HMCS Norsyd

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

HMCS Norsyd (K520)

HMCS Norsyd, a contraction of North Sydney, was a Flower class corvette commissioned at Québec City, Quebec, on December 22, 1943. En route to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she was diverted to Indiantown, New Brunswick, for fitting-out, which was not completed until mid-March.

She arrived in Bermuda later that month to work up, and on her return was assigned to Escort Group W-7, Western Escort Force. She served with W-7 escorting local convoys until November 1944, when she was transferred to Escort Group C-2, St. John’s, Newfoundland, taking her first convoy, HX.323, eastward early in December.

On May 27, 1945, she began a refit at Halifax. After its completion on June 25, she was paid off and laid up at Sorel, Quebec. She was sold into mercantile service in 1948 as Balboa, but acquired by the Israeli Navy in 1950 and reconverted to a warship. Renamed Haganah, she served until broken up in 1956.

  • Builder: Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Québec City, Quebec
  • Date laid down: January 14, 1943
  • Date launched: July 31, 1943
  • Date commissioned: December 22, 1943
  • Date paid off: June 25, 1945
  • Displacement: 985.6 tonnes
  • Dimensions: 63.5 m x 10.1 m x 2.9 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

  • Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944
  • Atlantic 1944-1945

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