HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st) (H70)
HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st)
The History of HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st)
Completed in 1935 as HMS Fortune, she was serving with the 8th Flotilla, Home Fleet when the war broke out, and took part in the Norwegian campaign and the occupation of Iceland in May, 1940. She also shared in the sinking of U 27, U 44, and the Vichy French submarine Ajax. On May 10, 1941, while escorting a Malta convoy, she was badly damaged by bombs and spent six months under repairs at Chatham, U.K. In February, 1943, following two years' service with the Eastern Fleet, Fortune returned to the U.K. for major refit at London, and there on May 31, 1943, was transferred to the RCN as Saskatchewan. She was assigned to EG C-3, MOEF, until May, 1944, then transferred to EG 12 for invasion duties. She proceeded to Canada in August, 1944, to refit at Shelburne, N.S., returning to the U.K. in January, 1945, first as a unit of EG 14, and then of EG 11. She returned to Canada the month after VE-Day and, after employment as a troop transport, was paid off January 28, 1946, at Sydney and broken up.
HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st) Statistical Data
- Pendant: H70
- Type: Destroyer
- Class: RIVER Class British
- Displacement: 1405 tonnes
- Length: 329 ft
- Width: 33.3 ft
- Draught: 10.8 ft
- Speed: 31 kts
- Compliment: 10 Officers and 171 Crew
- Arms: 3-4.7", 4-21" Torpedo Tubes (1 xIV), 6-20mm, Hedgehog
- Builder: John Brown & Co. Ltd.. Glasgow, Scotland
- Keel Laid: 25-Jul-33
- Date Launched: 29-Aug-34
- Date Commissioned: 31-May-43
- Paid off: 28-Jan-46
Remarks
Ex HMS FORTUNE