HMCS Capilano

There has been only 1 vessel named Capilano in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Capilano (K409)

Commissioned at Victoria, British Columbia, on August 25, 1944, the River class frigate HMCS Capilano was named in honour of Town of North Vancouver, British Columbia, because there was a ship named HMCS Vancouver in the Royal Canadian Navy. She arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 20. Following workups begun in St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, and completed in Bermuda in November, she joined Escort Group C-2 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and was continuously on North Atlantic convoy duty until Victory in Europe-Day.

She left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for the last time on May 30, 1945, and on June 10, began refit at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. The work was completed on October 13, and on November 24, 1945 the ship was paid off at Halifax and placed in reserve in Bedford Basin.

She was sold for mercantile use in 1947, and in 1948 appeared under Jamaican registry as Irving Francis M. She foundered in 1953 off the Cuban coast while en route from Jamaica to Miami in tow of Bess Barry M., the former HMCS St. Boniface.

• Builder: Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt, British Columbia
• Laid down: November 18, 1943
• Launched: April 8, 1944
• Commissionning date: August 25, 1944
• Paying off date: November 24, 1945
• Displacement: 1,445 tons
• Dimensions: 91.9 m x 11.1 m x 2.7 m
• Speed: 19 knots
• Crew: 141
• Armament: two 4-inch (102-mm) gun (1 x II), one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 x II), Hedgehog and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1944-45