HMCS GASPÉ

HMCS GASPÉ, the first of the Bay Class minesweepers, was built by the Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd., of Lauzon, P.Q.  Laid down on 21 March, 1951, she was launched on 12 November, of the same year, and commissioned on 26 November, 1953. Her specifications are as follows:

• Length overall – 152’
• Breadth extreme  – 28’
• Draught, aft –   7’ 10”
• Displacement, full load – 412 ton
• Free speed, deep draught  –  16½ knots
• Sweeping speed   – 12 knot
• Endurance @ 12 knots  – 3,000 miles.

Her two engines are Cleveland diesels developing 2,400 shaft horse-power.  She carries only one gun, a 40-mm. Bofors mounted amidships.  Her normal complement is five officers and thirty-nine men.

Following various harbour and sea trials at Lauzon, GASPÉ sailed to Halifax, where she became senior ship of the First Canadian Minesweeping Squadron on 10 December, 1953.  As she was the first ship of her class, GASPÉ spent most of her first year in service performing various trials and experiments and in undergoing various modifications intended to improve her design.  A certain amount of training was also carried out, and cruises made to ports in Newfoundland, the Maritimes, and the United States.

The year 1955 began with a refit which was cut short in March to enable GASPÉ to lead the Squadron on a southern cruise to the West Indies and the United States.  During this cruise the Squadron engaged in exercises with USN minesweepers from the base at Charleston, South Carolina, and paid a visit to the US Naval School of Mine Warfare at Yorktown, Virginia. Most of May was spent in completing items that had been left over from the previous refit, and June in post-refit trials and shipboard training.

On 3 July GASPÉ led UNGAVA, TRINITY and RESOLUTE on a two-month training cruise for reserve personnel on the Great Lakes.  It was a long and very interesting cruise which took the Squadron to ports very rarely visited by ships of the Atlantic Command, such as Cleveland and Chicago.

The remainder of the year was spent mainly in training and in exercising the Squadron in minesweeping.  With UNGAVA and QUINTE, GASPÉ took part in the Nova Scotia Fisheries Exhibition at Lunenburg in September, and in November the Squadron paid an operational visit to Providence, Rhode Island.  GASPÉ went in for refit at Lunenburg on 21 November, remaining there until March, 1956.

The summer of 1956 was spent in exercises, such as the NATO exercise “Sweep Clear I” in April, “Cordex V” in July, and “New Broom VI” in September.  Visits were also paid too many East Coast ports during the summer.

The annual southern cruise began in November and followed the usual routine, including a visit to Charleston for USN-RCN exercises.  The Squadron returned to Halifax on 10 December.

The new year opened with another southern cruise when, on 24 January, 1957, GASPÉ led the Squadron back to Charleston to join the USN in an exercise off the Virgin Islands.  The exercise was most successful and the Canadian Squadron acquitted itself very well in competition with its southern neighbours.

Shortly after returning to Halifax, GASPÉ went in for refit on 7 March.  While the refit was in progress orders were received that, though GASPÉ was to be kept in commission, the ship’s company should be used to commission the new construction Bay Class minesweeper CHALEUR.  The ship was gradually immobilized, and following the completion of post-refit trials was paid off into the custody of the Commodore Superintendent, HMC Dockyard, Halifax on 22 August, 1957.  The following day she was towed to the Naval Armament Depot Jetty at Dartmouth, and there she remains awaiting transfer to the Turkish Navy.