HMCS Arrowhead

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

HMCS Arrowhead (K145)

Commissioned at Sorel, Quebec, on November 22, 1940, the Flower Class corvette HMCS Arrowhead arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on December 3, carried out workups and sailed on January 21, 1941 with convoy HX.104 for Sunderland, England. There, she was in dockyard hands for the 2 months’ work required to complete her fully. After working up at Tobermory, Scotland, she joined Escort Group 4, Iceland Command (Royal Navy), and in June transferred to the newly formed Newfoundland Escort Force where she escorted convoys between St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Iceland, proceeding early in December to Charleston, South Carolina for refit. Back in Halifax in February 1942, she made one round trip to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, before joining Western Local Escort Force. In July she transferred to Gulf Escort Force, escorting Quebec/Gaspé-Sydney convoys, and in October joined Halifax Force and for 2 months escorted Quebec-Labrador convoys. On 30 November, she joined Western Local Escort Force at Halifax, to remain with it until August 1944. When this escort force was divided into escort groups in June 1943, she became a member of Escort Group W-7, transferring to W-1 that December. During this period she underwent 2 refits: at Charleston, South Carolina, in the spring of 1943 and at Baltimore, Maryland, a year later. In September 1944, she joined Quebec Force and was again employed escorting Quebec-Labrador convoys. In December, she transferred to Escort Group W-8, Western Local Escort Force, and served on the “triangle run” (Halifax, St. John’s, New York/Boston) for the balance of the war. On May 27, 1945, HMCS Arrowhead left St. John’s to join convoy HX.358 for passage to Britain, where she was paid off on June 27 at Milford Haven, Wales. Sold in 1947 for conversion to a whale-catcher and renamed Southern Larkspur, she was finally broken up at Odense, Denmark, in 1959.

• Builder: Marine Industries Ltd., Sorel, Quebec
• Laid down: April 11, 1940
• Launched: August 8, 1940
• Date commissioned: May 15, 1941
• Date paid off: June 27, 1945
• 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 single mounts), one Hedgehog mortar, and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1941-45
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942, 1944