HMCS Tillsonburg

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

HMCS Tillsonburg (K496) / Castle-class corvette

Laid down as HMS Pembroke Castle, HMCS Tillsonburg was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned on the Clyde, Scotland on 29 June 1944.

Following work-ups at Stornoway, Scotland HMCS Tillsonburg arrived at Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 19 August and sailed the next week for St. John’s, Newfoundland, to join Escort Group C-6. She left St. John’s on 18 September to join her first eastbound convoy, HXF.308.

An ocean escort for the balance of the war, she left Londonderry for her last crossing in mid-June 1945. Briefly based at St. John’s, Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, she was paid off at Halifax on 15 February 1946, and was sold later that year to Chinese owners for mercantile service. Initially named Ta Ching, she was renamed Chiu Chin in 1947. In 1951, she was taken over by the Nationalist Chinese government, rearmed and renamed Kao-An.

Battle honours

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