HMCS MATANE

HMCS MATANE, pennants K-444, was built by Canadian Vickers Ltd. at Montreal in 1943 and was commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy on 22 October of that year.

After a period of training exercises and anti-submarine operations in Canadian waters, the MATANE joined Escort Group 9 (EG-9) on 8 February, 1944.  A mixed group of two frigates and four corvettes, EG-9’s task was to support threatened convoys and, unfettered by close escort duties, to hunt for submarines.

On 1 March, 1944, EG-9 with HMCS MATANE as Senior Officer cleared from Halifax for the Western Approaches of Great Britain where the U-boats were concentrated at this time.  Only nine days out of Halifax two of the group, HMC Ships SWANSEA and OWEN SOUND, participated in the destruction of U-845, a German submarine that had attacked convoy SC-154.  HMCS MATANE as Senior Officer was also present on 14 April when the SWANSEA shared in another success, the sinking of U-448.

On 6 June, 1944, when the coast of Normandy was invaded, HMCS MATANE was on patrol in the Atlantic to the west of the English Channel.  In this area, two Canadian groups were stationed to intercept any German intruders from the Atlantic.

On similar duty on 20 July, the MATANE was engaged by the enemy with the result that the ship was put out of action for many months.  It was in the Bay of Biscay some forty miles south-west of Ushant that HMCS MATANE and other Canadian frigates came under German air attack.  Three German bombers at ten thousand feet kept beyond the range of the ships’ guns and successfully launched a number of glider bombs.  One of these struck the edge of the gun-deck, port side aft, glanced off and exploded in the sea by the ship’s side.  A large hole was blown through to the engine room causing steam to escape and scald engine-room personnel.  Flooding of the compartment followed.  HMCS SWANSEA summoned fighter cover while HMC Ships MEON and STORMONT in turn took the frigate in tow for Plymouth.

Early in August, the MATANE was towed to Dunstaffnage in Scotland for extensive repairs.  Six months later on 2 April, 1945, the frigate entered the River Foyle to complete her refit and harbour training at Londonderry.

Working up exercises were carried out off Tobermory in April and on 7 May, 1945, the day before the German capitulation, HMCS MATANE rejoined EG-9 at Londonderry.  Three days later, on the 10^th, she took the five other frigates of the group to the Clyde for fuel and, on the 12^th, took station on Convoy JW-67 bound for Murmansk.

Two days out, two German submarines wearing the flag of surrender were intercepted and ordered to Loch Eriboll.

Off the Norwegian coast EG-9 was ordered to leave the convoy and early in the morning, 17 May, an impressive formation of German ships was sighted and stopped.  There were fifteen U-boats, four surface ships and the armed yacht Grille, the last carrying the Senior German Naval Officer, Arctic and Barents Sea.  After boarding and receiving formal surrender, the surface ships were ordered to Trondheim while HMCS MATANE and her consorts escorted the U-boats to Lerwick and Loch Eriboll.  The mission completed, EG-9 returned to its old base Londonderry, 22 May, 1945.

After one round trip with convoys to and from Gibraltar, the MATANE embarked Canadian Service personnel and sailed alone from Greenock on 17 June.  Proceeding by way of the Panama Canal, the ship after an uneventful passage reached Esquimalt 14 July, 1945.

HMCS MATANE continued to serve on various duties out of Esquimalt and Vancouver until 11 February, 1946, when she was paid off and secured to trots in Bedwell Bay being handed over to War Assets Corporation.  The MATANE ultimately became a part of the breakwater at Oyster Bay south of Campbell River as a protection for log booming operations there.