Royal Canadian Navy - Cruiser
C 31 - HMCS Quebec ex C 66 - HMS Uganda / ex C 66 HMCS Uganda
Type, Class:		Royal Navy Crown Colony-class (Ceylon-subclass) Light Cruiser
Builder:		Vickers-Armstrong, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.
STATUS:		Laid down: July 20, 1939 Launched: August 7, 1941 Commissioned: January 3, 1943 (Royal Navy) transferred to Royal Canadian Navy Commissioned: October 21, 1944 (Royal Canadian Navy) renamed HMCS Quebec (C 31) on January 14, 1952 Decommissioned: June 13, 1956 (Royal Canadian Navy) Fate: scrapped in Osaka, Japan - 1961
Homeport:		-
Namesake:		-
Ship’s Motto:		NOS CANOS PARLERONT
Technical Data: (Measures, Propulsion, Armament, Aviation, etc.)		General characteristics: Lenght: 169,30 meters Beam: 18,90 meters Draft: 5,30 meters Displacement: 10850 tons (full load) Speed: 31+ knots (57 km/h) max. Range: 10200 NM (18900 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) Crew: up to 900 Propulsion: 4 x oil fired Admiralty 3-drum type boilers 4 x geared steam turbines; 72500 shp 4 shafts / 4 propellers Armament (Canadian service): 3 x Mk-23 6”/50-caliber triple guns 4 x Mk-16 HA 4”/45-caliber twin QF guns 2 x 40mm quad AA guns 6 x 20mm twin AA guns 2 x 21” triple torpedo tubes Aviation: none
ship images
HMCS Quebec (C 31) (ex C 66 - HMS Uganda / ex C 66 HMCS Uganda): HMCS Quebec / Uganda (C66 / C31), was a Second World War-vintage Royal Navy Colony class cruiser. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and recommissioned as HMCS Uganda, and later renamed HMCS Quebec. HMS Uganda (C66) was commissioned by the Royal Navy on 17 December 1942. While serving in the Mediterranean Sea she took a direct hit from a 1.4-tonne glider-bomb off Salerno Italy. There being no dry dock available in the theatre of war that could handle the repairs, the Uganda was sent to the United States Navy shipyard at Charleston, South Carolina. During this time the Canadian government arranged to acquire the Uganda. Originally she had two hangars for Supermarine Walrus aircraft that were designed for reconnaissance work, but the aircraft were later removed and the hangars used for radio and radar rooms as well as crew amenities. Theatres of service Home fleet 1943 Mediterranean fleet 1943-44, Refit U.S.A. 1944, With RCN assigned to Pacific fleet 1945 With RCN assigned to Atlantic Duty 1952 With RCN Korean War Service with the Royal Navy In March 1943 after training at Scapa Flow, HMS Uganda sailed as convoy escort to protect a convoy bound for Sierra Leone from the German Narvik class destroyers operating out of the Bay of Biscay. After two such convoy duties, she was sent as escort for the Queen Mary carrying Winston Churchill and his staff to Washington. The journey was made at 30 knots, and the ship sailed into Argentia, Newfoundland low on fuel. Upon return from that duty the Uganda returned to Plymouth for a refit. Mediterranean Operations With the refit completed she was sent to the Mediterranean as escort to one of the largest troop convoys of the war heading to Sicily. The Uganda was part of the bombardment fleet for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. She was then assigned to close support for major bombardments throughout Sicily. On the opening of Operation Avalanche, September 9, 1943, she was part of the fleet bombardment covering the invasion of Italy at Salerno. Battle Casualty On 13 September the ship was hit by a new German radio controlled glider bomb. The bomb hit the starboard side aft and penetrated through seven decks and the ship's bottom before exploding. Sixteen crew were killed and seven injured. Damage control under Lieutenant Leslie Reed managed to get the ship moving with one engine. Repair and Refit The ship was towed to Malta by the USS Narragansett, where temporary repairs were made. The heavily damaged ship, with only one of her four propellers working, then proceeded across the Atlantic ocean to Charleston, South Carolina for repairs. She arrived on 27 November 1943. Whilst under repair the Canadian government negotiated with Britain to obtain Uganda for the Canadian Navy. Service with the Royal Canadian Navy Uganda had been refitted and improved during the repairs. The Walrus aircraft and catapult were removed and the hangars were converted to crew recreation and radar suites. The radar, radio and aircraft identification package on the Uganda was amongst the latest available. The ship was recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1944. Upon commissioning, Uganda became the pride of the Royal Canadian Navy, being the largest and most powerful ship in their fleet. Uganda was also to become the first Canadian warship to circumnavigate the globe. World War II Uganda's first crew in RCN service was notable. The commanding officer was Captain Rollo Mainguy, OBE, who later became chief of the Naval Staff. The first officer (executive officer) was Commander Hugh Pullen, and other officers including Lieutenant Commanders Landymore and Littler were all eventually promoted to flag rank following the war. Lieutenant John Robarts, Aircraft Recognition Officer, went on to become Premier of Ontario. The other members of her crew of 907 comprised a carefully selected group; additional training on cruisers was provided through personnel exchanges with the RN. The first crew for Uganda was drawn from every province in Canada as well as the Dominion of Newfoundland. Eighty-seven percent were reservists (RCNVR and RCNR) while the balance were regular members of the RCN. Uganda's first RCN assignment came shortly after her recommissioning. She was tasked to join the British Pacific Fleet's operational area south of Sakishima Gunto. Uganda left Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 31 October 1944 and steamed via the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Alexandria, the Suez Canal, and on via Aden and Colombo, Ceylon, to the fleet base at Fremantle, Australia, where she arrived on 4 March 1945. She joined the 4th Cruiser Squadron and spent the rest of the month working up. The conditions for the crew were arduous since the ship had not been modified for tropical conditions, which would have provided better air circulation throughout the ship and more fresh water capacity. Uganda proved valuable during operations undertaken by the British Pacific Fleet because her radar and aircraft identification capabilities were amongst the best in the fleet, owing to her 1944 refit in Charleston. On 10 April 1945, the strike against Sakishima was cancelled and the task force was ordered to attack Formosa instead. For three days Uganda and her RN counterparts attacked airfields on Formosa before being redirected back to Sakishima Gunto. The islands were attacked between 15–20 April before the fleet was tasked to Leyte Gulf. There she joined the United States Third Fleet, under command of legendary Admiral Raymond Spruance 300 nautical miles (560 km) east of Japan and became the only RCN warship to fight in the Pacific Theatre against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Out of the action It was while Uganda was involved in operations with the US Navy's Third Fleet that a directive came through from RCN Headquarters that Captain Mainguy poll the crew on whether they would volunteer for the Pacific War and eventually Operation Downfall, the codename for the invasion of the Home Islands. The requirement that only volunteers would be sent to the war zones had become a major issue in the recent federal election in Canada, which was facing a desperate shortage of soldiers during the closing days of the European War. As a result, "zombies" (conscripted soldiers who refused combat duty) had been ordered into combat roles. This had caused a political controversy and Prime Minister Mackenzie King, trailing in opinion polls, promised that only volunteers would fight against Japan. King narrowly won re-election, largely because of the military vote. The rate of re-enlistment fell dramatically following the end of the war in Europe. While this was going on the RCN wanted the crew of Uganda to volunteer for the Pacific War, which they were currently participating in. The crew of Uganda felt that they had volunteered for "hostilities only", (i.e., hostilities against Nazi Germany) but now found themselves fighting a different enemy in a quite different part of the world. On 7 May 1945, the vote was held onboard Uganda and 605 crew out of 907 refused to volunteer for continuing operations against Japan. The British Admiralty was furious and said it could not replace the ship until 27 July at the earliest. An embarrassed Royal Canadian Navy offered to replace Uganda with HMCS Prince Robert, an anti-aircraft flak ship that was being refitted in Vancouver. HMCS Uganda was detached from the US Navy's Third Fleet on 27 July when HMS Argonaut (61) arrived. Uganda proceeded to Eniwetok, and then to Pearl Harbor for refuelling before heading for Esquimalt. En route to Pearl Harbor, one boiler suffered a liner collapse which would have resulted in the ship's withdrawal from active combat at any rate. Uganda limped into Pearl Harbor on 4 August but was not welcomed because of the resentment that her crew was "quitting" the war. Uganda departed after refuelling and proceeded for Esquimalt. En route to Canada, the crew heard news about the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan. They arrived in Esquimalt on 10 August, the day that Japan announced its acceptance of the Instrument of Surrender. Following World War II, HMCS Uganda remained on the Pacific coast at the RCN base in Esquimalt and was paid off into reserve status on 1 August 1947. Korean War and Cold War Canada's entry into the Korean War and commitment of Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force and RCN units to the British Commonwealth Forces Korea necessitated the reactivation of HMCS Uganda. The vessel was recommissioned on 14 January 1952 as HMCS Quebec (C31) and moved immediately from Esquimalt to her new station at Halifax to replace units which had departed for Korea. Canada's Pacific coast once again saw a cruiser presence after the war when the RCN's second cruiser HMCS Ontario (C32) was posted to Esquimalt to replace HMCS Quebec. HMCS Quebec subsequently served two tours in the Korean War theatre. In 1953, HMCS Quebec was the flagship for Rear Admiral Bidwell and led the RCN ships to Spithead for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The RCN vessels consisted of an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, one destroyer, and two frigates. As part of a post-Korean War realignment within the RCN, HMCS Quebec was paid off in June 1956 and scrapped in Japan in 1961.
patches
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