HMCS New Westminster

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

HMCS New Westminster (K228)

Built at Victoria, British Columbia, the Flower Class corvette HMCS New Westminster was commissioned 31 January 1942 and assigned to Esquimalt Force until the threat of Japanese invasion had abated.

Ordered to Halifax, Nova Scotia to release an east coast corvette for Operation TORCH service, she arrived on October 13, a month after leaving Esquimalt, British Columbia. Assigned to Western Local Escort Force, she operated on the “triangle run” (Boston/New York, Halifax, St. John’s) until May 1943, when she began a major refit at Sydney, Nova Scotia. This refit, including a forecastle extension, was not completed until December 10.

The ship was then made a part of Escort Group C-5, and in July 1944 sailed with HXS.300, the largest convoy of the war, comprising 166 ships. She left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on December 14, 1944, for the last time, returning home to refit at Saint John, New Brunswick, until early March 1945.  Allocated to Sydney Force until the end of hostilities, HMCS New Westminster was paid off at Sorel, Quebec, on June 21, 1945, and in 1947 sold for commercial purposes. She served under various names, the last being the Bahamian Azua, from 1954 to 1966, when she arrived at Tampa, Florida, for break up.

• Builder: Victoria Machinery Depot Co. Ltd., Victoria, British Columbia
• Laid down: February 4, 1941
• Date launched: May 15, 1941
• Date commissioned: January 31, 1942
• Date paid off: June 21, 1945
• Displacement: 965.2 tonnes
• Dimensions: 62.5 m x 10.1 m x 3.5 m
• Speed: 16 knots
• Crew: 85
• Armament: one 4-inch (102-mm) gun, one 2-pound (0.9 kg) gun, two 20-mm guns (2 single mounts), one Hedgehog mortar, and depth charges.

Battle honours

Atlantic 1942-1945