HMCS Wetaskiwin

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

HMCS Wetaskiwin (K175) / Flower-class corvette

Commissioned at Esquimalt, British Columbia, on 17 December 1940, HMCS Wetaskiwin was the first west coast-built corvette to enter service. She left Esquimalt on 17 March 1941 for the Atlantic, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 13 April. On 23 May, she left for St. John’s, Newfoundland, to become one of the founding members of Newfoundland Escort Force. In June, she escorted her first convoy, HX.130, to Iceland and, over the next eight months, made six round trips there with eastbound convoys.

HMCS Wetaskiwin returned to Halifax on 24 January 1942, and in February commenced a major refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia. After work-ups in May, she joined Escort Group C-3, arriving in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 5 June for the first time with convoy HX.191. During this period, HMCS Wetaskiwin participated in two major convoy actions: SC.42 in September 1941 and SC.48 in October 1941. On 31 July 1942, while escorting convoy ON.115, she shared with HMCS Skeena the sinking of German submarine U-588.

In mid-January 1943, she returned at Liverpool for refit, which was completed on 9 March and followed by further repairs at Halifax. She joined Escort Group C-5 in May 1943, and that December went to Galveston, Texas for a long refit, including extension of her forecastle. Following its completion on 6 March 1944, she returned briefly to Halifax before proceeding to Bermuda for work-ups in April. Returning northward, she joined C-5, leaving Londonderry on 23 September and then she joined Escort Group W-7, Western Local Escort Force, for the remainder of the war. She was paid off at Sorel, Quebec, on 19 June 1945 and sold to the Venezuelan Navy, which renamed her Victoria. She was discarded in 1962.

• Builder: Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
• Date laid down: 11 April 1940
• Date launched: 18 July 1940
• Date commissioned: 17 December 1940
• Date paid off: 19 June 1945
• 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, one 2-pound (0.9 kg) gun, two 20-mm guns (2 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-1945
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944