STATUS:
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Laid
down: September 29,
1941
Launched: August 25, 1942 (by Lord Mayoress of London)
Commissioned: August 30, 1943 (as G 63)
refitted
and converted to a Destroyer Escort
Recommissioned: March 15, 1952 (as DDE 215)
Decommissioned: October 11, 1963
Fate: preserved as a museum-ship (as G
63);
>
HMCS Haida (G 63) National Historic Site of Canada / Hamilton, Ontario
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HMCS
Haida (G 63 / DDE 215):
Haida was among the first batch of Tribal
class destroyers ordered by the RCN in 1940-1941. The RCN based this order
upon the successful use of the Tribals in the RN during the early years of
World War II and the vessels were ordered with modified ventilation and
heating systems for North Atlantic winter service. Haida's design was
modified after deficiencies were noted in the lead ship of the Canadian
Tribals, HMCS Iroquois (G89).
She was launched on 25 August 1942 and commissioned into RCN service on 30
August 1943. She underwent workups under her first and most famous commanding
officer, H.G. DeWolf before reporting to the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow
in October 1943.
World War II operations
Haida worked with the Royal Navy in Arctic Russia that fall, providing convoy
escort for relief of the Spitsbergen garrison into Kola and Murmansk.
On 10 January 1944, she was reassigned to the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at
Plymouth and took part in the Operation Tunnel sweeps in the Bay of Biscay.
Haida was damaged by the German Elbing-class torpedo boat T-29 on the night
of 25-26 April but pressed the attack and sank the T-29 in what was Haida's
first victory. It should be noted that despite the German designation as
'torpedo boat', the Elbings were essentially on a par with mid sized allied
destroyers having just slightly smaller armament.
Haida took part in Operation Hostile sweeps on 28-29 April in company of HMCS
Athabaskan (G07). Athabaskan was torpedoed by another Elbing, the T-24, with
the loss of 128 crew while 83 became prisoners of war and Haida recovered 44
survivors. Haida is credited with attacking yet another Elbing that night
when she forced the T-27 aground and set it afire with shelling; it was later
sunk by rockets fired from Bristol Beaufighters the following day.
Haida continued the Operation Hostile sorties in company of sister ship HMCS
Huron (G24) during the weeks leading up to Operation Overlord. On the 8–9
June, Haida was part of Task Force 26 which is credited with sinking the
destroyers ZH1 and Z32 in the Battle of Ushant. On 24 June, Haida is credited
with helping HMS Eskimo and aircraft in sinking U-971. On 15 July, Haida and
two other vessels with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla intercepted a group of
German ships at Lorient. The battle saw two trawlers UJ1420 and UJ1421
destroyed, one merchant ship sunk and two others left afire.
On 5–6 August, Haida's now-famous luck continued while engaged in an
Operation Kinetic sweep. A shell exploded in one of the turrets and started a
fire, killing two and injuring eight but not seriously damaging the ship.
Haida departed Western Europe on 22 September for Halifax, Nova Scotia,
arriving to a tumultuous welcome on 29 September. She returned to Scapa Flow
in mid-January 1945 after refitting to receive new radar sensors. She was
declared operational again on 19 March and escorted aircraft carriers in
minelaying operations off Granesund, Norway and assisted in attacks on
shipping in Trondheim from 24–28 March. On 7 April, Haida escorted seven
anti-submarine warfare vessels from Greenock, Scotland destined for Soviet
use at Vaenga.
Haida experienced one of the last RCN engagements of World War II when she
escorted convoy JW66 in its return to the United Kingdom from Vaenga. The
convoy was attacked and Haida and Huron received near-misses from torpedoes
fired by U-boats. In the skirmish, two U-boats were sunk, along with the
frigate HMS Goodall, and the convoy escaped in a snowstorm. Haida and Huron
returned to Scapa Flow on 6 May and was assigned to relief operations at
Trondheimfiord, Norway on 17 May.
Haida, along with Huron and Iroquois, left for Halifax on 4 June to refit as
part of Canada's contribution to Operation Downfall. They arrived on 10 June
and Haida started a tropicalization refit but it was suspended after Japan's
surrender later that summer.
Haida was paid off on 20 March 1946 with the massive demobilization of the
RCN World War II fleet.
Cold War operations
Haida was in mothballs for approximately 1 year but was prepared for
reactivation in 1947 and underwent a refit for updated armament and sensors.
While in refit, fire gutted the wheelhouse and boiler tubes burst later
during speed trials. She returned to the fleet, still carrying the famous
pennant G63, in May 1947.
Haida and her sister ship HMCS Nootka (R96) participated in exercises between
the RCN's Atlantic Fleet and the United States Navy and Royal Navy over the
next several years. Haida was involved in assisting during the grounding of
HMCS Magnificent (CVL 21) off Port Mouton on 4 June 1949. That December,
Haida was downgraded to a Depot and Accommodation Ship in Halifax.
The launch of the Korean War on 25 June 1950 saw Haida once again activated
for war duty. She was converted to a destroyer escort and began refit in July
1950 which saw various new armaments and sensors and communications systems.
She was recommissioned on 15 March 1952 and carried the pennant DDE 215. She
departed Halifax on 27 September for Sasebo, Japan, arriving there on 12 November
after passing through the Panama Canal.
Haida relieved Nootka on 18 November off the west coast of Korea and had an
uneventful patrol, returning to Sasebo to replenish on 29 November. She
patrolled off the east coast of Korea beginning on 4 December and took part
with USS Moore (DE-240) in shelling of a railway yard in Songjin as well as a
coastal battery and North Korean troops. On 18–19 December, Haida attacked an
enemy train but missed the escaping locomotive which hid in a nearby tunnel,
thus not joining the exclusive "Trainbusters Club". Haida returned
to patrol on 3 January 1953 and escorted aircraft carriers as well as
performing coastal bombardments. On 29 January, Haida entered the
"Trainbusters Club" after attacking a train north of Riwon and also
detonated a drifting anti-ship mine on her return to Yang do.
She departed Sasebo on 12 June, heading west through the Suez Canal and
arrived in Halifax on 22 July 1953.
Haida departed Halifax for a second Korean tour on 14 December 1953, passing
through the Panama Canal. Despite the cease fire, infractions by North Korea
and China were occurring, thus the need for a naval presence around South
Korea. She departed the Korean theatre on 1 November 1954 and headed for
Halifax via the Suez Canal once again.
Following the Korean operations, Haida embarked on Cold War anti-submarine
warfare duties with other NATO units in the North Atlantic and West Indies.
Haida's aging hull and infrastructure proved troublesome and in January 1958
she went into refit for hull repairs and protection for electronic equipment.
Further refits in 1959 corrected various problems and she sailed for the West
Indies in January 1960; however, further equipment failures culminating in
the 3 April failure of her steering gear forced her to return to Halifax. A
hull survey in May found extensive corrosion and cracking, forcing her into
drydock for the remainder of the year. She undertook further repairs in
June–July 1961 after further cracking was found during operations in heavy
seas that March. More cracks were detected in March 1962 which forced a refit
through February 1963.
Preservation
With the writing on the wall, Haida undertook her last assignment, a summer
tour of the Great Lakes. She departed Halifax on 25 April 1963 with a mobile
television studio on board. She undertook various public tours and weapons
training during the tour; one of the individuals to tour her was a civilian
named Neil Bruce. Bruce foresaw that she was destined for scrapping and
formed HAIDA Inc. as a means of attempting to acquire her for preservation.
Haida returned to Halifax and was placed in Category C reserve at the navy
base HMCS Protector in Sydney. Crown Assets announced Haida would be scrapped
in 1964 as part of cutbacks to the RCN. HAIDA Inc. placed a bid of $20,000
and won possession on the grounds of restoration. The RCN donated gear and
towed her to Halifax for cleanup and fitting out, then to the Marine
Industries Limited shipyard at Sorel, Quebec where she became civilian
property.
The Naval Reserve Division HMCS York provided a skeleton crew for the Haida
as she was towed to Toronto by 2 tugboats. She arrived on 25 August 1964 with
guest of honour Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf (Retired) who was her first
commanding officer. Haida was restored and reacquired the pennant G63 while
docked at the foot of York Street.
She opened as an attraction in August 1965 at the pier on York Street.
Initially the city of Toronto had planned to build a "Serviceman's
Memorial Park" near the Princes' Gates at nearby Exhibition Place to
link with the Haida preservation efforts. The organization HAIDA Inc. ran
into financial difficulties during the late 1960s and title to the ship was
transferred to the provincial government. In 1970, Haida was moved to a site
at the west end of the Toronto waterfront where its amusement park Ontario
Place was located. The vessel was also used as a Royal Canadian Sea Cadets
training facility.
HMCS Haida National Historic Site
In 2002, at the urging of Hamilton, Ontario MP Sheila Copps, Parks Canada
purchased the Haida from the provincial government and towed her (with great
difficulty) from her Ontario Place dock to a shipyard at Port Weller for a $5
million refit to her hull. She was taken to a new home on the Hamilton waterfront
and arrived to an 11-Gun Salute from 31 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Lion
and her 12 pounder Naval Field Gun on 30 August 2003, the 60th anniversary of
her commissioning into the RCN. She is now a National Historic Site of Canada
and is a museum ship on the Hamilton waterfront. Haida has become a focal
point of a revitalized waterfront near Catharine Street North.
In July 2006 the Haida was "twinned" with the Polish destroyer ORP
Błyskawica in a ceremony in Gdynia, Poland. Both ships served in the
10th Destroyer Flotilla during World War II. The ceremony was attended by
former crew members of both ships and the general public. The ship was
visited in 2009 by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Camilla,
Duchess of Cornwall, and on 29 June 2010, at Government House in Nova Scotia,
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, presented to representatives of HMCS Haida
the World Ship Trust Certificate.
source: wikipedia (09/2012)
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