HMCS Waskesiu

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

HMCS Waskesiu (K330) / River-class frigate

The first frigate to be completed on the west coast and alternatively named for Prince Albert, Saskatchewan because that name was too similar to another vessel, HMCS Waskesiu was commissioned at Victoria, British Columbia on 16 June 1943 and left for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 8 July. She worked up in Bermuda the following month, returning to Halifax on 11 September, and late in October left for Londonderry, Northern Ireland to join Escort Group 5 (renumbered Escort Group 6 on 21 November).

HMCS Waskesiu served chiefly in British waters, but in 1944 supported Gibraltar and Sierra Leone convoys. On 24 February, while an escort to convoy SC.153, she sank the German submarine U-257, and in April made a trip to North Russia to bring back convoy RA.59. She was present on D-Day.

On 14 September 1944, HMCS Waskesiu left Londonderry with convoy ONF.253 for Canada, and soon after arriving began an extensive refit at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Upon its completion in March 1945, she proceeded to Bermuda for work-ups, following that she sailed for Londonderry via Horta, Portugal.

HMCS Waskesiu left Londonderry for Canada in May, and proceeded to Esquimalt, British Columbia, in June for refit. Work was suspended in August 1945, and she was paid off into reserve on 29 January 1946. She was sold to the Indian government in 1947 for conversion to a pilot vessel, and renamed Hooghly in 1950.

• Builder: Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt, British Columbia
• Date laid down: 2 May 1942
• Date launched: 6 December 1942
• Date commissioned: 16 June 1943
• Date paid off: 29 January 1946
• 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) gun, one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 x II), one Hedgehog mortar and depth charges

Battle honours

• Atlantic 1943-1945
• Normandy 1944
• Arctic 1944