HMCS HESPELER (K489)
HMCS HESPELER
The History of HMCS HESPELER
Laid down as HMS Guildford Castle, she was transferred to the RCN and commissioned on February 28, 1944 at Leith. Following workups at Tobermory she arrived at Londonderry in April to become a member of EG C-5. Hespeler sailed on April 21 to meet her first convoy, ONS.233, and for the next 11 months was employed as an ocean escort. On July 23, 1944, she left St. John's with EG C-5 to escort the largest convoy of the war, HXS.300, and on September 9, while temporarily on patrol duty south of the Hebrides, she sank U 484 in co-operation with Dunver. She left 'Derry for the last time on March 8, 1945, to escort ON.289 westward, and upon arriving at Halifax began a refit, completing it at Liverpool, N.S., in July. She then sailed for the west coast and on November 15 was paid off into reserve at Esquimalt. Sold in 1946 to the Union Steamship Co., Vancouver, she was converted to a coastal passenger ship, SS Chilcotin. In 1958 she became the Liberian-flag Stella Maris and in 1965, the Greek Westar. Sold later that year to a Canadian buyer, she was gutted by fire on January 28, 1966, in the Mediterranean and broken up at La Spezia, Italy.
HMCS HESPELER Statistical Data
- Pendant: K489
- Type: Corvette
- Class: CASTLE Class (Ex RN)
- Displacement: 1060 tonnes
- Length: 251.8 ft
- Width: 36.7 ft
- Draught: 10 ft
- Speed: 16 kts
- Compliment: 7 Officers and 105 Crew
- Arms: 1-4" Gun, 6-20mm (2 x II, 2 x I), Squid
- Builder: Henry Robb Ltd.. Leith, Scotland
- Keel Laid: 25-May-43
- Date Launched: 13-Nov-43
- Date Commissioned: 28-Feb-44
- Paid off: 15-Nov-45
Remarks
Ex-HMS GUILDFORD CASTLE