http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035776410628&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154 Jan. 9, 2003. 12:09 PM First look at lost warship that cost 128 Canadian lives: Diver finds HMCS Athabaskan off coast of France WWII destroyer may have fallen to friendly fire HAROLD LEVY AND MELISSA LEONG STAFF REPORTERS A gun barrel covered with 60 years of barnacles; a battered munitions locker; a porthole. These are among the first pictures taken of HMCS Athabaskan since it was torpedoed by a German destroyer in the English Channel off the coast of Brittany on April 29, 1944, while covering a mine-laying operation along with its sister ship, HMCS Haida. This is the first time they have been published anywhere in the world. The timeless, serene photos reflect little of the chaos and horror of that day in which 128 Canadian sailors, out of a crew of 261, lost their lives. But they provide a tangible connection with the 35 members of the crew buried within the wreck whose bodies did not make it to shore to be buried in cemeteries along the French coast. The photos were taken by Jacques Ouchakoff, a French marine historian who, after a two-year search, located the Athabaskan in October at a depth of only 90 metres, about 1.6 kilometres south of where the Athabaskan was thought to have sunk, near the Ile de Batz. "It's very eerie," Herm Sulkers, who was just 23 when the Athabaskan went down, told the Star, as he viewed the photos Tuesday from his home in Chilliwack, B.C. "There are at least 35 guys who were in there somewhere on the stern end when we first got hit. They were down on the ammunition lockers and there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of them getting out. "This is where they are." The photos brought back painful memories to Sulkers who, his face badly burned, had been forced to leap into the icy seas where floating oil-covered bodies bumped against the living. Guy Theriault was also moved to see the photos. The 19-year-old "stoker," who was rescued by the Haida, said his last recollection of his ship was the moment when he leapt from it into the pitch-black night. From that moment on, all he could think of was survival in the frigid sea. "You yell at God, you tell your boss to take care of you," added Theriault, now 80, who lives in Tucson, Ariz. "You don't see the ship." Theriault said that seeing the photos of the ship taken almost 60 years later brought tears to his eyes because it made him think of "all of my friends and shipmates down there." Ouchakoff, 68, a retired engineer with a passion for deep-sea research, said he knew he had located the Athabaskan when his cameras, fixed to a "remote operating vehicle," transmitted images of the gun mountings to the surface, along the co-ordinates where the ship was believed to be. "When we found the guns, which appeared to be resting on the wreck of a destroyer, we knew it was the Athabaskan," he said. Ed Stewart, designer of the book Unlucky Lady: The Life and Death of HMCS Athabaskan, said the gun barrel photographed by Ouchakoff appears to be from the Athabaskan's "Y" gun — a 120-millimetre twin-barrel weapon — which had been located at the stern. The photograph indicates the Y-gun was found away from the main portion of the wreck. Stewart, 73, who lost his brother Bill that night, said he is satisfied the Athabaskan has finally been located because "everything fits." "The co-ordinates were right on, we know that the stern area containing the Y gun was blown off by a torpedo, and the inside wing-nut section of the porthole appears identical to the portholes on her sister ship HMCS Haida. "It is also curious that local fishermen have always referred to a wreck in the area, which they called `the Canadian,'" Stewart added. Ouchakoff has located many ships in the English Channel since he began diving at age 15. But he said he felt "intense satisfaction and joy" when he located the Athabaskan because "I've always felt grateful for the young Canadians who fought to free my country and deep compassion for those who died. It's my duty to their memory." Wayne Abbott, producer of a documentary about the Athabaskan that aired on History Television in April, 2000, said part of the excitement he experienced was seeing the photos for the first time, "but it is also the sadness of seeing a grave." Abbott, says he launched the search "as a personal challenge to find closure for the survivors ... and to find the forgotten grave." Abbott will join Ouchakoff on a dive this spring to take further photographs and see if there is evidence to support a theory the Athabaskan was sunk by friendly fire from a British Navy vessel. He hopes a video of this expedition will be ready to air on History Television in April, 2004. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * http://webhome.idirect.com/~jproc/cta/athab1.html HMCS ATHABASKAN The first two ships were laid down as IROQUOIS and ATHABASKAN but IROQUOIS was delayed by bombing while on the stocks. ATHABASKAN was therefore renamed IROQUOIS and launched as the lead ship while the original IROQUOIS was launched as ATHABASKAN. After her commissioning on 3rd February 1943 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, she was assigned to the British Home Fleet but ATHABASKAN was plagued with mishaps during her very short service life. The ship left on 29th March 1943 to patrol the Iceland-Faeroes Passage for blockade runners. Weather induced stress caused hull damage This took five weeks to repair at South Shields, U.K. In June 1943, ATHABASKAN took part in Operation Gearbox III, the relief of the garrison at Spitsbergen. On June 18, she collided with the boom defence vessel BARGATE at Scapa Flow, resulting in a month of repairs at Devonport. In July and August of 1943, she was based in Plymouth, carrying out anti-submarine patrols in the Bay of Biscay and on August 27 was hit by a glider bomb off the Spanish coast. She managed to reach Devonport where she remained under repair until November 10. Returning to Scapa Flow in December, she escorted convoy JW55A to Russia but in February 1944, rejoined Plymouth command and was assigned to the newly formed 10th Destroyer Flotilla. On 26th April, she assisted in the destruction of the German torpedo boat T 29 in the Channel off Ushant and three days later on 29th April, was sunk by a torpedo from T24, an Elbing class destroyer, north of the Ile de Bas. Her Captain, John Stubbs and 128 men were lost, 83 taken prisoner and 44 rescued by HAIDA. HMCS Athabaskan
http://www.canada.com/stcatharines/story.asp?id=%7B53D7A998-BBCA-4465-8588-35330731DE06%7D New life for a national war hero: Restoration of legendary HMCS Haida an emotional project for former seaman Don Fraser, The Standard stcatharines Life was spartan for the thousands of men plying the dangerous seas aboard the legendary HMCS Haida. This, after all, was a destroyer built for speed, stealth and, ultimately, killing -- not exactly for amenities. Its interior was cramped and almost windowless. Dozens of men slept in overhead hammocks in messes, snoozing where they ate. Officers' quarters were hardly swank: the bathroom was a toilet in a cubbyhole. The open-air bridge was protected with a visor-like overhang, but otherwise was exposed to sea spray. Flimsy railings bordering the decks must have seemed inadequate for a rolling ship in stormy seas. Crew members had to wear lifelines on deck. The destroyer that sank more German ships than any other Canadian ship during the Second World War now rests on concrete-and-oak supports in the deep dock at Port Weller Dry Docks. It's undergoing a $3.5-million refurbishing for Parks Canada before heading to a new home in Hamilton Harbour later this year. Ralph Frayne, a St. Catharines lawyer who served on the ship during the Second World War, said its voyage from Toronto to St. Catharines last month stirred potent memories. But human privation wasn't among them. "She was alive inside, no question about it," said Frayne, a 78-year-old Beamsville resident who was part of several European wartime campaigns. He served for 18 months on the gun crew, starting in 1943. "We were very happy on board. We were normal; there were disputes from time to time, but that was just part of it," he recalled. "It was filled with great guys. "We were a very tight group." As the destroyer was towed into Port Weller on Dec. 11 -- greeted by a cheering crowd of hundreds -- those images came flooding back to the veteran. "I hesitate to say how emotionally it affected me," said Frayne. "We thought it was the luckiest ship, we had the greatest captain. "We thought we had the best-trained crew and figured nothing could stop us." Right now, what's stopping the Haida from another 30 years of life is a corroded hull below the water line that sorely needs repairs. It's clear the Haida -- pronounced "Hey-da" by the seamen who served aboard the 76-metre ship -- requires a lot of work. It was commissioned on Aug. 30, 1943, at Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, the last of 27 Tribal Class destroyers built for the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. After earning a reputation as the "fightingest ship" in the Royal Canadian Navy, Haida was recommissioned in Halifax in 1947 and took part in NATO and training exercises. Following a refit, the destroyer did two tours of duty in the Korean War between 1952 and 1954 and then resumed its training role. The ship was decommissioned in 1963 and was to be sold for scrap. But a group of former crew members, Torontonians and others intervened. They launched a successful campaign to save the renowned ship. By 1969, Haida was in dry dock, being prepared for retirement as a provincially owned tourist attraction at Ontario Place. After years as a mainstay on Toronto's lakefront, the Ontario government turned over ownership to Parks Canada last Oct. 1. Haida was to be readied for a new home. Bob Willson, a peacetime Haida navigating officer and its manager at Ontario Place from 1986 to 1997, chuckled when asked why the ship's ownership changed. He responded carefully. The "political answer" was that federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps "wanted it for Hamilton and the Ontario government was agreeable to turning it over," said Willson, who is also a director of the non-profit Friends of HMCS Haida. "She wanted it for the redevelopment of the Hamilton waterfront," he said. "But we're actually happy with the way things have turned out for the Haida." Last November, Public Works and Government Services Canada awarded a restoration contract to Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd., parent company of Port Weller Dry Docks. After up to 75 Port Weller shipbuilders finish refurbishing the Haida by summer's end, it will be towed to Hamilton Harbour to become a floating museum. Wesley Allan, Canadian Shipbuilding's vice-president of operations, said Haida was in "somewhat worse condition" than initially thought after examination in Toronto. In his office, Allan displayed a two-foot sample of originally three/16th-inch plate that was taken from a fuel tank. After corroded scales were removed by high-pressure water, a hole was exposed. "It was unbeknownst to anybody," he said. "Given enough time, the scales would have come off and that would have been water coming in," said Allan. "And we have to blast all these scales off. What else are we going to find?" The destroyer has already been cleaned of millions of zebra mussels. The diesel fuel tanks have also been cleaned and old fuel sludge removed. There are more than 220 plates on the hull shell, and about 160 of those are normally underwater. Port Weller is especially concerned about the section below the waterline. Four thickness readings will be taken of each numbered plate before the work starts. The readings and a photograph of each plate will be sent to Public Works and Parks Canada for a decision on how to proceed. Allan described the progress during a recent Haida walkabout, with the warship dwarfed by the laker Atlantic Huron being repaired next to it. Shoes crunched over crumpled zebra mussel shells scattered beneath the ship. They were blasted off by high-pressure water last month and piled centimetres high before most were cleaned away. "I was surprised at the amount of zebra mussels on the ship. I really didn't expect it to be totally covered," said Allan. Workers now have two options: remove more than 30 per cent of the existing plates and replace them with new ones or weld new plates atop corroded ones and create a double skin. The double skin probably makes the most sense, said Allan. However, it will be up to Public Works to decide. Once the final repair specifications are resolved and steel brought in, the cutting, welding and fitting will begin right away. That work will also include some refurbishing and reinforcement work above the waterline. And it will be a source of great pride at the shipyard, said Allan, marvelling at the ship's visual impact: its strong rivets and classic lines still prominent along the dark hull. "Yes, there's no doubt she's a beauty," he said at the walkabout's end. There's also no doubt Haida was a fearsome sight for many German seamen during the Second World War. Destroyers such as Haida guarded convoys travelling through the waters of the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea where German torpedo boats and U-boats prowled. Haida was armed to the teeth with depth charges, torpedoes and numerous powerful guns. One can barely walk more than a few steps on its decks before bumping into a weapon. During the war, it sank about 12 ships -- including two torpedo boats within three days off Ushant, France -- and one submarine. The exact figure is not known, said Frayne. Haida was also present during the D-Day invasion of France. On April 29, 1944, Haida's sister ship, HMCS Athabaskan, was sunk by a torpedo off France. The captain and 128 men were lost, 83 were taken prisoner and 44 were rescued by Haida. Frayne sighed and paused for a moment when asked about the rescue during battle. "At that time, we weren't allowed to leave the guns," he recalled. "There was a very limited number who were permitted to actually haul those men aboard. "Those men were in bad shape; they were covered in oil." Two generations later, Frayne is pleased the ship he still thinks of "as my second home" is being restored. He hopes Haida serves many years more as a memorial to those who served and died in Canada's naval conflicts. "I wish she'd last forever," he said. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Friends of HMCS Haida http://www3.sympatico.ca/hrc/haida/home.htm HMCS Haida
Good one crapgame, thanks for that, and a timely reminder that Canada is always there when needed in war or peacekeeping.
Talking of Canada's Navy in WW2, did you know that when the war ended it was the worlds 3rd largest navy, after the US and RN.
Another thing about Canadas navy they had 2 aircraft carriers being built but didnt finish them tell 46-48
Haze Gray and Underway have a great site on carriers of all nation old and new. Havent got the url to hand but just type in haze gray and underway in browser should come up on a listing. There is a section on Canadas carriers there. Regards
