HMCS New Liskeard

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

HMCS New Liskeard (J397 / 168)

The HMCS New Liskeard was an Algerine Class minesweeper. The Algerine Class ships were designed as small vessels that could serve in several roles and not just as minesweepers. Their predecessors, the Bangor Class minesweepers, were bluff-bowed ships, very wet in a head sea, and arguably less comfortable even than corvettes in rough weather. These faults were eliminated in the Algerine Class, all 12 of which were built at Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, Ontario. Intended as convoy escorts, they were not fitted with minesweeping gear. The Algerines found particular favour as Senior Officers’ ships in Western Local groups.

Commissioned at Port Arthur on November 21, 1944, HMCS New Liskeard arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on December 15 and proceeded to Bermuda for work-ups in March 1945. Upon her return in April, she was assigned to Escort Group W-8 of Western Escort Force. When that group was disbanded in June, she was allocated to the training establishment HMCS Cornwallis in Deep Brook, Nova Scotia, as a training ship from July to September. She was then placed in maintenance reserve, first at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and then at Halifax, until the end of the year.

Refitted at Halifax, she was re-commissioned on April 9, 1946, as a training ship for cadets. On April 22, 1958, she was paid off and converted to an oceanographic research vessel, serving as such until May 1, 1969. Later that year, she was taken to Dartmouth Cove, Nova Scotia for breaking up.

• Builder: Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Port Arthur, Ontario
• Date laid down: July 8, 1943
• Date launched: January 14, 1944
• Date commissioned: November 21, 1944
• Date paid off: April 8, 1946
• Displacement: 1006 tonnes
• Dimensions: 68.6 m x 10.8 m x 2.6 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 107
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 double mounts), one Hedgehog mortar, and depth charges.

Battle honours

Atlantic 1945