STATUS:
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Ordered:
September 1, 1941
Laid
down: October 31, 1942
Launched: September 14, 1943
transferred to Royal
Canadian Navy in 1944
Commissioned: February 21, 1944
Decommissioned: February 27, 1946
placed
in reserve
Recommissioned: 1950
Decommissioned: October 30, 1963
Fate: sold for scrap; scrapped in La
Spezia, Italy - August 1965
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HMCS
Sioux (DD 225):
HMCS Sioux was a V class destroyer of the Royal
Canadian Navy which fought in the Second World War and the Korean War. She
was launched as HMS Vixen for the British Royal Navy before being transferred
to the Royal Canadian Navy. She was then named for the Sioux people of
Canada's western provinces.
Vixen was ordered on 1 September 1941 as part of the 1941 shipbuilding
programme. She was laid down 31 October 1942 by J. Samuel White at Cowes and
launched on 14 September 1943. As part of the Warship Week in January 1942
she was adopted by the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. She was transferred to the
Royal Canadian Navy, into which she was then commissioned and renamed on 21
February 1944 while fitting out at Cowes, and was completed on 5 March 1944.
WWII:
After commissioning Sioux joined the 26th Destroyer Flotilla of the British
Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. As part of that unit, she escorted the aircraft
carriers that attacked the German battleship Tirpitz, which was anchored at
Altenfjord, Norway, and German shipping along the Norwegian coast.
On 28 May Sioux was reassigned to Portsmouth as part of Canada's contribution
to the Invasion of Normandy. During the assault on Juno Beach, Sioux
bombarded shore batteries for forty minutes during the initial landing and
provided fire support afterwards. She remained with the invasion force until
July when she returned to Scapa Flow.
After returning to Scapa Flow, Sioux escorted four convoys to the Soviet
Union and back. In February 1945, after escorting convoy JW-64 to Polyarnoe;
she was sent from there as part of a relief expedition to convey 500
inhabitants of a Norwegian island, left without food or fishing boats by the
Germans, to safety. On 17 February 1945, she returned with convoy RA-64,
fighting both determined Junkers Ju 88 attacks and Arctic gales. She sailed
to Halifax immediately thereafter, to prepare for transfer to the British
Pacific Fleet and operations against Japan. The vessel underwent a major
refit at Halifax and in November 1945 transferred to the west coast, being
paid off on 27 February 1946 at Esquimalt.
Postwar service:
Sioux emerged, fully modernized, in 1950, to participate in the Korean War.
As part of the modernization, she lost turrets X and Y, which were replaced
by two Squid anti-submarine launchers. She was also the first Canadian warship
to be fitted with bunks instead of hammocks. She helped provide naval support
for the troops that landed at Inchon in September 1950. She performed three
tours of duty in the Korean War and was the last Canadian ship to depart
Korean waters.
In 1953 Sioux was one of a number of Royal Canadian Navy ships which took
part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
She was primarily used for training purposes thereafter, until being paid off
30 October 1963. She wore pennant 225 from 1949 until 1963. In November 1959,
Sioux was converted to a frigate with 2 4.7-inch guns, 4 torpedo tubes and 2
Squid launchers. She was towed to La Spezia, Italy and broken up there in
1965.
source: wikipedia
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