HMCS Sackville
{{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=HMCSSackville06.jpg |Ship caption=HMCS Sackville in October 2006, moored behind the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and restored to her 1944 condition. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} |Ship name=Sackville |Ship namesake=Sackville, New Brunswick |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Saint John Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company Ltd. |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down=28 May 1940 |Ship launched=15 May 1941 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=30 December 1941 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=8 April 1946 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= Thompson Bros. Machinery Co. Ltd., Liverpool, Nova Scotia, commenced 14 January 1943, machinery replacement, minesweeping gear removed, bridge wings extended to fit Oerlikon 20 mm AA Galveston, Texas, 28 February 1944 – 7 May 1944, forecastle extended, new bridge, hedgehog fitted, mast moved abaft of bridge, new boats, new electronics |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Pennant number: K181 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Atlantic 1942-44 |Ship captured= |Ship fate= |Ship status=Museum ship, Halifax, Nova Scotia |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} |Ship displacement=950 tons |Ship length={{convert|62.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|10|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|3.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=Single shaft, 2 fire tube Scotch boilers, 1 4-cyl. triple expansion steam engine, {{convert|2750|hp|kW|abbr=on}} |Ship speed={{convert|16|kn}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=85 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1 BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun gun
|Ship armour= |Ship notes=Now a museum ship owned by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, moored in season at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic }} {{Designation list |embed=yes |designation1=NHSC |designation1_offname=HMCS Sackville National Historic Site of Canada |designation1_date=1988 }} |
HMCS Sackville is a {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the last surviving Flower-class corvette.
Wartime service
Sackville{{'}}s keel was laid down as Patrol Vessel 2 at the Saint John Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Saint John, New Brunswick in early 1940, the second of the {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}}s ordered by the Royal Canadian Navy. She was launched on 15 May 1941 by Mrs. J. E. W. Oland, wife of the captain of the port, with the Mayor and entire town council of her namesake town in attendance.{{cite book |title=HMCS Sackville |last=Milner |page=9 }} Sackville was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 30 December 1941 by Captain J. E. W. Oland, husband of the ship's sponsor.{{cite book |title=HMCS Sackville |last=Milner |page=20 }} Her first commanding officer, Lieutenant W. R. Kirkland, RCNR was appointed on 30 December{{cite book |title=Canada's Flowers |last=Lynch |page=74 }} but did not join Sackville until 2 January. Kirkland was discharged in March 1942 as "unsuitable" after a poor working-up trip to Newfoundland in late February. The first lieutenant reported that Kirkland had been unable to discharge his duties and had been abusive to his officers. After rescuing the survivors from the sunken Greek ship Lily, Sackville was unable to re-locate her convoy, ON 68.{{Cite web |title=ON Convoys - warsailors.com |url=http://warsailors.com/convoys/onconvoys.html |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=warsailors.com}} The first lieutenant then took the step of relieving Kirkland and assuming command. The original crew was reposted to other RCN ships and the already trained crew of {{HMCS|Baddeck|K147|6}} under Lieutenant-Commander Alan H. Easton, RCNR was drafted onto the ship on 6 April 1942. Also in April Sackville received Canadian-built SW1C radar and worked up at Halifax and St. Margarets Bay.{{cite book |title=HMCS Sackville |last=Milner |page=21 }}
The ship was finally assigned to Escort Group C-3 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force along with two others ({{HMCS|Galt|K163|2}} and {{HMCS|Wetaskiwin|K175|2}}) on 15 May 1942 to replace corvettes going for refit.{{cite book |title=HMCS Sackville |last=Milner |page=23 }} In August 1942 Sackville fought a series of fierce actions escorting Convoy ON-115. Deprived of air cover by heavy fog, the convoy was attacked by two successive U-boat "wolfpacks" off the coast of Newfoundland. On August 3, Sackville caught the German submarine {{GS|U-43|1939|2}} on the surface and, as the submarine dived, made a series of depth charge attacks which badly damaged the submarine. U-43 survived but had to retreat to France for repairs with serious damage to its engines, compressors, a leaking hatch and a crewman with internal injuries.W.A.B. Douglas, No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943, Vanwell Publishing (2004), p. 498 The next day Sackville attacked {{GS|U-704||2}} as it dived, causing the submarine to break off its attack leaving Sackville to rescue two survivors from an abandoned but still floating merchant ship. Only a few hours later, Sackville detected {{GS|U-552||2}} on the surface with radar and landed a four-inch shell on the submarine's conning tower followed by a depth charge. U-552 nearly sank but managed to regain control and creep back to Germany heavily damaged. Sackville{{'}}s attacks had played a key role in allowing the 41 ship convoy to escape with the loss of only two ships.W.A.B. Douglas, No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943, Vanwell Publishing (2004), pp. 498-502Alan Easton, 50 North: An Atlantic Battleground, Ryerson Press (1963)
Sackville continued in her escort role until starting an extensive refit at Thompson Bros. Machinery Co. Ltd. in Liverpool, Nova Scotia in January 1943. She returned to service in April and was assigned to Escort Group C-1 where she remained until reassigned to a new group Escort Group 9 in July. The group was disbanded following the loss of three of its ships on 20–22 September and the ship assigned to group C-2, where the ship remained on Atlantic escort work until going for refit in Galveston, Texas in February 1944.
Returning to Halifax in May 1944 the vessel worked up in Bermuda and was then assigned to Escort Group C-2 which left for Derry escorting convoy HX-297 on 29 June 1944.
At Derry the boilers were cleaned, which revealed a serious leak in one of them. Repairs were unsuccessful and the ship was no longer considered suitable for convoy escort work. Since the ship had only recently been modernized she was reassigned for training at {{HMCS|King}} on 29 August 1944.
However, almost immediately afterwards the decision was made to convert her to a loop layer, laying anti-submarine indicator loops across harbour entrances, her damaged boiler removed to provide storage for the cable and the 4-inch gun replaced with a pair of cranes. She remained in this role until paid off in April 1946 and laid up in reserve.
=Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted=
| class="wikitable"
!Convoy !Escort group !Dates !Notes |
| HX 175
| |27 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland |
| SC 72
| |28 Feb-5 March 1942{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html|title=SC convoys|publisher=Andrew Hague Convoy Database|access-date=2011-06-19}} |19 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland |
| ON 70
| |11–15 March 1942{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/on/index.html|title=ON convoys|publisher=Andrew Hague Convoy Database|access-date=2011-06-19}} |30 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland |
| HX 191
|24 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 104
|MOEF group C3 |36 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| SC 90
|MOEF group C3 |32 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 115
|MOEF group C3 |Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 3 ships torpedoed (2 sank) |
| HX 202
|MOEF group C3 |43 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland |
| ON 121
|MOEF group C3 |34 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland |
| SC 98
|MOEF group C3 |69 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 131
|MOEF group C3 |54 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 210
|MOEF group C3 |36 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 141
|MOEF group C3 |59 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| SC 109
|MOEF group C3 |Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 2 ships torpedoed (1 sank) |
| ON 152
|MOEF group C3 |15 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| ON 184
|39 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 242
|MOEF group C1 |61 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 190
|MOEF group C1 |87 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 247
|Escort Group 9 |71 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ON 195
|Escort Group 9 |51 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 252
|Escort Group 9 |52 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| Convoys ONS 18/ON 202
|Escort Group 9 |Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 7 ships torpedoed (6 sank) |
| SC 143
|Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; 1 ship torpedoed & sunk |
| ONS 21
|MOEF group C2 |33 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 265
|MOEF group C2 |51 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ONS 24
|MOEF group C2 |29 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 271
|MOEF group C2 |53 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
| ONS 27
|MOEF group C2 |32 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| ON 220
|MOEF group C2 |54 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland |
| HX 297
|MOEF group C2 |116 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland |
Civilian service
Most Flower-class corvettes were scrapped shortly after the war, however Sackville was laid up in reserve. She was reactivated in 1952 and converted to a research vessel for the Department of Marine and Fisheries. The armament was removed, the hull repainted black in place of the original dazzle camouflage and the new pennant number 532 painted on the hull (changed to 113 in the late 1950s). A laboratory was built on the aft superstructure in 1964 and the bridge enclosed in 1968. She remained in service until December 1982, with her last cruise in July 1982.
Museum ship
The original intention had been to acquire {{HMCS|Louisburg|K401|6}}, which had been sold to the Dominican Republic and renamed Juan Alejandro Acosta but this vessel was wrecked (along with another Flower-class corvette - Cristobal Colon, the former {{HMCS|Lachute|K440|6}}){{cite web | url = http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/TDIH/august/30Aug.txt | work = Seawaves | title = Today in History 30 August 2007 | access-date = 2008-06-10 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071027055625/http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/TDIH/august/30Aug.txt | archive-date = 27 October 2007 }} by Hurricane David in 1979. This left Sackville as the sole remaining Flower-class corvette.{{cite web | url = http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/Flower/ARTICLES/Sackville.htm | title = HMCS Sackville: The last flower (1941-2000) | work = History in Illustration | access-date=2008-06-10 }}
The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust (now the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust) on 28 October 1983 and restored to her 1944 appearance (apart from minor details in her camouflage and the presence of the "barber pole" red and white pattern around her funnel which had been removed before 1944). It had originally been planned to restore the ship to her 1942 appearance but this proved too expensive.
File:MMAabove.JPG at the foot of Sackville Street.]]
She currently serves the summer months as a museum ship moored beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while spending her winters securely in the naval dockyard at CFB Halifax under the care of Maritime Forces Atlantic, the Atlantic fleet of Royal Canadian Navy. Sackville{{'}}s presence in Halifax is considered appropriate, as the port was an important North American convoy assembly port during the war.
In September 2003, Sackville broke loose during Hurricane Juan and struck the schooner Larinda, a yacht inspired by the 1767 Boston schooner {{HMS|Sultana|1768|6}}, moored beside her. The schooner's owners sued the Naval Memorial Trust in 2009{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tall-ship-lawsuit-enters-final-stages-1.877532 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724013228/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/06/04/ns-larinda-insurance-sackville.html |url-status=live |archive-date=24 July 2012 |title=Tall Ship Lawsuit Enters Final Stages |date=4 June 2010 |work=CBC News}} but the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in Sackville{{'}}s favour on 4 August 2011, concluding that the Trust had taken all necessary and appropriate precautions to secure Sackville.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/hmcs-sackville-not-liable-for-larinda-sinking-1.1093927 |title=HMCS Sackville not liable for Larinda sinking |work=CBC News |date=4 August 2011 |access-date=15 October 2016}}
Sackville makes her first appearance each spring when she is towed by a naval tugboat from HMC Dockyard to a location off Point Pleasant Park on the first Sunday in May to participate in the Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies held at a memorial in the park overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour. Sackville typically hosts several dozen Royal Canadian Navy veterans on this day and has also participated in several burials at sea for dispersing the ashes of Royal Canadian Navy veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic at this location. In 2018, the ship underwent CAN$3.5 million in repairs at CFB Halifax.{{cite news |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/money-set-aside-to-repair-hmcs-sackville |title=Money set aside to repair HMCS Sackville |work=Ottawa Citizen |last=Pugliese |first=David |date=26 January 2018 |access-date=27 January 2018}}
Recognition
In 1988, Sackville was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, due to her status as the last Flower-class corvette known to exist.{{CRHP|14548|HMCS Sackville|10 March 2013}}
On 4 November 1998, Canada Post issued a 45¢ stamp featuring HMCS Sackville as part of the Naval Vessels series. The stamps were designed by Dennis George Page, based on an illustration by Todd Hawkins and on photographs by Canadian Naval Memorial Trust.{{cite web |url=http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=(military.A790,C790.)+Or+(null.B742.)&l=100&d=STMP&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02011702_e.html&r=98&f=G&Sect1=STMP |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130101042429/http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=(military.A790,C790.)+Or+(null.B742.)&l=100&d=STMP&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02011702_e.html&r=98&f=G&Sect1=STMP |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 January 2013 |title=HMCS Sackville |publisher=Canada Post Archives Database |access-date=15 October 2016 }}
''Greyhound''
HMCS Sackville was used as the model for the corvette, HMCS Dodge, call sign Dicky, in the 2020 film, Greyhound.{{cite news|url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/hmcs-sackville-stars-in-tom-hanks-movie-greyhound-473156/|title=HMCS Sackville stars in Tom Hanks movie Greyhound|work= The Chronicle Herald | access-date=3 August 2020}} The producers of the movie took numerous 3D scans of the ship's exterior to create the CGI version for the movie.
Gallery
Image:hmcs_sackville.png|Sackville as restored, moored alongside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Canada. The paint scheme on her hull is dazzle camouflage.
Image:HMCSSackville06.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006.
Image:HMCSSackville06b.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006 showing the four-inch deck gun and Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar. The lighthouse-like structure behind the bridge contains the radar.
Image:HMCSSackville06c.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006, showing the 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and depth charge releasing device at stern of ship.
Image:Along the Halifax waterfront (July 1 2007) (687039939).jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, 1 July 2007, alongside a 2-masted sailing ship. A green maple leaf badge is visible on the ship's funnel, a common insignia of Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.
Image:HMCS Sackville (K181) proue.JPG|Bow view
Image:HMCS Sackville (K181) poupe.JPG|Stern view
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |title=Canada's Flowers: History of the Corvettes of Canada |last=Lynch |first=Thomas G. |year=1981 |publisher=Nimbus Publishing Limited |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |isbn=0-920852-15-7 }}
- {{cite book |title=HMCS Sackville: 1941-1985 |last=Milner |first=Marc |year=1998 |publisher=The Canadian Naval Memorial Trust |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |isbn=0-9683661-0-4 }}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://hmcssackville.ca/ HMCS Sackville official site].
- [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/839.html HMCS Sackville (K 181) at uboat.net].
- [http://www.steelnavy.com/Sackville.htm HMCS Sackville photo gallery].
- [http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww2/flower/ Haze Gray and Underway]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071112031841/http://www.readyayeready.com/cgi-bin/query/display.pl?index=1365 ReadyAyeReady.com]
- [http://imdb.com/title/tt0107414/ The 1993 film "Lifeline to Victory" was filmed aboard HMCS Sackville].
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041011040403/http://hnsa.org/ships/sackville.htm Of the 236 corvettes that were laid down in Canada and Britain, 111 sailed from Canadian slips]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015238/http://hnsa.org/ships/sackville.htm HNSA Ship Page: HMCS Sackville]
- [https://archive.today/20121223223737/http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/search3.php?query=Sackville&Submit=Find+Vessel HMCS Sackville on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.]
{{coord|44|38|50.85|N|63|34|09.35|W|display=title}}
{{Flower class corvette|original}}
{{NHSC}}
{{Nova Scotia parks}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sackville, HMCS}}
Category:Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy
Category:Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy
Category:Ships built in Saint John, New Brunswick
Category:Museum ships in Canada
Category:Museum ships in Nova Scotia
Category:History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
Category:National Historic Sites in Nova Scotia
Category:Maritime museums in Nova Scotia