HMCS Oakville
{{Short description|Flower-class corvette}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMCS Oakville K178 CN-6040.jpg |Ship caption=HMCS Oakville seen on 7 August 1943 near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, while on passage from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as an escort to convoy FH-70 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} |Ship name= Oakville |Ship namesake=Oakville, Ontario |Ship ordered= 1 February 1940 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co., Port Arthur |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=21 December 1940 |Ship launched=21 June 1941 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=18 November 1941 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=20 July 1945 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Pennant number: K178 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Atlantic 1942-45{{cite web |title= Battle Honours |url=http://www.britainsnavy.co.uk/Battle%20Honours/A%20Battle%20Honour%20Date.htm#1900 |website=Britain's Navy |access-date=21 August 2013}} |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold in 1946 to Venezuela as Patria. |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Venezuela |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Venezuela|naval}} |Ship name= Patria |Ship namesake= |Ship acquired= purchased from Royal Canadian Navy |Ship commissioned= 1946 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|Flower|corvette}}{{Cite Colledge2006|page=184}} |Ship displacement={{convert|925|LT|t ST|lk=in}} |Ship length={{convert|205|ft|m|2|abbr=on}}o/a |Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|11.5|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*single shaft
|Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|km/h|1}} |Ship range={{convert|3500|nmi|km|0}} at {{convert|12|kn|km/h|1}} |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=85 |Ship sensors=*1 × SW1C or 2C radar
|Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1 × BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
HMCS Oakville was a Royal Canadian Navy {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} which took part in convoy escort duties during the Second World War. She fought primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic. After the war she was sold to the Venezuelan Navy. She was named after Oakville, Ontario.
Background
{{main|Flower-class corvette}}
Flower-class corvettes like Oakville serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes.{{cite web |last=Ossian |first=Robert |url=http://www.thepirateking.com/ships/ship_types.htm |title=Complete List of Sailing Vessels |website=The Pirate King |access-date=13 April 2011}}{{cite book |editor-last=Fitzsimons |editor-first=Bernard |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare |location=London |publisher=Phoebus |year=1978 |volume=11 |pages=1137–1142 }}{{cite book |title=Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II |location=New Jersey |publisher=Random House |year=1996 |isbn=0-517-67963-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/janesfightingshi00fran/page/68 68] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/janesfightingshi00fran/page/68 }} The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877.{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Nicholas |last2=Lawrence |first2=Richard |title=The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I59v6rkg8egC&pg=PA39 |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2005 |pages=39–63 |isbn=0-8117-3275-4}} During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design.{{cite book |last1=Chesneau |first1=Roger |last2=Gardiner |first2=Robert |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJBMBvyQ83EC&pg=PA62 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |date=June 1980 |page=62 |isbn=0-87021-913-8}} The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.{{cite book |title=North Atlantic Run |last=Milner |first=Marc |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1985 |pages=117–119, 142–145, 158, 175–176, 226, 235, 285–291 |isbn=0-87021-450-0}}
Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part, to better represent the people who took part in building them. This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W. Nelles. Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named. Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts, while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear. Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas.{{cite book |last1=Macpherson |first1=Ken |last2=Milner |first2=Marc |year=1993 |title=Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy 1939-1945|publisher=Vanwell Publishing |location=St. Catharines |isbn=1-55125-052-7}}
Construction and career
Oakville was laid down by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. at Port Arthur on 21 December 1940 and was launched on 21 June 1941. She was commissioned into the RCN on 18 November 1941.
=Attempted capture and sinking of ''U-94''=
File:Men of valor - They fight for you.jpg
On 28 August 1942, in the company of American warships and the corvettes {{HMCS|Halifax|K237|2}} and {{HMCS|Snowberry|K166|2}}, Oakville was escorting a convoy off Haïti when she attacked the German submarine {{GS|U-94|1940|2}}. The submarine, which had been on the point of attacking the convoy, was first spotted and bombarded by an American seaplane. Oakville dropped depth charges to force it to surface, and after bombarding it, rammed the submarine twice, sustaining minor damages to its hull. The submarine, struck by a depth charge on the surface, gave up the fight. A boarding party was dispatched to seize the vessel.
Eleven sailors, under the command of Commander Clarence King, including Sub Lieutenant Hal Lawrence, and Petty Officer A.J. Powell, leapt onto the deck of the crippled U-94 and rushed toward the conning tower, which was riddled by shellfire.{{cite news |url=http://images.oakville.halinet.on.ca/details.asp?ID=14343&number=5 |title=Two Canadians board U-Boat, capture crew at gunpoint |newspaper=Toronto Evening Telegram |date=10 November 1942 |access-date=21 June 2010}}
After clearing away the dead bodies covering the hatchway, Lawrence and Powell headed below. They were then surprised by two Germans who emerged from an escape hatch. After ordering them back inside, the Canadians opened fire on the two men, who were dashing toward them.
The German crew surrendered reluctantly.{{Cite news |date=August 28, 1942 |title=August 28 1942 |work=The Maple Leaf |url=http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=3001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401181930/http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=3001 |access-date=December 24, 2022|archive-date=1 April 2012 }} Despite the danger of the U-boat sinking, Lawrence went searching for the Enigma machine and documents. But finding that U-94 had been scuttled, he retraced his steps, having to swim to the ladder which led to the conning tower. After giving the order to abandon ship, Lawrence leapt into the water just before the submarine went down. The Allied sailors and the 26 German survivors were recovered by Oakville and the American destroyer {{USS|Lea|DD-118|2}}.{{cite journal | url=http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=3001 |title=August 28, 1942 |journal=The Maple Leaf |date=23 August 2006 |volume=9 |issue=29 |access-date=21 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401181930/http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=3001 |archive-date=1 April 2012}}{{cite news |author1=Marc Milner |title=Over The Side: The Courageous Boarding Of U-94 |url=https://legionmagazine.com/en/over-the-side-the-courageous-boarding-of-u-94/ |access-date=31 August 2023 |work=Legion Magazine |date=15 January 2015}}
Post-war service
Oakville was paid off from the RCN and decommissioned on 20 July 1945. She was sold in 1946 to Venezuela as Patria.
References
=Notes=
{{reflist|30em}}
=References=
- {{cite book|title=Oakville's Flower: The History of HMCS Oakville |first=Sean E. |last=Livingston |publisher=Dundurn Press |location=Toronto |date=2014}}
External links
- [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/search3.php?query=Oakville&Submit=Find+Vessel HMCS Oakville (K178) on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.]
{{Flower class corvette|original}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakville, HMCS}}