31) in 1943 (Wikimedia Commons)

British G class destroyer HMS Griffin. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Ottawa (H31) in 1943 (Wikimedia Commons)

Keywords: HMCS OTTAWA (2nd), Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer, RIVER Class British Class