HMCS Rosthern

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

HMCS Rosthern (K169)

Commissioned on 17 June 1941 in Montréal, Québec, the Flower Class corvette Rosthern arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 26 June. She joined Newfoundland Command and left St. John’s, Newfoundland, for Iceland on 7 October as ocean escort to convoy SC.48. She proceeded on to the Clyde River in Scotland, where mechanical defects kept her for two months, and then arrived in Halifax on 28 December for further repairs, not resuming service until mid-February 1942.

She left Argentia, Newfoundland on 27 February with convoy HX.177 for Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and was thereafter employed almost continuously on North Atlantic convoys until June 1944. In April 1942, she became a member of Escort Group A-3, renumbered C-5 in May. HMCS Rosthern took part in three major convoy battles: SC.100 (September 1942); ON.166 (February 1943); and SC.121 (March 1943).

She left Londonderry for the last time on 27 May 1944 and on her return to Canada became a training ship in Halifax for navigation and shiphandling, attached at first to Western Local Escort Force and then, from December onward, to Halifax Force. HMCS Rosthern had no long refits during the war, and never did have her forecastle lengthened. Paid off on 19 July 1945 at Sorel, Québec, she was broken up at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1946.

• Builder: Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Port Arthur, Ontario
• Date laid down: 18 June 1940
• Date launched: 30 November 1940
• Date commissioned: 17 June 1941
• Date paid off: 19 July 1945
• Displacement: 965.2 tonnes
• 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 x I), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

Atlantic 1941-1945