HMCS KAMSACK

Of all the ships that sailed the North Atlantic during World War II probably none contributed more to final victory in Europe than the gallant little corvette.  Easily and quickly built in Canadian shipyards, these far-ranging escort vessels have become the symbol of the R.C.N.’s wartime fleet whose alert shepherding of Atlantic convoys wrote a colourful new chapter in the nation’s naval history.

One of the charter members of the “workhorse navy” was the Flower class corvette, HMCS KAMSACK.  Launched on May 5, 1941 and commissioned in Montreal on October 4, 1941, KAMSACK was built by the Port Arthur Ship Building Company, in the Great Lakes.  Following her commissioning she sailed to Halifax for fitting out and calibrations before proceeding to Pictou, N.S. for working up exercises.

Late in November 1941 KAMSACK was ready for battle-line duty.  She was allocated to the Sydney Escort Force and engaged on escort and patrol duties in the Sydney-Port aux Basque areas, until May 1942 when she was transferred to the Western Local Escort Force operating out of Halifax.  This was the famous “Triangle Run” on which she was to spend most of her wartime career.

Excitement came her way in August when she went to the aid of a merchant ship badly crippled by a collision in a heavy sea.  KAMSACK took the large vessel in tow and brought her safely into port.  She was called upon again in October to assist HMCS SUDEROY VI, a wooden minesweeper, which was in difficulty off the south shore of Nova Scotia.

The autumn and early winter of 1941 passed without further incident.  The 925-ton vessel plied the waters of the chilly Atlantic with convoys from Boston, New York and Halifax, and local signals in the files at Naval Service Headquarters tell of departure and safe arrivals from the many escort tasks to which she was assigned.  But action came just as winter was waning in 1942.  With a sister corvette HMCS BARRIE, she was escorting a convoy on her regular “run” when the anti-submarine instruments picked up a contact.  It was identified as a submarine contact and the ship moved to the attack.  Several depth charge pattern were dropped on solid “pings” and looked like the real thing.  But contact was lost as the elusive U-boat used every trick in his possession to escape detection.  After carrying out a further search, the two corvettes rejoined the convoy and escorted it to port with no further intervention.

The unending vigilance and careful guidance of the Western Local convoys continued to be the lot of KAMSACK during the remaining months of 1942 and the early months of 1943.  In March 1943 she carried out another U-boat attack but again it was the same story:  “Nothing of interest sighted”.  It was the story of many of the attacks by ships of the escort fleet.  In May and June of 1943, KAMSACK was pressed into service as a patrol ship in the approaches to Halifax harbour.  The German submarines were suspected of laying of ring of mines in the entrance to the harbour and she joined other members of the Halifax Force in combating the menace.

She was soon back on the “Triangle Run” and her signals show several more encounters with probably U-boats during the fall months of 1943.  In December, the doughty little corvette sailed to Baltimore to undergo a complete refit and to be completely modernized.  KAMSACK had been constructed as a short forecastled corvette of the Flower class and she was now to have her forecastle extended – added protection against the heavy seas washing over the side of the ship.

Final touches were put to the corvette in March 1944.  KAMSACK returned to the Western Local Force to do duty with convoys during the summer and fall of that year.  She spent her fourth consecutive winter in the Atlantic and experienced once again the bitter cold and the heavy icing conditions that every corvette sailor knows.  She was subjected to heavy seas and more trying conditions during this winter and was forced into refit in Liverpool early in 1945.  KAMSACK was still undergoing fitting out when victory in Europe was declared on May 8^th.  The gallant little vessel had seen continuous service since November 1941 but was on active duty on the day of final surrender.

On completion of refit in May, KAMSACK sailed for Bermuda for working up operations.  Enroute to Bermuda, she learned that the war was not over yet.  A torpedo was fired at the ship, but fortunately was wide of the target.  KAMSACK replied with several attacks that must have damaged the underwater raider for an underwater explosion was heard about 9 minutes after the first depth charge was dropped.  Several oil slicks appeared on the surface but contact was lost and the hunt was abandoned.  It is thought that this was one of the U-boats that had been at sea for a long period and did not receive the German high command’s surrender.

KAMSACK returned to Halifax to be de-ammunitioned and begin the last long trail of her naval career.  She de-stored at Sydney in July and then sailed up-river to Sorel where she was decommissioned on July 22, 1945 and turned over to War Assets Corporation for disposal.  KAMSACK was sold to the Venezuela government on December 8, 1945.