Allied Warships

HMCS Clayoquot (J 174)

Minesweeper of the Bangor class

HMCS Clayoquot during the war.

Navy	The Royal Canadian Navy
Type	Minesweeper
Class	Bangor
Pennant	J 174
Mod	VTE reciprocating engined
Built by	Prince Rupert Dry Dock and Shipyards Co. (Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada)
Ordered	23 Feb 1940
Laid down	20 Jun 1940
Launched	3 Oct 1940
Commissioned	22 Aug 1941
Lost	24 Dec 1944
Loss position	44° 25'N, 63° 20'W

History	At 14.37 hours on 24 December 1944, U-806 fired a Gnat at HMCS Clayoquot (T/A/Lt.Cdr. A.C. Campbell, RCNVR) which was escorting the convoy XB-139 and hit her after 1 minute 9 seconds. At 14.46 hours, another Gnat was fired at a freighter in the convoy, but this Gnat detonated after 3 minutes in the cat gear of the Canadian minesweeper HMCS Transcona (J 271). The wreck of the Clayoquot has been located outside the approaches to Halifax harbour in position 44º25'N, 63º20'W. There were 8 casualties amongst the crew of HMCS Clayoquot. Hit by U-boat Sunk on 24 Dec 1944 by U-806 (Hornbostel).
U-boat Attack	See our U-boat attack entry for the HMCS Clayoquot

Commands listed for HMCS Clayoquot (J 174)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	T/Lt. George Alexander Victor Thomson, RCNVR	22 Aug 1941	18 Nov 1941
2	T/A/Lt.Cdr. Robert Baird Campbell, RCNR	19 Nov 1941	13 Apr 1942
3	T/Lt. Henry Ernest Lade, RCNR	14 Apr 1942	7 Apr 1943
4	T/Lt. Claude Lane Campbell, RCNVR	8 Apr 1943	5 Mar 1944
5	T/Lt. Donald Richard Baker, RCNVR	6 Mar 1944	11 Apr 1944
6	T/Lt. James William Fitzpatrick, RCNVR	19 Apr 1944	28 Jul 1944
7	Lt. Alexander Craig Campbell, RCNVR	29 Jul 1944	24 Dec 1944

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Notable events involving Clayoquot include:

11 Sep 1942
HMCS Clayoquot picks up the survivors from the Canadian corvette HMCS Charlottetown that was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-517 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

24 Oct 1943

Convoy SC 145.

This convoy departed Halifax on 24 October 1943.

On departure from Halifax the convoy was made up of the following merchant vessels; Agwistar (American, 4661 GRT, built 1919), Athelprince (British (tanker), 8782 GRT, built 1926), Atlantic (Panamanian, 6132 GRT, built 1919), Baltrover (British, 4916 GRT, built 1913), Baron Dunmore (British, 3938 GRT, built 1933), Bayou Chico (American, 5401 GRT, built 1920), Benedick (British (tanker), 6978 GRT, built 1928), Bonaire (Dutch, 3164 GRT, built 1926), Boston City (British, 2870 GRT, built 1920), Chr. Th. Boe (Norwegian (tanker), 6192 GRT, built 1930), Clam (British, 7404 GRT, built 1927), Delmar (American, 5107 GRT, built 1920), Dundee (British, 1541 GRT, built 1934), El Ciervo (British (tanker), 5841 GRT, built 1923), El Grillo (British (tanker), 7264 GRT, built 1922), Fort Slave (British, 7134 GRT, built 1942), Gudfor (Norwegian, 2280 GRT, built 1928), Gyda (British, 1695 GRT, built 1934), H.M. Flagler (Panamanian (tanker), 8208 GRT, built 1918), Kingman (Panamanian, 1513 GRT, built 1934), Leerdam (Dutch, 8815 GRT, built 1921), Maycrest (British, 5923 GRT, built 1913), Michigan (Panamanian (former French), 6419 GRT, built 1920), Orwell (Norwegian (tanker), 7920 GRT, built 1905), Pacific Shipper (British, 6290 GRT, built 1924), San Felix (British (tanker), 13037 GRT, built 1921), San Valerio (British (tanker), 6493 GRT, built 1913), Sarazen (British, 5401 GRT, built 1920), Sulev (British (former Estonian), 2233 GRT, built 1908), Van de Velde (Dutch, 6389 GRT, built 1919), Vav (Norwegian (tanker), 6415 GRT, built 1931) and Wisla (Polish, 3108 GRT, built 1928).

On departure from Halifax the convoy was escorted by the destroyer HMCS Annapolis (Lt.Cdr. A.G. Boulton, RCNVR) and the corvettes HMCS Kenogami (T/Lt. J.L. Percy, RCNVR), HMCS Saskatoon (Lt.Cdr. T. MacDuff, RCNR) and HMCS Shediac (T/A/Lt.Cdr. A. Moorhouse, RCNR).

The minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot (T/Lt. C.L. Campbell, RCNVR) was with the convoy during 25/26 October 1943.

On 28 October 1943, the original escort from Halifax parted company to proceed to St. Johns, Newfoundland after the relief escort had joined coming from St. Johns. This relief escort was made up of the destroyers HMS Fame (Cdr. R.A. Currie, RN), HMS Vanquisher (Lt.Cdr. G.A.G. Ormsby, RN), frigates HMS Deveron (Lt.Cdr. R.E.H. Partington, RD, RNR), HMS Domett (T/A/Lt.Cdr. S. Gordon, RNVR) and the corvettes HNoMS Potentilla, HNoMS Rose and HMS Linaria (T/A/Lt.Cdr. R.H. Jameson, RNR).

Around 1105P/29 the escort carrier HMS Fencer (Capt. E.W. Anstice, RN) and the destroyers HMS Inconstant (Cdr. R.H. Mills, RN), ORP Garland (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) S. Biskupski) and ORP Burza (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) F. Pitulko) joined the convoy. They parted comanay with the convoy to proceed to the Clyde around 1320N/2.

The convoy arrived in U.K. waters on 6 November 1943.