HMCS Nipigon (DDH 266)
Encyclopedia
HMCS Nipigon (DDH 266) was an that served in 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...
and later the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
. She was the second Canadian naval unit to carry this name. She is named for the Nipigon River, Ontario.
Nipigon was laid down on 5 August 1960 at Marine Industries Ltd.
Marine Industries Limited
Marine Industries Limited was a Canadian ship building company, in Sorel, Quebec, with a shipyard located on the Richelieu river about 1 km from the St. Lawrence River. It employed up to 10,000 people during the post WWII boom....
, Sorel and launched on 10 December 1961. Her construction was overseen by Cdr Donald Clark CD, who also oversaw the laying-down and commencement of HMCS Bras d Or. She was commissioned into the RCN on 30 May 1964 with pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
266 and with the wife of the then Governor-General Georges P Vanier DSO MC & Bar CD, Madame Pauline Vanier, as her sponsor.
A fire broke out aboard the ship at 8:25 p.m. on 18 October 18 1965, causing the death of three crew; no official cause for the explosion and subsequent fire has ever been given, although a leak in one of the fuel tanks of the on-board helicopter is the most likely cause.
Nipigon served most of her career with the RCN and later Canadian Forces' Atlantic Fleet. During her service with Maritime Forces Atlantic
Maritime Forces Atlantic
In the Canadian Forces, Maritime Forces Atlantic is responsible for the fleet and operations of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. The Commander of MARLANT is a two-star Rear Admiral....
(MARLANT), she was primarily used as a training ship.
She was decommissioned from the Canadian Forces on 2 July 1998 and sold for use as an artificial reef. She was sunk in the St. Lawrence River north-east of Rimouski, Quebec
Rimouski, Quebec
Rimouski is a Canadian city in the central part of Bas-Saint-Laurent region in eastern Quebec. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Rimouski River, north-east of Quebec City....
on 22 July 2003.