HMCS Gananoque

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

HMCS Gananoque (J259/184)

The HMCS Gananoque was a Bangor class minesweeper. The Bangor class ships were built in order to replace the old Basset class minesweepers, as they were larger, faster, had much greater endurance, and burned oil as opposed to coal. Most of the Bangors were named after Canadian towns and cities, the rest after bays. As enemy mines were laid only once in 1943 in Canadian waters, the Bangors were used primarily as escorts to coastal shipping or as local escorts to ocean convoys. Sixteen of them, however, assisted in sweeping the approaches to Normandy before D-Day, and stayed to help clear German and Allied minefields in the Channel for some months afterward.

Commissioned at Toronto, Ontario, on November 8, 1941, HMCS Gananoque arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on November 23. She was assigned to Halifax Force, St. John’s Local Defence Force, Gulf Escort Force and Sydney Force. In January 1943, she was assigned to Western Local Escort Force, returning to Halifax Force in July of the same year, and to Sydney Force once again in May 1944. During this period, she had the distinction of twice refitting at non-Atlantic coast ports: in May 1943, she underwent a 6-week refit at Québec City, Quebec, and in July 1944, an 8-week refit at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

In February 1945, she was allocated to Newfoundland Force, based at St. John’s, Newfoundland, until the force was disbanded in June and she was reassigned to Atlantic Coast Command. HMCS Gananoque was paid off at Sydney, Nova Scotia, on October 13, 1945, and laid up at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Placed in strategic reserve at Sorel, Quebec, in 1946, she was reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy in 1952 but not re-commissioned, and in February 1959 was sold for scrap.

• Displacement: 672 tons
• Dimensions: 54.9 m x 8.7 m x 2.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 83
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, two 20-mm guns (2 single mounts), and depth charges.

Battle honours

• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942
• Atlantic 1942-45