HMCS Victoriaville
{{other ships|HMCS Granby}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Victoriariverclassfrigate.jpg |Ship caption= HMCS Victoriaville }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} |Ship name=Victoriaville |Ship namesake= Victoriaville, Quebec |Ship ordered= 1 February 1943 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=2 December 1943 |Ship launched=23 June 1944 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=11 November 1944 |Ship decommissioned=17 November 1945 |Ship recommissioned= |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: K 684 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=yes |Ship recommissioned=25 September 1959 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= 31 December 1973 |Ship renamed= Granby (1966) |Ship reclassified=*{{sclass|Prestonian|frigate|1}} (1959)
|Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= pennant number: 320 |Ship motto= Domine dirige nos ("Direct us, O Lord")Arbuckle, p. 125 |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= Atlantic 1945{{cite web|title= Battle Honours | url=http://www.britainsnavy.co.uk/Battle%20Honours/A%20Battle%20Honour%20Date.htm#1900|work=Britain's Navy|access-date=26 May 2014}} |Ship captured= |Ship fate= Scrapped 1974 |Ship notes= |Ship badge=Argent, a saltire gules upon the center of which an oak tree charged with a royal coronet all proper }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|River|frigate}} |Ship displacement=*{{convert|1445|LT|t ST|lk=in}}
|Ship length=*{{convert|283|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} p/p
|Ship beam={{convert|36.5|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|9|ft|m|2|abbr=on}}; {{convert|13|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} (deep load) |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, {{convert|5500|ihp|abbr=on}} |Ship speed=*{{convert|20|kn|km/h|1}}
|Ship range={{convert|646|LT|t ST|abbr=on}} oil fuel; {{convert|7500|nmi|km|0}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h|1}} |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=157 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
HMCS Victoriaville was a {{sclass2|River|frigate}} that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Victoriaville, Quebec. After the war she was converted to a {{sclass|Prestonian|frigate|1}} in 1959. In 1966 she was converted to a diving tender and renamed Granby, serving as such until 1973 when she was decommissioned for the final time.
Victoriaville was ordered on 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943–1944 River-class building program.{{cite book |last1=Macpherson |first1=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|isbn=0-00-216856-1}}{{cite web
|url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/210.html
|title=HMCS Victoriaville (K 684)
|last=Helgason
|first=Guðmundur
|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
|access-date=26 May 2014
}} She was laid down on 2 December 1943 by George T. Davie Shipbuilding Ltd. at Lauzon, Quebec and launched 23 June 1944. She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 11 November 1944 at Quebec City.
Background
{{main|River-class frigate}}
The River-class frigate was designed by William Reed of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees. Originally called a "twin-screw corvette", its purpose was to improve on the convoy escort classes in service with the Royal Navy at the time, including the Flower-class corvette. The first orders were placed by the Royal Navy in 1940 and the vessels were named for rivers in the United Kingdom, giving name to the class. In Canada they were named for towns and cities though they kept the same designation.{{cite web|url=https://www.friends-amis.org/index.php/en/document-repository/english/fact-sheets/44-canadian-river-class-frigate-1/file |title=Fact Sheet No. 21 – Canadian River Class Frigates |access-date=26 May 2014}} The name "frigate" was suggested by Vice-Admiral Percy Nelles of the Royal Canadian Navy and was adopted later that year.{{cite book|title=Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943–1974 |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |year=1989 |place=Lewiston, New York |pages=6–7, 15 |isbn=0-920277-22-5}}
Improvements over the corvette design included improved accommodation which was markedly better. The twin engines gave only three more knots of speed but extended the range of the ship to nearly double that of a corvette at {{convert|7200|nmi|km}} at 12 knots. Among other lessons applied to the design was an armament package better designed to combat U-boats including a twin 4-inch mount forward and 12-pounder aft. 15 Canadian frigates were initially fitted with a single 4-inch gun forward but with the exception of {{HMCS|Valleyfield|K329|6}}, they were all eventually upgraded to the double mount. For underwater targets, the River-class frigate was equipped with a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar and depth charge rails aft and four side-mounted throwers.
River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo sonar transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved radar and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes.
Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941. The design was too big for the shipyards on the Great Lakes so all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the west coast or along the St. Lawrence River. In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the United States Navy.
Service history
After working up in Bermuda, Victoriaville was assigned to the Mid-Ocean Escort Force escort group C-9 in February 1945. She spent the rest of the war in Europe as a trans-Atlantic convoy escort. She returned to Canada in May 1945 and on 12 May escorted the surrendered {{GS|U-190}} into Bay Bulls.
Later in May 1945, Victoriaville traveled to Saint John to undergo a tropicalization refit for possible service in the southern Pacific Ocean. This meant adding refrigeration and water-cooling capabilities and changing the camouflage.{{cite news |url=http://www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com/living/gallant-hmcs-prince-rupert-served-on-the-newfie-derry-run-1.159128 |title=Gallant HMCS Prince Rupert served on the 'Newfie-Derry' run |work=Cowichan Valley Citizen |first=T.W. |last=Paterson |date=15 April 2011 |access-date=26 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144253/http://www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com/living/gallant-hmcs-prince-rupert-served-on-the-newfie-derry-run-1.159128 |archive-date=13 April 2014 }} The refit was halted on 20 August 1945 and on 17 November that year, she was paid off at Sydney and laid up at Shelburne.
=Postwar service=
After the war Victoriaville was sold to Marine Industries Ltd. However, with the increasing Soviet submarine threat, the Royal Canadian Navy sought to augment its anti-submarine forces. She was reacquired and converted into a Prestonian-class frigate. This meant a flush-decked appearance aft, with a larger bridge and taller funnel. Her hull forward was strengthened against ice and the quarterdeck was enclosed to contain two Squid anti-submarine mortars.{{cite book|title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1958–59 |editor=Raymond V.B. Blackman |publisher= McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. |place=New York |year=1958 |page=77}} She emerged from the refit and was recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 25 September 1959 with the new pennant number 320. Victoriaville was assigned to the Seventh Canadian Escort Squadron.{{cite magazine|title=Seventh Escort Squadron |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |date=November 1960 |volume=13 |number=1 |pages=25}}
Victoriaville served in an anti-submarine warfare role until 21 December 1966 when she was renamed Granby and was reclassified as a diving tender, taking over the name and role of the retiring {{HMCS|Granby|J264|6}}, but kept her pennant number. She operated in this capacity until 31 December 1973 when she was paid off. She was sold for scrap in 1974.{{Cite Colledge2006}}
=Shag Harbour UFO incident=
On the night of 4 October 1967 there was reported an impact of an unknown large object into waters near Shag Harbour, located in Barrington on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Seven navy divers from HMCS Granby conducted an underwater search until 8 October, when the search was cancelled. The Royal Canadian Navy reported nothing was found. The incident is known as the Shag Harbour UFO incident.{{cite web |url=https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/shag-harbour-ufo-incident-still-a-distinct-memory-for-many-after-51-years-228460/ |title=Shag Harbour UFO incident still a distinct memory for many after 51 years |website=Saltwire |last=Oickle |first=Vernon |date=24 July 2018 |access-date=1 November 2021 }}
References
=Notes=
{{reflist|30em}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last=Arbuckle |first=J. Graeme |date=1987 |title=Badges of the Canadian Navy |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |isbn=0-920852-49-1}}
- Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John. The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Collins: Toronto, 1981. {{ISBN|0-00-216856-1}}
- https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/shag-harbour-ufo-incident-still-a-distinct-memory-for-many-after-51-years-228460/
{{River class frigate}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoriaville, HMCS}}