HMCS CAPILANO (K409)

HMCS CAPILANO

HMCS CAPILANO

The History of HMCS CAPILANO

HMCS Capilano (K409) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Canadian Navy that served as a convoy escort during the Second World War.

She was ordered on 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943-44 River-class building program. Laid down on 18 November 1943 by Yarrows Ltd. at Esquimalt, British Columbia, she was launched on 8 April 1944 and commissioned at Victoria on 25 August 1944. The name honoured the Town of North Vancouver, British Columbia. Because the navy already had HMCS Vancouver, the ship took her name from Capilano Lake and the nearby Capilano River or Creek that flows into Burrard Inlet.

After commissioning, Capilano sailed from Esquimalt on 27 September and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 20 October 1944. She carried out workups in St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, and continued to workup in Bermuda in November. She then joined Escort Group C-2 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force at St. John's, Newfoundland, and performed continuous North Atlantic convoy escort duty until Victory in Europe Day. She earned the battle honour Atlantic 1944-45.

During her service she took part in several rescues. In early March 1945, while escorting convoy SC-167, she rescued 36 survivors, including eight wounded, from the British freighter SS King Edgar after that ship was torpedoed south of Cardigan Bay near Strumble Head, Wales. Later that April she picked up five survivors from the MV Panama, a straggler whose cargo had shifted and caused her to capsize, and landed them at St. John's. On 9 April 1945, while with convoy SC-171 in the North Channel, Capilano was the target of an unsuccessful torpedo attack by the German U-boat U-1023 under Oblt Wolfgang Strenger.

She left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for the last time on 30 May 1945. On 10 June she began a tropicalization refit at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, intended to prepare her for possible Pacific service. The work was completed in mid-October. With Japan already surrendered, she was paid off at Halifax on 24 November 1945 and placed in reserve in Bedford Basin.

In 1947 Capilano was sold for mercantile use. The following year she appeared under Jamaican (or Panamanian) registry as Irving Francis M. In 1953, while under tow from Jamaica to Miami by Bess Barry M. (the former HMCS St. Boniface), she foundered off the Cuban coast near Cabo Maysi.

HMCS CAPILANO Statistical Data

  • Pendant: K409
  • Type: Frigate
  • Class: RIVER Class 43-44 Programme
  • Displacement: 1445 tonnes
  • Length: 301.5 ft
  • Width: 36.6 ft
  • Draught: 9 ft
  • Speed: 19 kts
  • Compliment: 8 Officers and 133 Crew
  • Arms: 2-4" (1 x II), 4-20mm, Hedgehog
  • Builder: Yarrows Ltd.. Esquimalt, B.C.
  • Keel Laid: 18-Nov-43
  • Date Launched: 8-Apr-44
  • Date Commissioned: 25-Aug-44
  • Paid off: 24-Nov-45

Photos

HMCS Capilano. (Library and Archives Canada)

HMCS Capilano. (Library and Archives Canada)

Keywords: HMCS CAPILANO, Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Frigate, RIVER Class 43-44 Programme Class