HMCS Sackville

HMCS Sackville is a that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the last surviving Flower-class corvette. On 15 May 2026, Sackville was recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on a symbolic and ceremonial basis.

Wartime service

Sackvilles keel was laid down as Patrol Vessel 2 at the Saint John Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Saint John, New Brunswick in early 1940, the second of the s ordered by the Royal Canadian Navy. She was launched on 15 May 1941 by Mrs. J. E. W. Oland, wife of the captain of the port, with the Mayor and entire town council of her namesake town in attendance. Sackville was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 30 December 1941 by Captain J. E. W. Oland, husband of the ship's sponsor. Her first commanding officer, Lieutenant W. R. Kirkland, RCNR was appointed on 30 December but did not join Sackville until 2 January. The first lieutenant then took the step of relieving Kirkland and assuming command. The original crew was reposted to other RCN ships and the already trained crew of under Lieutenant-Commander Alan H. Easton, RCNR was drafted onto the ship on 6 April 1942. Also in April Sackville received Canadian-built SW1C radar and worked up at Halifax and St. Margarets Bay.

The ship was finally assigned to Escort Group C-3 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force along with two others ( and ) on 15 May 1942 to replace corvettes going for refit. In August 1942 Sackville fought a series of fierce actions escorting Convoy ON 115. Deprived of air cover by heavy fog, the convoy was attacked by two successive U-boat "wolfpacks" off the coast of Newfoundland. On 3 August, Sackville caught the German submarine on the surface and, as the submarine dived, made a series of depth charge attacks which badly damaged the submarine. U-43 survived but had to retreat to France for repairs with serious damage to its engines, compressors, a leaking hatch and a crewman with internal injuries. The next day Sackville attacked as it dived, causing the submarine to break off its attack leaving Sackville to rescue two survivors from an abandoned but still floating merchant ship. Only a few hours later, Sackville detected on the surface with radar and landed a four-inch shell on the submarine's conning tower followed by a depth charge. U-552 nearly sank but managed to regain control and creep back to Germany heavily damaged. Sackvilles attacks had played a key role in allowing the 41 ship convoy to escape with the loss of only two ships.

Sackville continued in her escort role until starting an extensive refit at Thompson Bros. Machinery Co. Ltd. in Liverpool, Nova Scotia in January 1943. She returned to service in April and was assigned to Escort Group C-1 where she remained until reassigned to a new group Escort Group 9 in July. The group was disbanded following the loss of three of its ships on 20–22 September and the ship assigned to group C-2, where the ship remained on Atlantic escort work until going for refit in Galveston, Texas in February 1944.

Returning to Halifax in May 1944 the vessel worked up in Bermuda and was then assigned to Escort Group C-2 which left for Derry escorting convoy HX 297 on 29 June 1944.

At Derry the boilers were cleaned, which revealed a serious leak in one of them. Repairs were unsuccessful and the ship was no longer considered suitable for convoy escort work. Since the ship had only recently been modernized she was reassigned for training at on 29 August 1944.

However, almost immediately afterwards the decision was made to convert her to a loop layer, laying anti-submarine indicator loops across harbour entrances, her damaged boiler removed to provide storage for the cable and the 4-inch gun replaced with a pair of cranes. She remained in this role until paid off in April 1946 and laid up in reserve.

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted

{|class="wikitable"

!Convoy

!Escort group

!Dates

!Notes

|HX 175

|13-15 Feb 1942

|27 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland

|SC 72

|28 Feb-5 March 1942

|19 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland

|ON 70

|11–15 March 1942

|30 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland

|HX 191

|MOEF group C3

|28 May-5 June 1942 by Hurricane David in 1979. This left Sackville as the sole remaining Flower-class corvette.

The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust (now the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust) on 28 October 1983 and restored to her 1944 appearance (apart from minor details in her camouflage and the presence of the "barber pole" red and white pattern around her funnel which had been removed before 1944). It had originally been planned to restore the ship to her 1942 appearance but this proved too expensive. but the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in Sackvilles favour on 4 August 2011, concluding that the Trust had taken all necessary and appropriate precautions to secure Sackville.

Sackville makes her first appearance each spring when she is towed by a naval tugboat from HMC Dockyard to a location off Point Pleasant Park on the first Sunday in May to participate in the Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies held at a memorial in the park overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour. Sackville typically hosts several dozen Royal Canadian Navy veterans on this day and has also participated in several burials at sea for dispersing the ashes of Royal Canadian Navy veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic at this location. In 2018, the ship underwent CAN$3.5 million in repairs at CFB Halifax.

Recognition

In 1988, Sackville was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, due to her status as the last Flower-class corvette known to exist.

On 4 November 1998, Canada Post issued a 45¢ stamp featuring HMCS Sackville as part of the Naval Vessels series. The stamps were designed by Dennis George Page, based on an illustration by Todd Hawkins and on photographs by Canadian Naval Memorial Trust.

Greyhound

HMCS Sackville was used as the model for the corvette, HMCS Dodge, call sign Dicky, in the 2020 film, Greyhound. The producers of the movie took numerous 3D scans of the ship's exterior to create the CGI version for the movie.

Gallery

Image:hmcs_sackville.png|Sackville as restored, moored alongside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Canada. The paint scheme on her hull is dazzle camouflage.

Image:HMCSSackville06.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006.

Image:HMCSSackville06b.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006 showing the four-inch deck gun and Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar. The lighthouse-like structure behind the bridge contains the radar.

Image:HMCSSackville06c.jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, October 2006, showing the 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and depth charge releasing device at stern of ship.

Image:Along the Halifax waterfront (July 1 2007) (687039939).jpg|Sackville, Halifax Harbour, 1 July 2007, alongside a 2-masted sailing ship. A green maple leaf badge is visible on the ship's funnel, a common insignia of Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.

Image:HMCS Sackville (K181) proue.JPG|Bow view

Image:HMCS Sackville (K181) poupe.JPG|Stern view

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References

Bibliography

External links

HMCS Sackville official site.
HMCS Sackville (K 181) at uboat.net.
HMCS Sackville photo gallery.
Haze Gray and Underway
ReadyAyeReady.com
The 1993 film "Lifeline to Victory" was filmed aboard HMCS Sackville.
Of the 236 corvettes that were laid down in Canada and Britain, 111 sailed from Canadian slips
HNSA Ship Page: HMCS Sackville
HMCS Sackville on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.