Canada's Forgotten Heroines

Paying tribute to the HMCS Sackville, the last of Canada’s Second World War corvettes

- Brian C. Merritt, Grimsby, Ont.

The mystique around ships includes the fact that all who sail aboard them refer to the vessels as a “she.” Legends abound as to how this came about. The one I prefer is that a ship cradles within itself life, her crew, and therefore is womb-like. Although created from inanimate materials, to sailors, ships become living entities.

This is a story about a type of naval vessel which was critical in winning the Battle of the Atlantic that began in 1939 and lasted until 1945—the longest battle of WWII. The ship was the corvette, a small but ultimately deadly escort vessel for vital convoys across the North Atlantic.

In 1939, the pre-war Canadian Navy comprised a group of aging destroyers manned by peacetime professionals, plus a wide variety of harbour craft, training vessels and such. This was the Royal Canadian Navy, and it was full of tradition. All across Canadian Naval establishments each morning, the White Ensign was raised, parade grounds filled and resounded to petty officers’ bawled orders, these being met by stamping boots and sailors marching in unison. On a daily basis, naval officers, clerks and secretaries entered their respective offices ashore, each dealing with a myriad of protocols, orders and general documentation. A navy ready for war at sea it was not. This was about to change—drastically!

In 1939 the British Admiralty recognized the desperate need for escort vessels to protect vital shipping in the North Atlantic during the now inevitable war with Nazi Germany. Their navy at the time was considered inadequate to protect convoys of merchant ships supplying Britain with vital supplies from the submarines of the powerful German Kriegsmarine U-boat fleet. The Admiralty chose a ship designed initially as a whaling trawler.

The next challenge was to decide who would build them in sufficient time and quantity. The British Admiralty turned to Canada as a possible source.