ESCORT Issue 88 June 2010
THE CAREERS OF R.N. DESTROYERS DESIGNED AND BUILT BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
(Part Six - Continued)
Haida commissioned a short while after Huron and also joined the Home Fleet, escorting various Russian Convoys, before, with Iroquois, transferring to Plymouth in early 1944. Temporarily recalled to Scapa Flow in February, she was involved in preparations for ‘Operation Neptune’ and, with her sisters, in the actions against German destroyers on the 26th and 29th April. Haida was also present for the action, again against German destroyers, on the 9th June before participating in the sinking of U971 on the 24th. After escorting the French cruiser, Jeanne D’Arc, from Algiers to Cherbourg in August 1944, Haida departed for Canada and a refit in September, returning to Plymouth in January 1945, when she had new radar equipment fitted. A return to Scapa Flow and the Home Fleet resulted in operations off Norway and the escort of Russian Convoys, before returning to Canada in June. Her refit was suspended after VJ Day and she entered Reserve but Haida was recommissioned in 1947 for operations off Korea and she stayed in the Far East for more than 18 months. She was paid off in October 1963 and was purchased in 1964 for use as a museum ship in Toronto, where Haida still survives and is open to the public.
H.M.C.S. Haida as a museum ship in Toronto – a selection of onboard photographs (Photographs courtesy of Mike Davey)
Micmac was the first ‘Tribal’ to be completed by a Canadian shipyard, being commissioned in September 1945. Her early career was spent on the east coast of Canada, mainly as a training ship and during March 1947, Micmac began a refit. Shortly after completing her refit, Micmac was involved in a collision in thick fog with the freighter, Yarmouth County, during which ten men were killed and fifteen injured. Whilst under repair, she was partially converted to a destroyer escort but damage to her keel, which was only corrected when she received the full conversion between 1949 and 1951, meant that Micmac did not participate in the Korean conflict. She suffered from machinery problems during 1957 and she collided with a pinnacle of coral requiring repairs at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Micmac made her last cruise during the autumn of 1963, visiting European waters, and in 1964, she was paid off having never fired her armament in anger.
In 1946, Nootka joined the R.C.N. and, like Micmac, spent the early part of her career as a training ship on the east coast until her conversion to a destroyer escort, which began in 1949. Nootka had two tours of duty in Korean waters before being modernised during 1953/54. Her first tour began in November 1950 but severe weather and resulting damage, which needed repair upon arrival, resulted in her not reaching Sasebo until January 1951. A number of shore bombardments and various other duties occupied Nootka’s time until she returned to Canada in July 1951. She returned to Sasebo in February 1952 when her duties involved screening aircraft carriers, as well as bombardments, finally returning to Canada after circumnavigating the globe, and entering refit which lasted until December 1954. Various exercises and cruises completed her career, including a tour of the Great Lakes in 1963, with Haida, and exercises off Bermuda, where she was damaged while berthing, due to high winds. A temporary patch allowed her to return home but Nootka was decommissioned on the 6th February 1964 and broken up the next year.
Cayuga was constructed on the Canadian east coast but, upon commissioning, transferred to Esquimalt on the west coast in early 1948, suffering serious engine problems on the way. She had three tours of duty in Korean waters and, during her return to Canada between the second and third tour, was converted to a destroyer escort. She began operations on her first tour in August 1950 and was initially involved with the escort of a number of convoys. She suffered an embarrassing event when the impersonator, F W Demara Jnr. joined the ship as the medical officer, impersonating Dr. Cyr. Publicity following his successful treatment of three R.O.K. guerrillas in 1951 brought the true facts to light and Demara was immediately relieved of his duties. A film was later produced of these events during which, Cayuga was played by Athabaskan and Micmac, Cayuga being in refit at the time. During March 1953, Cayuga was involved in two berthing incidents due to engine problems and so she entered drydock for repairs to her turbines. Following her return from Korea, Cayuga spent four years, mainly as a training ship, on the east coast before moving to the west coast in January 1959 for a further five years of similar duties, finally being paid off in February 1964.
The second Athabaskan was the last ‘Tribal’ to be built, not commissioning until 1948, and she spent her early career on the west coast until comprehensively modified in 1949/50. She had three tours of duty off Korea, the first lasting from July 1950 to May 1951, the second from September 1951 to July 1952 and the third from October 1952 to the ceasefire in June 1953. She finally returned home in December 1953 and entered refit and then, between 1955 and 1959, Athabaskan(ii) was involved in exercises on the west coast before transferring to the east coast. During October 1963 she held a memorial service in European waters, at the position where Athabaskan(i) had been sunk, and then, following a period in Reserve, was paid off in April 1966.