HMCS DAWSON

HMCS DAWSON was a “Flower” Class Corvette built in the yards of Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd. at Victoria B.C. Her keel was laid on 30 August, 1940, and the hull was launched on 8 February, 1941, the sponsor being Mrs. R.O. Alexander, wife of the General Officer Commanding Pacific Command of the Canadian Army. All fitted out and trials completed, the DAWSON, named for Dawson City, Yukon Territory, was commissioned under the White Ensign of the Royal Canadian Navy on 6 October, 1941.

Until early in 1944, HMCS DAWSON served in the north-eastern Pacific. Most of her duty was anti-submarine patrols off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and in the Queen Charlotte Islands area, being based on Esquimalt and Prince Rupert. One of her first operational assignments was as tender and anti-submarine screen for HMS Warspite when that battleship was refitted and put through her trials at Nanoose Bay in January, 1942.

From 17 August until 4 November, 1942, the DAWSON was on her first tour of operations with United States forces in the Aleutian campaign. A convoy was taken up to the Alaskan ports of Dutch Harbor and Adak, and she with her sister-ship, HMCS VANCOUVER, made several anti-submarine patrols. A second, similar expedition occurred for these two ships in the same waters. This was from 16 February to 6 June, 1943. HMCS DAWSON took another convoy, No. 3064, from Discovery Island, B.C., to Adak in July, 1943, in preparation for the U.S.-Canadian landings in Kiska the following month.

On 2 October, 1943, the DAWSON arrived at North Vancouver for long refit and to have her forecastle extended in the yards of Burrard Drydock Company. She was back at the Dockyard in Esquimalt on 27 January, 1944, and early in February she had a shake-down patrol of two days in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

After the forecastle conversion, it was considered the DAWSON could be better employed in the rougher waters of the North Atlantic. On 14 February, 1944, with HMCS VANCOUVER, corvette, in company, she cleared Esquimalt for the long passage to Halifax. Calls were made for fuel and provisions at San Pedro, Panama, Balboa and Norfolk, Va. At this last port, a large U.S. naval base, some urgent repairs were made to both ships, Halifax not being reached until 25 March, 1944.

Now under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief Northwest Atlantic, HMCS DAWSON was allocated to the Western Local Escort Force and on 13 April joined W.7 Group of that Force, consisting of HMC Ships SAULT STE MARIE (Senior Officer), NANAIMO, DAWSON, ARVIDA, SHERBROOKE and NORSYD. On 19 April, the group sailed from Halifax to join DAWSON’s first Atlantic convoy, ONM-231, at Halifax Ocean Meeting Point (HOMP) for the passage to New York. There were similar convoys in the same waters for the balance of 1944 but this service was sometimes interrupted to screen a cable ship making cable repairs out of St. John’s or making the odd convoy trip up the St. Lawrence or to the Bay of Fundy, and also in protecting the SPAB convoy (ferry) between Sydney, N.S., and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.

From 11 January, 1945, to 24 March was spent in long refit at Dartmouth across the harbour from Halifax Dockyard, and on completion she proceeded with the corvette, NEW WESTMINSTER, to Bermuda for post-refit “work-ups” or “WUPS” as the programme at HMCS SOMERS ISLE was called. On 20 April, just a few weeks before the war in the Atlantic ended, the DAWSON returned to Halifax ready for further service. On 29 April, she and the corvette WETASKIWIN were off New York when they engaged in several attacks on a submarine contact. Much oil came to the surface but no further evidence of a U-boat was seen.

Flying her pennants K-104 at the signal halyard, HMCS DAWSON cleared the port of Halifax for the last time on 16 May, 1945, to escort convoy SC-176. On completion of this service at St. John’s, she was ordered to Sydney for destoring and she arrived there on 3 June. Clearing that base on 15 June, she sailed up the St. Lawrence to Sorel, Quebec, where at trots laid out amongst the islands, she was paid off and handed over to the War Assets Corporation for disposal on 19 June, 1945. On 5 October that autumn, the ship was sold for scrapping purposes to Dominion Foundries Ltd. of Hamilton, Ontario, and subsequently was towed to the Great Lakes port.