HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st) (H70)

HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st)

The History of HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st)

HMCS Saskatchewan was a destroyer that served during the Second World War. Built in the United Kingdom as HMS Fortune, an F-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, she was laid down in 1933 at John Brown and Company in Clydebank, Scotland, launched in 1934, and completed in 1935. She displaced about 1,405 tons, measured 329 feet in length, and could reach speeds of over 30 knots. Her original armament included 4.7-inch guns and torpedo tubes.

As HMS Fortune, she joined the Home Fleet's 8th Flotilla. After war began in 1939 she took part in the Norwegian campaign and the occupation of Iceland in 1940. She shared in the sinking of the German submarines U-27 and U-44 and the Vichy French submarine Ajax. In May 1941, while escorting a convoy to Malta, she suffered heavy bomb damage and spent six months under repair at Chatham. She then served two years with the Eastern Fleet before returning to Britain in early 1943 for a major refit that converted her into an escort destroyer.

On 31 May 1943 the ship was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS Saskatchewan (pendant H70). She joined Escort Group C-3 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and spent the next year protecting convoys in the North Atlantic. In May 1944 she moved to Escort Group 12 for invasion duties, patrolling the English Channel and Bay of Biscay in support of the Normandy landings. She later returned briefly to Atlantic escort work, underwent a refit at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and rejoined British waters in early 1945 with Escort Groups 14 and 11.

After Victory in Europe Day she ferried Canadian troops home as a transport. HMCS Saskatchewan was paid off on 28 January 1946 at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and subsequently broken up.

HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st) Statistical Data

• Pendant: H70
• Type: Destroyer
• Class: RIVER Class British
• Displacement: 1405 tonnes
• Length: 329 ft
• Width: 33.3 ft
• Draught: 10.8 ft
• Speed: 31 kts
• Compliment: 10 Officers and 171 Crew
• Arms: 3-4.7", 4-21" Torpedo Tubes (1 xIV), 6-20mm, Hedgehog
• Builder: John Brown & Co. Ltd.. Glasgow, Scotland
• Keel Laid: 25-Jul-33
• Date Launched: 29-Aug-34
• Date Commissioned: 31-May-43
• Paid off: 28-Jan-46

Remarks

Ex HMS FORTUNE

Photos

British F class destroyer HMS Fortune in 1943, prior to being commissioned as HMCS Saskatchewan. (Wikimedia)

HMCS Saskatchewn (H70)

Keywords: HMCS SASKATCHEWAN (1st), Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer, RIVER Class British Class