HMCS Vegreville

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

HMCS Vegreville (J257) / 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. 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 Montréal, Québec on 10 December 1941, the Bangor Class minesweeper HMCS Vegreville arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 18 December and was assigned to Western Local Escort Force. She was reassigned to Gulf Escort Force in June 1942, and transferred that September to Newfoundland Force.

In January 1944, she was assigned to invasion duties, and on 19 February sailed from Halifax for Plymouth, Great Britain via the Azores, in company with HMCS Caraquet, HMCS Cowichan, and HMCS Malpeque. Arriving at Plymouth on 13 March, HMCS Vegreville was assigned successively to the 32nd, 14th, and 31st Minesweeping Flotillas, and was present on D-Day.

In September 1944, she proceeded to Canada to refit at Sydney, Nova Scotia, returning to Plymouth on 4 February 1945. On 23 April, while operating off the French coast, she sustained severe damage to her port engine. Dockyard survey at Devonport, Great Britain indicated that she was not worth repairing at this stage of the war, and she was laid up at Falmouth in June. HMCS Vegreville was paid off on 6 June 1945 and was broken up at Hayle, Great Britain in 1947.

Battle honours

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