HMCS Swansea

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

HMCS Swansea (K328 / 306) / River-class frigate / Prestonian-class ocean escort

Commissioned at Victoria, British Columbia, on 4 October 1943, HMCS Swansea arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 16 November and worked up off Pictou, Nova Scotia, and in St. Margaret’s Bay. Assigned to Escort Group 9, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, she made her passage there with convoy SC.154, taking part in the sinking of the German submarine U-845 on 10 March 1944. On 14 April, HMCS Swansea and HMS Pelican, a British Egret Class sloop, sank U-448. Postwar re-assessment of U-boat kills also credits HMCS Swansea with a share in the destruction of U-311 in the North Atlantic, 22 April 1944.

HMCS Swansea was present on D-Day, and for the next four months patrolled the English Channel in support of the ships supplying the invasion forces. During this time, she and HMCS Saint John sank U-247 off Land’s End, England on 1 September 1944.

She left Londonderry on 5 November for a major refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia from December 1944 to July 1945. It was the first refit of a frigate for Pacific service and, on Victory Japan-Day, HMCS Swansea was assessing the results in the Caribbean. She was paid off 2 November 1945 to reserve in Bedford Basin, but was twice re-commissioned for training cadets and new entries between April 1948 and November 1953. She was rebuilt from 1956 to 1957 as a Prestonian-class ocean escort. She was last commissioned on 14 November 1957 and served on the east coast, conducting training and operations until finally paid off 14 October 1966. She was broken up in 1967 at Savona, Italy.

• Displacement: 1468.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 91.9 m x 11.1 m x 2.7 m
• Speed: 19 knots
• Crew: 141
• Armament: (River) one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 x II), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges; (Prestonian) two 4-inch (102-mm) (1 x II) gun, six 40-mm guns (1 x II, 4 x I), two Squid Mortars
• Motto: “Floreat Swansea” (Let Swansea flourish)