HMCS GATINEAU (1st) (H61)

HMCS GATINEAU (1st)

The History of HMCS GATINEAU (1st)

The first HMCS Gatineau was a destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Originally built as the Royal Navy E-class destroyer HMS Express, she was transferred to Canada in 1943 and named for the Gatineau River in Quebec.

Laid down on 24 March 1933 by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson at Wallsend-on-Tyne, she was launched on 29 May 1934 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 2 November 1934. She served with the Home Fleet's Fifth Destroyer Flotilla. Fitted for minelaying, she and HMS Esk laid the first British offensive minefield of the war in the Heligoland Bight on 9 September 1939. On 31 August 1940, while laying mines off the Dutch coast with HMS Esk and HMS Ivanhoe, Express struck a German mine, suffered severe damage (including the loss of her bow), and was towed to Hull for extensive repairs that included a new fore end.

After recommissioning, she joined the Eastern Fleet. On 10 December 1941 she helped rescue nearly 1,000 survivors from the battleship HMS Prince of Wales (and others from HMS Repulse) after both capital ships were sunk by Japanese aircraft off Malaya. She continued service with the Eastern Fleet before returning to the United Kingdom in early 1943 for refit.

In response to a Canadian request for additional destroyers for North Atlantic convoy escort, Express was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. She was commissioned as HMCS Gatineau (pennant H61) on 3 June 1943 and formally presented to Canada on 15 June.

Gatineau joined the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and performed the "Newfie-Derry run" between St. John's, Newfoundland, and Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On 6 March 1944, while supporting convoy HX-280, she made the initial contact that led to a prolonged hunt ending in the sinking of the German submarine U-744 by a group of Canadian and British escorts, including HMCS Gatineau, HMCS Chaudiere, and HMCS St. Catharines.

In May 1944 Gatineau transferred to Escort Group 11 for duties supporting the Normandy invasion and was present on D-Day. She later returned to Canada for a major refit at Halifax, completed workups, and returned briefly to European waters before VE-Day.

After the war she sailed for the west coast, arriving at Esquimalt in September 1945. Intended for training duties with the Royal Canadian Naval College at Royal Roads, she was paid off into reserve on 10 January 1946 when a more modern ship became available.

She was struck from the Navy List in 1947, sold, and her hulk was scuttled at Royston, British Columbia, in 1948 to form part of a breakwater.

HMCS GATINEAU (1st) Statistical Data

Pendant: H61
Type: Destroyer
Class: RIVER Class British
Displacement: 1370 tonnes
Length: 329 ft
Width: 33.3 ft
Draught: 10.8 ft
Speed: 31 kts
Compliment: 10 Officers and 171 Crew
Arms: 3-4.7", 4-21" Torpedo Tubes (1 xIV), 6-20mm, Hedgehog
Builder: Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend-on-Tyne, UK
Keel Laid: 23-Mar-33
Date Launched: 29-May-34
Date Commissioned: 03-Jun-43
Paid off: 10-Jan-46

Remarks

Ex HMS EXPRESS

Photos

HMCS Gatineau

Keywords: HMCS GATINEAU (1st), Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer, RIVER Class British Class