HMCS Prescott

There has been only one vessel named HMCS Prescott in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Prescott (K161)

Commissioned in Montréal, Québec, on 26 June 1941, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Prescott arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 4 July and was attached briefly to Halifax Force before arriving in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on 31 August to join Newfoundland Command. She spent the rest of the year escorting convoys between St. John’s and Iceland, but early in 1942 experienced mechanical difficulties requiring two months’ repairs in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Resuming her mid-ocean duties on 21 April, she made two round trips to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, before being transferred to Western Local Escort Force in July.

In September, she was assigned to duties in connection with Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa. Postwar reassessment of U-boat kills credits HMCS Prescott with the destruction of submarine U-163 in the Bay of Biscay, 13 March 1943.

Returning to Canada on 4 April 1943, she began a six-month refit at Liverpool including extension of her forecastle. After workups in Pictou, Nova Scotia, she sailed from St. John’s on 19 December for the United Kingdom to join Escort Group 6, Londonderry. She served with the group, principally as escort to United Kingdom-Gibraltar/Freetown, Sierra Leone convoys, until April 1944 when its corvettes were replaced with frigates, then joined Western Approaches Command, Greenock, Scotland for invasion duties.

In September, HMCS Prescott returned to Liverpool for another refit and after working up, went back to the United Kingdom to serve with Nore Command until the end of the war. Returning to Halifax late in May 1945, she was paid off in Sorel, Québec, on 20 July and ultimately broken up in Spain.

• Displacement: 965.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 62.5 m x 10.1 m x 3.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, five 20-mm guns (5 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-1945
• North Africa 1942-1943
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944
• Normandy 1944
• English Channel 1944-1945