HMCS Hallowell

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

HMCS Hallowell (K666)

Alternatively named for the Town of Picton, Ontario because that name was too similar to HMCS Pictou, the River class frigate Hallowell was commissioned on August 8, 1944, at Montréal, Quebec. She arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on September 3 and left a month later for Bermuda to work up. Returning in early November, she was allocated to Escort Group C-1 and was Senior Officer’s ship from December onward, remaining with the group until the end of the European war. She left St. John’s, Newfoundland, on November 28 to join convoy HX.322, and was thereafter continuously employed escorting North Atlantic convoys. Early in June 1945, she left Greenock, Scotland, for Canada, and in July and August was engaged in transporting troops from St. John’s to Canada.

She was paid off at Sydney, Nova Scotia, on November 7 and placed in reserve at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Sold to Uruguayan interests in 1946, HMCS Hallowell was resold to a Palestinian firm in 1949 for conversion to a short-service Mediterranean ferry and renamed Sharon. In 1952, she was acquired by the Israeli Navy, reconverted to a warship and renamed Misnak. She was again sold in 1959, this time to the Singhalese (Sri Lankan) Navy and renamed Gajabahu. She was discarded in 1978.

• Builder: Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montréal, Quebec
• Laid down: November 22, 1943
• Launched: March 28, 1944
• Commissionning date: August 8, 1944
• Paying off date: November 7, 1945
• Displacement: 1,445 tons
• Dimensions: 91.9 m x 11.1 m x 2.7 m
• Speed: 19 knots
• Crew: 141
• Armament: two 4-inch (102-mm) guns (1 double mount), one 12-pound (5.45 kg) gun, eight 20-mm guns (4 double mounts), one Hedgehog mortar, depth charges.

Battle honours

Atlantic 1944-1945