HMCS Clayoquot

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

HMCS Clayoquot  (J174) / Bangor-class Minesweeper

Named after Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, she was commissioned at Prince Rupert on 22 August 1941. After working up, she left Esquimalt, BC, on 10 October for Halifax, arriving 14 November. Initially assigned to Halifax Local Defence Force, she was transferred in March 1942 to Western Local Escort Force and in May to Gulf Escort Force. While serving with Gulf Escort Force she rescued fifty-five survivors of HMCS Charlottetown, torpedoed and sunk near Cap Chat on 11 September 1942. In October, Clayoquot joined Sydney Force.

She arrived at Halifax on 29 December for a major refit, which was progressively carried out there and at Liverpool and Pictou, NS. Completing her refit in May 1943 she rejoined Sydney Force in July after working up. In January 1944 she was transferred to HMCS Cornwallis for officer’s training in anti-submarine warfare, and in October was reassigned to Halifax Force.

On 24 December, while taking station on convoy XB.139, she was torpedoed and sunk three miles from Sambro Light Vessel by U 806, losing eight of her crew.

• Builder: Prince Rupert Dry Dock and Shipyards Co., Prince Rupert, BC
• Date laid down: 20 June 1940
• Date launched: 3 October 1940
• Date commissioned: 22 August 1941
• Date paid off: 24 December 1944
• Displacement: 682.8 tonnes
• Dimensions: 55 m x 8.7 m x 2.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 83
• Armament: one 4-inch, one 3-inch or one 12 pdr., two 20-mm

Battle honours:

• Atlantic 1942, 1944
• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942