HMS Port Quebec
{{short description|Cargo ship that served as a minelayer and repair ship in WW2}}
{{other ships|HMS Quebec}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2023}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= HMS Port Quebec FL9995.jpg |Ship caption= HMS Port Quebec under way }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United Kingdom |Ship flag= |Ship name= *1939: Port Quebec
|Ship namesake= 1940, 1947: Port of Quebec |Ship owner= *1940: Port Line
|Ship operator= *1940: {{flagicon|UK|naval}} Royal Navy |Ship registry= {{flagicon|UK|civil}} London |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= JL Thompson & Sons, North Sands |Ship original cost= £207,783 |Ship yard number= 593 |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 17 August 1939 |Ship completed= November 1939 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 1940 |Ship decommissioned= 1947 |Ship honours= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= *UK official number 167532
|Ship fate= Scrapped, December 1968 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= *1940: auxiliary minelayer
|Ship tonnage= {{GRT|5936}}, {{NRT|3452}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length= *{{cvt|468.0|ft|abbr=on}} overall
|Ship beam= {{cvt|59.7|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship depth= {{cvt|25.2|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= 2 |Ship power= 1,076 NHP |Ship propulsion= *1 × screw |Ship speed= {{convert|14.5|kn|km/h|0}} |Ship capacity= *1948: {{convert|19084|cuft|0}} refrigerated
|Ship crew= |Ship armament= *2 × 4-inch guns
|Ship sensors= *by 1947: wireless direction finding, echo sounding device, gyrocompass.
|Ship notes= }} |
HMS Port Quebec was a British motor ship that was designed and launched in 1939 to be the refrigerated cargo ship Port Quebec, but completed in 1940 as an auxuiliary minelayer. In 1944 she was converted into an aircraft component repair ship and renamed HMS Deer Sound. In 1947 she was returned to her owner, Port Line, and completed as a cargo ship. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1968.
Building and identification
J.L. Thompson and Sons built the ship as yard number 593 at their North Sands shipyard in Sunderland on the River Wear. She was launched on 17 August 1939 and completed that November{{cite web |url= http://www.sunderlandships.com/view.php?&ref=105197 |title=Port Quebec |work=Wear Built Ships |publisher=Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust |access-date=6 May 2023}} at a cost of £207,783. She was named Port Quebec because Port Line planned to use her on its Montreal, Australia and New Zealand (MANZ) service,{{sfn|Haws|1991|p=68}} which was a joint operation with Ellerman & Bucknall and the New Zealand Shipping Company.{{sfn|Haws|1991|p=56}}
Port Quebec{{'}}s length overall was {{cvt|468.0|ft|abbr=on}}{{sfn|Haws|1991|p=68}} and her registered length was {{cvt|451.0|ft|abbr=on}}. Her beam was {{cvt|59.7|ft|abbr=on}} and her depth was {{cvt|25.2|ft|abbr=on}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|5936}} and {{NRT|3452}}.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1940|loc=POR}}
She had a single screw, driven by a five-cylinder, single-acting two-stroke diesel engine built by William Doxford & Sons of Sunderland. It was rated at 1,076 NHP{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1940|loc=POR}} and gave her a speed of {{convert|14.5|kn|km/h|0}}.{{cite web |url= http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Ops-Minelaying.htm |last=Mason |first=Geoffrey |title=Royal Navy minelaying operations, Part 1 of 2 |work=World War 2 at Sea |publisher=Naval-History.net |date=5 June 2011 |access-date=6 May 2023}}
In 1940 Port Line registered Port Quebec in London. Her UK official number was 167532 and her wireless telegraph call sign was GWGQ.{{sfn|Mercantile Navy List 1947|p=812}}
Naval service
In November 1939 the Admiralty requisitioned Port Quebec and had her completed as an auxiliary minelayer. She was armed with two QF 4-inch naval gun Mk V, two QF 2-pounder naval guns, 13 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, and minelaying equipment.{{sfn|Lenton|Colledge|1968|pp=306, 308, 348}} She had capacity for 550 mines.
In 1940 she was commissioned as HMS Port Quebec, with the pennant number M59. By mid-August she had joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron at Kyle of Lochalsh (port ZA) along with four other auxiliary minesweepers, plus an escort of Royal Navy destroyers.{{cite web |url= https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/13418.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=HMS Port Quebec (M 59) |work=uboat.net |access-date=12 May 2023}} Port Quebec and other members of the 1st Minelaying Squadron laid mines in the Northern Barrage. The barrage was completed in September 1943.{{cite web |url= http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-08ML-Agamemnon.htm |last=Mason |first=Geoffrey |title=HMS Agamemnon – mercantile conversion, Auxiliary Minelayer |work=Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2 |publisher=Naval-History.net |date=5 June 2011 |access-date=6 May 2023}}
In 1944 Port Quebec was converted into an aircraft component repair ship. She was renamed HMS Deer Sound, and her pennant number was changed to F99.{{sfn|Lenton|Colledge|1968|pp=306, 308, 348}} On 1 January 1945 the Admiralty bought the ship from her owners.
Merchant service
File:StateLibQld 1 170823 Port Quebec (ship).jpg service]]
On 24 October 1947 the Admiralty sold the ship back to Port Line, who restored her original name Port Quebec. She was completed as a cargo ship, with only part of her hold space refrigerated. In 1948 her refrigerated capacity was recorded as only {{convert|19084|cuft|0}}.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1948}} By 1950 this had been doubled to {{convert|37102|cuft|0}},{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1949}} but it was still only a small part of her total hold space.
By 1947 Port Quebec{{'}}s navigation equipment included wireless direction finding, an echo sounding device and a gyrocompass.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1947|loc=POR}} radar had been added by 1951,{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1951|loc=POR}} and a position fixing device and radiotelephone by 1959.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1959|loc=Port Launceston}}
In December 1968 Port Quebec arrived in Kaohsiung in Taiwan to be scrapped.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Haws |first=Duncan |year=1991 |title=Port Line with Corry, Royden, Tyser and Milburn |series=Merchant Fleets |volume=21 |place=Hereford |publisher=Travel Creatours Ltd Publications |isbn=0-946378-18-5}}
- {{cite book |last1=Lenton |first1=HT |last2=Colledge |first2=JJ |year=1968 |title=British and Dominion Warships of World War II |place=Garden City, NY |publisher=Doubleday & Co}}
- {{cite book |year=1940 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 Tons, Trawlers, Tugs, Dredgers, Etc. |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/40/40a0750.pdf |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1940}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1947 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=Steamers and Motorships of 300 Tons Gross and Over |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1948ST/page/n865/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1947}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1947 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |via=Crew List Index Project |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=Port%20Quebec&steamsail=Motor&submit=Enter&year=1947 |ref={{harvid|Mercantile Navy List 1947}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1948 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II. M–Z |chapter=List of ships fitted with refrigerating appliances |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1949MZ/page/n1006/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1948}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1949 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II. M–Z |chapter=List of ships fitted with refrigerating appliances |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1950MZ/page/n1130/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1949}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1951 |title=Register Book |volume=II M–Z |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1952MZ/page/n353/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1951}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1959 |title=Register Book |volume=I Register of Ships |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1960/page/n1498/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1959}} }}
- {{cite book |last=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |year=2005 |title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |edition=Third Revised |isbn=1-59114-119-2}}
{{WWII British ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Quebec (M59)}}
Category:Merchant ships of the United Kingdom
Category:Minelayers of the Royal Navy