HMCS Truro

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

HMCS Truro (J268) / 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 Quebec City, Quebec on 27 August 1942, HMCS Truro arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 15 September and was allocated to Western Local Escort Force. In June 1943, she became a member of newly created Escort Group W-4. She was transferred to Sydney Force in May 1944, and underwent a major refit at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from December 1944 to February 1945. HMCS Truro was then assigned briefly to Halifax Force before returning to Sydney Force until June 1945.

Paid off at Sydney, Nova Scotia, on 31 July, she was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police later that year and renamed Herchmer. She was sold for mercantile use in 1947 and, as Gulf Mariner, was abandoned alongside in the Fraser River after plans to convert her to a suction dredge had fallen through. She was broken up in 1964.

• Builder: Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec
• Date laid down: 20 March 1941
• Date launched: 5 June 1942
• Date commissioned: 27 August 1942
• Date paid off: 31 July 1945
• Displacement: 601.5 tonnes
• Dimensions: 49.4 m x 8.6 m x 2.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 83
• Armament: one 12-pounder (5.45 kg) gun, two 20-mm guns (2 x I) and depth charges

Battle honours

• Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942-1944