Canadian HMCS Port Arthur is launched on the day of its admission to the Royal Canadian Navy for the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.
The HMCS Port Arthur subsequently had the board number K233 and belonged to the Flower class corvettes. It was built at the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Port Arthur (Ontario, Canada).
HMCS Port Arthur, construction began on April 28, 1941, launched on September 19, 1941, accepted into the Royal Canadian Navy on May 26, 1942.
Port Arthur, main characteristics: displacement – 925 tons. Length – 62.4-63.4 m, draft – 3.51-3.35 m (depending on modifications), width – 10.06 m. Power plant – two boilers, one propeller. The maximum speed is 16 knots. Cruising range at a speed of 12 knots – 3500 miles. The crew is 85-90 people.
HMCS Port Arthur, armament: one 101.6-mm cannon (BL 4 inch Mk IX) on the bow, at the stern – four 12.7-mm Vickers anti-aircraft machine guns (Vickers 0.5) or one 40-mm anti-aircraft gun Pom- pom (QF 2 pounder 1,6 ″ Pom Pom AA gun), along the sides – two double 7.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns Lewis (Lewis 0.303) or two 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns “Oerlikon” (Oerlikon).
The anti-submarine armament: two stern installations for dropping depth charges (40-70 bombs), 2-4 onboard installations (Mk.II depth charge throwers).
It participated in the Allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch), escorting Allied sea convoys in Atlantic ocean between Canada and Great Britain (in particular, SC105) and Great Britain and the Mediterranean Sea.
On January 19, 1943, the Port Arthur corvette sank the Italian submarine Triton off the coast of Algeria.
The corvette was withdrawn from the Canadian Navy on July 11, 1945.
Source: Defense Canada.
Location: Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada
Photo time: 19 September 1941