HMCS Bellechasse

There has been only 1 vessel named Bellechasse in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Bellechasse (J170)

HMCS Bellechasse was a 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 remainders 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.

It is unclear if the ship was named for the county or Municipality of St-Charles-de-Bellechasse in Québec, HMCS Bellechasse was built at Vancouver, British Colombia, and commissioned there December 13, 1941. She spent her entire career on the Pacific coast, alternating between Prince Rupert Force and Esquimalt Force.

Paid off on October 23, 1945 at Esquimalt, British Columbia, she was sold the following year to the Union Steamship Company, Vancouver, but her intended conversion for mercantile service was never carried out.

• Builder: Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
• Laid down: April 16, 1941
• Launched: October 21, 1941
• Date commissioned: December 13, 1941
• Date paid off: October 23, 1945
• Displacement: 672 tons;
• Dimensions: 54.9 m x 8.7 m x 2.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 83
• Armament: one 4-inch (102 mm) gun, four 20-mm guns (2 x I, 1 x II) and depth charges.