HMCS ONTARIO (53/32)

HMCS ONTARIO

The History of HMCS ONTARIO

HMCS Ontario was a Minotaur-class light cruiser of the Royal Canadian Navy.

Laid down on 20 November 1941 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast as HMS Minotaur, she was launched on 29 July 1943. Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in July 1944 while still under construction, she was commissioned at Belfast on 26 April 1945 as HMCS Ontario. Completion followed on 25 May 1945. After trials and work-ups on the River Clyde, she departed on 2 July 1945 for the Pacific via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal.

She joined the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet too late for combat operations. Her duties included visits to Hong Kong, Manila, and ports in Japan before she arrived at Esquimalt, British Columbia, on 27 November 1945 for refit.

For the rest of her career Ontario served primarily as a training ship based on the West Coast. Notable postwar activities included the largest Royal Canadian Navy deployment of the immediate postwar period, sailing to Pearl Harbor in October 1948 with destroyers and a frigate. In 1949 she took part in a major training cruise in the Caribbean with the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent and other vessels. She visited Australia for joint exercises with the Royal Australian Navy in 1951 and carried Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during a portion of the Royal Visit that year. In 1952 she circumnavigated South America; while entering Buenos Aires she was struck by the merchant ship SS Arauco, damaging her starboard propellers, which required repairs in Rio de Janeiro. She represented Canada at the Coronation Fleet Review for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and made further training cruises to Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Europe through the mid-1950s.

Ontario was paid off on 15 October 1958. She was sold and partially dismantled at Vancouver before being resold and towed to Osaka, Japan, where she arrived on 19 November 1960 for final breaking up.

HMCS ONTARIO Statistical Data

• Pendant: 53/32
• Type: Cruiser
• Class: Ex-RN
• Displacement: 8800 tonnes
• Length: 555.5 ft
• Width: 63 ft
• Draught: 16.5 ft
• Speed: 30 kts
• Compliment: 730 Officers and Crew
• Arms: 9-6" (3 x III), 10-4" (5 x II), 6-21" Torpedo Tubes (2 x III)
• Builder: Harland and Wolff Ltd.. Belfast, Ireland
• Keel Laid: 20-Nov-41
• Date Launched: 29-Jul-43
• Date Commissioned: 26-Apr-45
• Paid off: 15-Oct-58

Remarks

Ex-HMS MINOTAUR

Photos

HMCS ONTARIO

Royal Canadian Navy cruiser HMCS ONTARIO (Library and Archives Canada)

HMCS Ontario in 1951. (State Library of Victoria, Australia)

Keywords: HMCS ONTARIO, Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Cruiser, Ex-RN Class