HMCS Chaudiere

[SKScanuck]

Okay for my necessary Milsurp content. My Grandfather served on this Canadian destroyer in WW2 in the Atlantic. I have a N01 MkIII* that he bought after the war.

He was the supply officer abord the ship. Anyhow, my Dad has "uncovered" some old photos of the ship. I thought I would share them with you.

Here is the ship:

Here is the crew including my Grandfather:

The ship is best known for its participation in the sinking of the German U Boat U744 in March of 1944. A painting of U744 being boarded by Canadian and British Navy is on display at the new War Museum in Ottawa.

Here is some history on the boat, (the date is wrong in this text).

I have photo of U744 being sunk. The first boarding crew shot the German comander of the sub when he drew his pistol. They also grabbed the German coding equipement but it was lost when their boarding boat capsized, (shown in War Museum painting).

Anyhow..here is the sub after it was torpedoed, (they could not tow in back to England safely).

The sub is the dark blob in the center in the middle of the other destroyers.

Here is a picture of one of the German crew members being escorted off the Chaudiere when it arrived back in Newfoundland. The kraut don't look too happy.

Lastly here is a picture of the ships Captain with the ships medical officer. the Captian is showing off the ships emblem...a pot of melting U-Boats.

These photographs were saved off the Chaudiere the day before it was scrapped. You won't see them anywhere else.

 

[desporterizer]

Nice! The guy on the right in the last pic looks really familiar.

 

[sf]

Tell us more about your Grandpa's war stories like how exactly did they capture that U boat?

 

[Monty]

Wow, excellent stuff. My late wife's late grandfather was a gunner on the Swansea. He was one of those guys that didn't want to talk about it, but he was very proud of his ship. "The most decorated Canadian ship!", he would tell me. Here's some pics of the Swansea:

edit: not trying to hijack, just joining in! I have the utmost respect for those that served and those that still do.
edit#2: Swansea was originally commissioned as a River class frigate, but was later recommissioned as a Prestonian class in 1957, thus the top picture shows pendant #K328 and the bottom was the latter 306...

 

[DragonFire]

Thanks for the great pics. I served aboard the second Chaudiere in 1970(Firecontrol). Was nice to also be able to compare a few notes about the two ships. Thanks again.

DF

 

[Monty]

...
These photographs were saved off the Chaudiere the day before it was scrapped. You won't see them anywhere else.

That's amazing!

 

[NavyShooter]

Thanks for sharing!

NS

 

[Andy]

My neighbour served on the Swansea in the 60's. He appreciated the pics and description.

 

[ollie]

COOL! I have a set of keys from the HMCS TRURO, for the signals room and compass room I think(have to dig em up). Always nice to see some history shared, thanks!

 

[Monty]

My neighbour served on the Swansea in the 60's. He appreciated the pics and description.

Glad he liked those pics. I had to laugh at one site I found dedicated to the Kamloops that had all kinds of pictures of K-325 calling it the Swansea. 325 was the St. Catharines!

 

[Monty]

COOL! I have a set of keys from the HMCS TRURO, for the signals room and compass room I think(have to dig em up). Always nice to see some history shared, thanks!

HMCS Truro - Bangor class minesweeper, pendant J268. Where'd you get the keys, ollie?
Here's a pic:

 

[ollie]

Thanks Monty, they came from a relative who served on her during the war. Absolute treasures, eh? Have a looky at the pics,

http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww2/bangor/

Here's the history of some ol' canadian WW2 boats. Note the Truro served as the RCMP Herchmer, then untill '64 as the Gulf Mariner. Wonder what kind of car or refrigerator she was turned into after that?

 

[SKScanuck]

Tell us more about your Grandpa's war stories like how exactly did they capture that U boat?

Well, here is what happened. I extracted this from the book "A River in September - A Sketche of the Life and Times of H.M.C.S. Chaudiere, a Canadian Destroyer, 1943-1945, as told by her Captian", C.P. Nixon, D.S.C.

The event took place about 400 miles west of Ireland while the Chaudiere was part of an escort group of three destroyers, two corvettes and a frigate that joined up with an approaching convoy. The senior officer was P.W. (Egg) Burnett, R.N. who was aboard the Frigate HMCS St Catherines. The dates were March 5th and 6th, 1944. Apparently the U744 was submerged and approaching from the east when she picked up the throb of many propellers. At the same time one of the destroyers picked up a metallic submerged object...the U744 fired a torpedo and the escort group dropped depth charges..both missed. The escort group remained in contact with the sub and the chase was on. The U744 remained deep and the escort group followed her dropping depth charges but because of the depth the UBoat was not getting severly damaged.

The escort group then used a new tactic whereby one ship would remain in sonar contact while another ship dropped depth charges. The Chaudiere played the attcking role twice and apparently it shook the ship up quite a bit when they dropped 26 depth charges at slow spped. After 30 hours of hunting the sub, one ship was detached from the group and sent off for repairs, leaving five ships in the group. Evenually the sub surfaced and was welcomed with a hail of gunfire. The U744 promptly surrendered. Two whalers were dispatched from other ships and both capsized against the hull of the sub when they drew near due to rough seas. A third motorized boat was dispatched from the Chaudiere and this boat sucessfully recovered th edrenched sailors, rounded up the prisoners from the sub and photographed its interior. 22 prisoners were taken off the sub.

Here are some more photos:

Two of the german prisoners in a car:

A sailor from the ship with a trophy german life preserver and dingy

The crew aboard the ship at dock in August 1944 painting on their second confirmed UBoat sinking.

 

[sf]

Great read & pictures. Thanks. Anyone who watched the WW2 movie 'The Enemy Below' would get a sense of how stressful it must had been to the sub crews trapped in an iron coffin & repeatedly bombarded by depth charges from above.

 

[Monty]

Great story, SKS. I see they scuttled her in '92 off B.C.'s sunshine coast for divers.

edit: Oops! Wrong Chaudiere. The Chaudiere that was sunk for divers was the #2. The one mentioned in this thread is #1 which was originally the HMS Hero and she was paid of in August of '45 - I presume scrapped...? My bad...

Haven't seen that movie, sf. But Das Boot is one great sub movie.

 

[SKScanuck]

Edit: Oops! Wrong Chaudiere. The Chaudiere that was sunk for divers was the #2. The one mentioned in this thread is #1 which was originally the HMS Hero and she was paid of in August of '45 - I presume scrapped...? My bad...

Yep, sold for scrap in 1945. The pictures I have scanned came off the Chaudiere II just before it was sank for a reef. They were up in the mess I think.

 

[MapleSugar]

SKSCanuck;

Thanks for sharing, that is an interesting story.

There is a gentleman named Dave who works at Dive & Sea in New Westminster, B.C. who served on the Chaudiere II. I think his berth was right near the anchors.

He is the man to see about getting a regulator tuned up or repaired.

Unfortunately, they sprayed asbestos everywhere in that ship for insulation, and now he has lungs that aren't very elastic anymore. He doesn't dive anymore because of it.

He is a hell of a nice guy, and well worth spending some time chatting with. Then again, everyone who works there is!

 

[CanadianSoldier]

That's awesome!