HMCS Malpeque

There has been only one vessel named HMCS Malpeque in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Malpeque (J148)

Commissioned at Vancouver, British Columbia, on August 4, 1941, the Bangor Class minesweeper HMCS Malpeque left for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on September 13, arriving on October 19. She was briefly assigned to Sydney Force and then to Newfoundland Force, with which she served until February 19, 1944. She then sailed for the United Kingdom via the Azores with HMCS Caraquet, HMCSCowichan and HMCS Vegreville for invasion duties.

Arriving at Plymouth, England, on March 13, she was assigned to the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla, and was present on D-Day. She proceeded to Canada in April 1945 for refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, but returned to the United Kingdom in June and remained there until September.

HMCS Malpeque then returned home and was paid off on October 9, 1945, to reserve at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Taken to Sorel, Quebec, in 1946 and placed in strategic reserve, she was reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy in 1952 and laid up at Sydney, Nova Scotia. Never again commissioned, she was sold for scrap in February 1959.

  • Builder: North Van Ship Repairs Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Date laid down: April 24, 1940
  • Date launched: September 5, 1940
  • Date commissioned: August 4, 1941
  • Date paid off: October 9, 1945
  • Displacement: 672 tons
  • Dimensions: 54.9 m x 8.7 m x 2.5 m
  • Speed: 16 knots
  • Crew: 83
  • Armament: one 3-inch (76-mm) gun, four 20-mm guns (2 single mounts, 1 double mount) and depth charges.

Battle honours

  • Atlantic 1941-1942
  • Normandy 1944

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