HMCS Prince Rupert

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

HMCS Prince Rupert (K324)

Commissioned at Esquimalt, British Columbia, on 30 August 1943, the River Class frigate HMCS Prince Rupert arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 21 October and worked up at Pictou, Nova Scotia, before joining Escort Group C-3 as Senior Officer’s ship in January 1944. Prince Rupert left St. John’s, Newfoundland, on 3 January to join her maiden convoy, SC.150, and was continuously employed as an ocean escort until late that year. On 13 March 1944, along with American naval ships and both American and British aircraft, she assisted in sinking the German submarine U-575 in the North Atlantic.

In November 1944, Prince Rupert began a refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and upon completion joined Escort Group 27, Halifax, the following March.

In June 1945, she sailed for Esquimalt, and was paid off there 15 January 1946. Prince Rupert was sold in 1947, and her hull expended as a breakwater at Royston, British Columbia a year later. In 1985, seventy-four members of her ship’s company held a reunion at the site.

• Builder: Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt, British Columbia
• Date laid down: 1 August 1942
• Date launched: 3 February 1943
• Date commissioned: 30 August 1943
• Date paid off: 15 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 1944