HMCS KOKANEE

The “River” Class frigate, HMCS KOKANEE, was laid down on 25 August 1943 in the yards of Messrs. Yarrows Limited of Victoria, B.C., launched on 27 November of the same year and commissioned on 6 June 1944.

The ship was named in honour of Nelson, B.C. Kokanee Park and Kokanee Lake are near this town.  They are named after a dwarf race of landlocked sockeye salmon.

A late-comer, KOKANEE’s career was necessarily short.  Nor, as an operating Naval ship, did she outlive the war by more than a few months.  However, no time was lost getting her into action.  She left Esquimalt, B.C., on 1 July 1944 and reached Halifax via the Panama Canal on the 25^th.  After “working-up” exercises in the waters off Bermuda, she joined C-3 group of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force at St. John’s, Newfoundland.  She succeeded HMCS PRINCE RUPERT as Senior Officer’s ship in the group.

She remained with C-3 until the end of the war, accompanying convoys sailing between St. John’s and Londonderry, Northern Ireland.  Most memorable of her crossings was that with the east-bound convoy, HX-327, when HMCS ST. THOMAS destroyed the submarine, U-877.

It started with HMCS EDMUNDSTON.  At 0603, 27 December 1944, she obtained an asdic contact 500 miles northwest of the Azores.  However, she reported her contact later to be “doubtful” and rejoined the convoy.  Then at 0615, ST. THOMAS picked up an echo at 200 yards range.  She attacked it twice and then reported to the Senior Officer that the contact was looking more promising than it had at first and suggested that she be sent assistance.  KOKANEE detached HMCS SEACLIFFE to her aid, but at 0819 EDMUNDSTON signalled that she had been unable to regain contact and was returning to the convoy.  Five minutes later, she sighted a submarine surfacing on an even keel about two and a half miles away.  She and SEACLIFFE closed and opened fire, but both desisted when they saw that the U-boat crew had abandoned ship.  SEACLIFFE picked up an officer and twenty ratings, while ST. THOMAS recovered the German Commanding Officer, three other officers and thirty ratings.  There were no casualties, the total of fifty-four persons comprising the complement of U-877.

In June 1945 C-3 group was disbanded and KOKANEE was based in Halifax for a while, but on the 13^th of that month, she left Halifax in company with the frigates, HMC Ships LONGUEUIL and COATICOOK, for Esquimalt, B.C.  It was less than a year since she had left that port for the Atlantic.  This time, she sailed with a reduced complement to allow those men who had volunteered for the war in the Pacific to proceed on leave.

She arrived in Esquimalt on 6 July and underwent a refit at Yarrows Limited from the 21^st of the month until 4 October.  In the meantime, the war in the Pacific had ended