HMCS Thetford Mines

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

HMCS Thetford Mines (K459) / River-class frigate

Far more habitable ships than the smaller corvettes, the frigates of the River Class were also faster and had twice the endurance of the corvette. The Royal Navy frigates were named for rivers and hence known as the River Class; the Royal Canadian Navy ships were named for towns and cities.

Commissioned on 24 May 1944 at Québec City, HMCS Thetford Mines arrived in Bermuda on 12 July for work-ups, and returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 16 August.

After being assigned to Escort Group 25, she was transferred with the group to Londonderry, Northern Ireland in November. She served in British waters from then until Victory-in-Europe Day, working out of Londonderry and for a time out of Rosyth, Scotland. On 7 March 1945, she helped sink U-1302 in St. George’s Channel, and on 11 May arrived in Lough Foyle, Northern Ireland, as escort to eight surrendered U-boats.

She returned home in May 1945 and was paid off on 18 November at Sydney, Nova Scotia, before being laid up at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. In 1947, she was sold to a Honduran buyer who proposed converting her into a refrigerated fruit carrier.

• Builder: Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Québec City, Québec
• Date laid down: 7 July 1943
• Date launched: 30 October 1943
• Date commissioned: 24 May 1944
• Date paid off: 18 November 1945
• Displacement: 1468.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 91.9 m x 11.1 m x 2.7 m
• Speed: 19 knots
• Crew: 141
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm), one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 x II), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944
• North Sea 1945
• Atlantic 1945