HMCS WETASKIWIN (K175)
HMCS WETASKIWIN
The History of HMCS WETASKIWIN
Commissioned at Esquimalt on December 17, 1940, she was the first west coast-built corvette to enter service. On patrol out of Esquimalt until she left on March 17, 1941, for the Atlantic, she arrived at Halifax on April 13 and left on May 23 for St. John's to become one of the founding members of NEF. In June she escorted her first convoy, HX.130, to Iceland, and during the next eight months made six round trips there with eastbound convoys. She returned to Halifax on January 24, 1942, and in February commenced a major refit at Liverpool, N.S. After working up in May she joined EG C-3, arriving in Londonderry on June 5 for the first time from convoy HX.191. During this period Wetaskiwin participated in two major convoy actions: SC.42 (September, 1941); and SC.48 (October, 1941). On July 31, 1942, while escorting ON.115, she shared with Skeena the sinking of 588. In mid-January, 1943 she arrived at Liverpool, N.S., for refit, which was completed on March 9 and followed by further repairs at Halifax. In May, 1943, she joined EG C-5, and that December went to Galveston, Texas, for a long refit, including extension of her fo'c's'le. Following its completion on March 6, 1944, she returned briefly to Halifax before proceeding to Bermuda for work-ups late in April. Returning northward, she re-joined C-5, leaving Londonderry on September 23 for the last time to join EG W-7, WLEF, for the remainder of the war. She was paid off at Sorel on June 19, 1945, and sold in 1946 to the Venezuelan Navy, which renamed her Victoria. She was discarded in 1962.
HMCS WETASKIWIN Statistical Data
- Pendant: K175
- Type: Corvette
- Class: FLOWER Class 1939-1940
- Displacement: 950 tonnes
- Length: 205.1 ft
- Width: 33.1 ft
- Draught: 11.5 ft
- Speed: 16 kts
- Compliment: 6 Officers and 79 Crew
- Arms: 1-4" Gun, 1-2 pdr, 2-20mm, Hedgehog
- Builder: Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd.. Vancouver. B.C.
- Keel Laid: 11-Apr-40
- Date Launched: 18-Jul-40
- Date Commissioned: 17-Dec-40
- Paid off: 19-Jun-45
Remarks
Focsle Extended, Galveston, TX, 6 Mar 44