HMCS IROQUOIS (1st) (G89/217)

HMCS IROQUOIS (1st)

The History of HMCS IROQUOIS (1st)

HMCS Iroquois was the first Tribal-class destroyer to commission in the Royal Canadian Navy and the first ship of the RCN to bear the name. Named for the Iroquois First Nations, she was a heavily armed fleet destroyer ordered in 1940 to give the expanding Canadian navy a more capable offensive capability for operations with the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.

She was ordered on 5 April 1940, laid down on 19 September 1940 at Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker (Newcastle-on-Tyne), United Kingdom, and launched on 23 September 1941. Originally intended to be named Athabaskan, her name was switched with a sister ship after bomb damage to ensure Iroquois commissioned first.

Iroquois entered service on 30 November 1942 under Commander W.B.L. Holms, RCN, though structural issues and storm damage delayed full operational readiness until early 1943. Her as-built armament included six 4.7-inch guns in twin mounts, a twin 4-inch gun, a quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom, Oerlikon 20 mm guns, a quadruple 21-inch torpedo tube mount, and depth charges. She displaced about 1,927 to 1,959 long tons standard and could reach 36 knots.

During the Second World War, Iroquois primarily served on convoy escort and offensive patrol duties. After early workups and repairs, she escorted Gibraltar convoys. In July 1943, while escorting troopships toward Freetown, she rescued 628 survivors from the troopship Duchess of York after German aircraft attacked the convoy off Vigo, Spain. She then conducted Arctic convoy duties to the Soviet Union, including support for convoys JW 54A, RA 54B, JW 55B (linked to the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst), and others through early 1944.

After a refit in Halifax, she joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla for Normandy invasion duties. Post-D-Day, she patrolled the English Channel and Bay of Biscay, participating in Operation Kinetic to interdict German naval forces. Notable actions included engagements in August 1944 in which she and other ships sank or damaged several German vessels off the French coast. In 1945 she rejoined the Home Fleet, escorted a final Arctic convoy, supported carrier strikes off Norway, and narrowly avoided torpedoes from U-427 while pursuing the submarine.

At war's end Iroquois escorted Crown Prince Olaf to liberated Norway and later the German cruisers Prinz Eugen and Nurnberg to Kiel for their formal surrender.

Iroquois returned to Canada in June 1945; a planned tropicalization refit for Pacific service was halted after Japan's surrender. She was paid off on 22 February 1946.

From 1947, Iroquois underwent conversion to a destroyer escort, the first of her class so modified, receiving 4-inch guns, a twin 3-inch mount, Squid anti-submarine mortars, updated radar and sonar, and an aluminum lattice mast.

Iroquois recommissioned with pennant 217 on 24 June 1949, and intended to serve as a cadet training ship, however with the outbreak of the Korean War she returned to operational status.

Iroquois completed two tours in Korean waters (1952-53 and a later post-armistice patrol into 1954-55), screening carriers, conducting coastal patrols and bombardments, and supporting island operations. On 2 October 1952 she was hit by shellfire during a bombardment near Songjin, suffering two killed and several wounded, which was the only RCN fatalities of the war. She also circumnavigated the globe twice via the Suez Canal on her returns.

After Korea. Iroquois resumed training and squadron duties until paid off at Halifax on 24 October 1962. She was laid up at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and broken up at Bilbao, Spain, in 1966.

HMCS IROQUOIS (1st) Statistical Data

Pendant: G89/217
Type: Destroyer
Class: TRIBAL 1940s
Displacement: 1927 tonnes
Length: 377 ft
Width: 37.5 ft
Draught: 11.2 ft
Speed: 36 kts
Compliment: 14 Officers and 245 Crew
Arms: 6-4.7" (3 x II), 2-4" (1 xII), 4-21" Torpedo Tube (1 x IV), 4-2 pdrs., 6-20mm.
Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne. U.K.
Keel Laid: 19-Sep-40
Date Launched: 23-Sep-41
Date Commissioned: 30-Nov-42
Paid off: 22-Feb-46

Remarks

Later recommissioned with pendant 217. Paid off 24 Oct 62.

Photos

Destroyer HMCS IROQUOIS off Virgin Islands, 1956. (Library and Archives Canada)

HMCS IROQUOIS, smokescreen, 1945. (Library and Archives Canada)

Keywords: HMCS IROQUOIS (1st), Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer, TRIBAL 1940s Class