HMCS OTTAWA (2nd) (H31)
HMCS OTTAWA (2nd)
The History of HMCS OTTAWA (2nd)
Originally built for the RN as HMS Griffin (H31). She was a G-class destroyer, built in the mid-1930s. Beginning in November 1942, she was converted to an escort destroyer in the United Kingdom and was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on 1 March 1943.
The ship, now renamed HMCS Ottawa, was assigned to escort convoys in the North Atlantic until she was transferred in May 1944 to protect the forces involved with the Normandy Landings. Working with other destroyers, Ottawa sank three German destroyers off the French coast before she returned to Canada for a lengthy refit.
After the end of the war in May 1945 the ship was used to bring Canadian troops until she was paid off in October 1945. Ottawa was sold for scrap in August 1946.
HMCS OTTAWA (2nd) Statistical Data
- Pendant: H31
- Type: Destroyer
- Class: RIVER Class British
- Displacement: 1350 tonnes
- Length: 323 ft
- Width: 33 ft
- Draught: 10.6 ft
- Speed: 31 kts
- Compliment: 10 Officers and 171 Crew
- Arms: 2-4.7", 4-21" Torpedo Tubes (1 xIV), 6-20mm, Hedgehog
- Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.
- Keel Laid: 20-Sep-34
- Date Launched: 15-Aug-35
- Date Commissioned: 20-Feb-43
- Paid off: 31-Oct-45
Remarks
Ex HMS GRIFFIN. Second ship named OTTAWA during WWII.