Allied Warships

HMCS Chaudiere (H 99)

Destroyer of the H class

NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassH 
PennantH 99 
Built byVickers Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.): Parsons 
Ordered 
Laid down28 Feb 1935 
Launched10 Mar 1936 
Commissioned15 Nov 1943 
End service17 Aug 1945 
History

Transferred to the Royal Canandian Navy as HMCS Chaudiere on 15 November 1943.
Decommissioned on 17 August 1945.
Scrapped in March 1946.

 
Former nameHMS Hero

Commands listed for HMCS Chaudiere (H 99)

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.

CommanderFromTo
1A/Lt.Cdr. Charles Patrick Nixon, RCN15 Nov 194321 Mar 1945
2T/A/Lt.Cdr. Wilfred Davenport, RCNR28 Mar 194520 Jun 1945

3T/Lt.Cdr. George Murray Kaizer, RCNR2 Aug 194512 Aug 1945

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Notable events involving Chaudiere include:


24 Dec 1943
HMS Vampire (Lt. C.W. Taylor, RNR) conducted A/S exercises at/off Scapa Flow with HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN). (1)

27 Dec 1943
HMS Vampire (Lt. C.W. Taylor, RNR) conducted A/S exercises at/off Scapa Flow with HMS Obdurate (Lt.Cdr. C.E.L. Sclater, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Venus (Cdr. J.S.M. Richardson DSO, RN) and HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN). (1)

29 Dec 1943
HMS Vampire (Lt. C.W. Taylor, RNR) conducted A/S exercises at/off Scapa Flow with HMS Vigilant (Lt.Cdr. L.W.L. Argles, RN) and HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN). (1)

6 Mar 1944
After unsuccessful attempts at towing the boat to port German U-boat U-744 was sunk at 1830hrs on 6 March 1944 in the North Atlantic, in position 52°01'N, 22°37'W, after being torpedoed by the British destroyer HMS Icarus (Lt.Cdr. R. Dyer, RN). U-744 was attacked for over 30 hours by depth charges from HMS Icarus, the Canadian frigate HMCS St. Catharines (T/Lt.Cdr. A.F. Pickard, RCNR with Cdr. P.W. Burnett, DSC, RN escort group commander onboard), Canadian corvettes HMCS Fennel (A/Lt.Cdr. W.P. Moffat, RCNVR), HMCS Chilliwack (T/A/Lt.Cdr. C.R. Coughlin, RCNVR), Canadian destroyers HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN), HMCS Gatineau (A/Lt.Cdr. H.V.W. Groos, RCN) and the British corvette HMS Kenilworth Castle (Lt. J.J.Allon, RNR).

26 Mar 1944
HMS H 50 (T/Lt. A.F. Wicker, RNVR) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with HMCS Chilliwack (T/A/Lt.Cdr. C.R. Coughlin, RCNVR), HMCS St. Laurent (Lt.Cdr. G.H. Stephen, OBE, DSC, RCNR), HMCS Halifax (T/Lt. M.F. Oliver, RCNR), HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN), HMCS Fennel (A/Lt.Cdr. W.P. Moffat, RCNVR), HMCS St. Catharines (T/A/Lt.Cdr. A.F. Pickard, RCNR) and HMCS Morden (T/Lt. E.C. Smith, RCNVR). (2)

29 Mar 1944
HMS Trenchant (Lt.Cdr. A.R. Hezlet, DSC, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Larne with HMS Icarus (Lt.Cdr. R. Dyer, RN) and HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN). (3)

30 Jul 1944

Operation Kinetic.

This operation was an anti-shipping sweep off the French west coast against enemy shipping / convoys.

Around 1830B/30, 'Force 26' departed Plymouth for this operation. It was made up of the light cruisers HMS Diadem (Capt. E.G.A. Clifford, RN, flying the flag of flying the flag of Rear-Admiral F.H.G. Dalrymple-Hamilton, CB, RN), HMS Bellona (Capt. C.F.W. Norris, RN) and the destroyers HMS Tartar (Cdr. B. Jones, DSO, DSC, RN), HMS Ashanti (Lt.Cdr. J.R. Barnes, RN), HMCS Haida (Capt. H.G. De Wolf, DSO, RCN), HMCS Huron (Cdr. H.S. Rayner, DSC, RCN), ORP Blyscawica (Kmdr.por. (Cdr.) K.F. Namiesniowski) and ORP Piorun (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) T. Gorazdowski).

Air cover for the operation was provided by the escort carrier HMS Striker (Capt. W.P. Carne, RN) which was escorted by the destroyers HMCS St. Laurent (Lt.Cdr. A.G. Boulton, RCNVR), HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN) and HMCS Kootenay (A/Lt.Cdr. W.H. Willson, RCN). These ships departed Plymouth at the same time as Force 26.

Further air cover was provided by RAF Beaufighters and Mosquitos from 10 Group.

Around 2200B/31, Force 26 and the air cover group reached position 46°35'N, 04°30'W. Force 26 then proceeded towards position 46°45'N, 02°42'W, thence carrying out sweeps northwest and southwest along the enemy shipping route.

HMS Striker and her three escorting destroyers remained to the westward of position 46°13'N, 04°00'W. Force 26 rejoined them around 0730B/1.

Late in the morning / early in the afternoon ORP Blyscawica fuelled from HMS Striker. She then set course to proceed to Plymouth where she arrived around 1100B/2.

Around 2100B/1, Force 26 parted company with the air cover force to conduct another night sweep along the enemy shipping routes. They rejoined the cover force again around 0650B/2.

Around 1245B/2, HMS Bellona parted company with the remained of the force which then set course to return to Plymouth where they arrived the following morning around 0715B/3.

HMS Bellona proceeded to patrol to the north-north-east of Cape Finisterre. She returned to Plymouth around 0030B/4. (4)

18 Aug 1944
German U-boat U-621 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 45°52'N, 02°36'W, by depth charges from the Canadian destroyers HMCS Ottawa (Cdr. J.D. Prentice, DSO, RCN), HMCS Kootenay (A/Lt.Cdr. W.H. Willson, RCN) and HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN).

20 Aug 1944
The depth charge attacks made by the Canadian destroyers HMCS Ottawa (Cdr. J.D. Prentice, DSO, RCN), HMCS Kootenay (A/Lt.Cdr. W.H. Willson, RCN) and HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN) in the Bay of Biscay west of Brest, in position 48°16'N, 05°33'W, were earlier credited with the destruction of the German U-boat U-984, but were carried out against a nonsub target.

30 Sep 1944
HMS Scythian (T/Lt C.P. Thode, RNZNVR) conducted A/S exercises off Larne with HMCS Assiniboine (A/Lt.Cdr. R.P. Welland, DSC, RCN), HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN), HMCS Skeena (A/Lt.Cdr. P.F.X. Russell, RCN), HMCS Qa'Appelle (T/Cdr. J.D. Prentice, DSO, RCN) and HMCS St. Laurent (Lt.Cdr. G.H. Stephen, DSC, RCNR). (5)

8 Oct 1944
Around 0700A/8, the escort carriers HMS Searcher (Capt. G.O.C. Davies, RN), HMS Pursuer (A/Capt. H.R. Graham, DSO, DSC, RN) and HMS Khedive (Capt.(Retd.) H.J. Haynes, DSO, DSC, RN) arrived at Gibraltar from Malta.

They departed for the U.K. around 1315A/8. They were now escorted by the destroyers HMS Kempenfelt (Capt. E.G. McGregor, DSO, RN), Whirlwind (Cdr. W.A.F. Hawkins, DSO, DSC, OBE, RN) and Wrangler (Lt.Cdr. D.W. Austin, RN).

Around 0500A/10, the destroyers HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN), HMCS Assiniboine (A/Lt.Cdr. R.P. Welland, DSC, RCN), HMCS St. Laurent (Lt.Cdr. G.H. Stephen, DSC, RCNR) and HMCS Skeena (A/Lt.Cdr. P.F.X. Russell, RCN) joined. The original escort then parted company to return to Gibraltar.

Around 0930A/12, HMS Pursuer parted company to proceed to Greenock where she arrived around 1415A/8.

HMS Searcher and HMS Khedive arrived in Bangor Bay around 1030A/12.

The Canadian destroyers arrived at Londonderry on the 12th. (6)

Media links


Destroyers of World War Two

Whitley, M. J.

Sources

  1. ADM 173/18443
  2. ADM 173/18526
  3. ADM 173/19057
  4. ADM 53/118976 + ADM 53/118977 + ADM 53/119264 + ADM 53/119265 + ADM 53/120561 + ADM 53/120562 + ADM 199/1394
  5. ADM 173/18650
  6. ADM 53/119661 + ADM 53/120289 + ADM 53/120467

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


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