HMCS Milltown

There has been only one vessel named HMC Milltown in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Milltown (J317 / 194)

The HMC Milltown was a Bangor Class minesweeper. The Bangor class ships were built in order to replace the old Basset Class minesweepers, as they were larger, faster, had much greater endurance, and burned oil as opposed to coal. As enemy mines were laid only once in 1943 in Canadian waters, the Bangors were used primarily as escorts to coastal shipping or as local escorts to ocean convoys. Sixteen of them, however, assisted in sweeping the approaches to Normandy before D-Day, and stayed to help clear German and Allied minefields in the Channel for some months afterward.

Commissioned on September 18, 1942, at Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, Ontario, HMC Milltown arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 27 and, after work-ups, joined Halifax Force in December.

In March 1943, she transferred to Western Local Escort Force and, in June, to Gaspé Force. In November 1943, she returned to Halifax Force until February 20, 1944, when with HMCS Blairmore, HMCS Fort William and HMCS Minas she sailed via the Azores for Plymouth, Great Britain, arriving on March 8. She was present on D-Day with the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla. She returned to Canada to refit at Saint John, New Brunswick, from March to June 1945, leaving Halifax June 23 once again for Plymouth.

She left Plymouth for Canada on September 21, and was paid off October 16 at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and laid up at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. HMC Milltown was placed in strategic reserve at Sorel, Quebec, in 1946, but reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy in 1952. She was kept in reserve at Sydney until February 1959, before being sold for scrap.

• Builder: Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Port Arthur, Ontario
• Displacement: 682.8 tonnes
• Dimensions: 54.9 m x 8.7 m x 2.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 83
• Armament: one 3-inch (76-mm) gun, four 20-mm (2 single mounts, 1 double mount) guns, and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1942-1944
• Normandy 1944