HMCS Napanee was a of the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

. She was ordered from Kingston Shipbuilding in Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, laid down on 20 March 1940, launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 31 August 1940, and commissioned on 12 May 1941 named after the town of Napanee, Ontario.

Background

Flower-class corvettes like Napanee serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 were different to earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French in the 19th century as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

War duty

Napanee escorted trade convoys between Halifax Harbour

Halifax Harbour

Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...

 and the Western Approaches

Western Approaches

The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...

 through the battle of the Atlantic. Napanee escorted 12 trans-Atlantic convoys without loss before assignment to Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...

 (MOEF) group C1. With group C1, she shared credit for sinking U-356 during the battle for convoy ON 154, and participated in the battle for convoy KMS 10G. Napanee escorted 11 trans-Atlantic convoys without loss in 1944, and spent 1945 escorting North American coastal convoys with the Western Local Escort Force

Western Local Escort Force

Western Local Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys from North American port cities to the Western Ocean Meeting Point near Newfoundland where ships of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force assumed responsibility for safely delivering the convoys...

. She was scrapped at the end of hostilities.

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted

Convoy	Escort Group	Dates	Notes
SC SC convoys The SC convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys that ran during the battle of the Atlantic during World War II.They were east-bound slow convoys originating in Sydney, Cape Breton ; from there they sailed to ports in the UK, mainly Liverpool.For a time after the entry of the...  47		29 September-12 October 1941	63 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland Iceland Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ON ON convoys The ON convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Battle of the Atlantic .-History:...  25		16-24 October 1941	29 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 53		6-20 November 1941	52 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON 38		26-30 November 1941	33 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 59		12-21 December 1941	39 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON 50		28 December 1941-3 January 1942	35 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 65		20-29 January 1942	36 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON 62		6-15 February 1942	34 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 71		27 February-9 March 1942	23 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland
ON 76		16-26 March 1942	27 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland
SC 78		9-21 April 1942	12 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
ON 90		29 April-11 May 1942	47 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 99	MOEF group C1 Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force referred to the organization of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and the British Isles...	9-19 September 1942	59 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 133	MOEF group C1	26 September-5 Oct 1942	35 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX HX convoys The HX convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. They were east-bound convoys and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia from where they sailed to ports in the United Kingdom...  211	MOEF group C1	13-20 October 1942	29 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 143	MOEF group C1	2-11 November 1942	26 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 110	MOEF group C1	24 November-5 December 1942	33 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 154	MOEF group C1	19-30 December 1942	Northern Ireland to Newfoundland; 14 ships torpedoed (13 sank)
HX 223		19-27 January 1943	48 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
KMS 10G	MOEF group C1	28 February-8 March 1943	Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...  to Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant... ; 4 ships torpedoed (1 sank)
MKS 9	MOEF group C1	8-18 March 1943	55 ships escorted without loss from Mediterranean to Liverpool
ONS 2	MOEF group C1	29 March-14 April 1943	31 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 127	MOEF group C1	20 April-1 May 1943	55 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 181	MOEF group C1	2-12 May 1943	44 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
SC 150		3-14 January 1944	19 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ONS 28		29 January-11 February 1944	29 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 279		17-28 February 1944	59 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 227		9-17 March 1944	61 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
ON 232		14-23 April 1944	45 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 290		10-16 May 1944	93 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 237		20-29 May 1944	64 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 294		9-19 June 1944	113 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 242		25 June-5 July 1944	99 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland
HX 299		16-23 July 1944	85 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland
ON 247		2-10 August 1944	89 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to Newfoundland

External links

• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Ship Technical Information
• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Photo Archive