HMCS ALGOMA K127 - For Posterity's Sake

For Posterity's Sake

A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project

HMCS ALGOMA K127

Then Venezuelan Navy CONSTITUCION (1946)

HMCS Algoma K127

Laid down: 18 Jun 1940

Launched: 17 Dec 1940

Commissioned: 11 Jul 1941

Paid off: 06 Jul 1945

Fate: Sold to Venezuela in 1946. Paid off in 1962 - final disposition unknown

Built by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., she was commissioned at Montreal on 11 Jul 1941. Algoma arrived at Halifax 18 Jul 1941. She escorted her first convoy to Iceland in Sep 1941, and was thereafter employed as an ocean escort until the end of May 1942. During this period she was involved in two major convoy actions: ONS.67 (Feb 1942) and ONS.92 (May 1942). In Jul 1942, after six weeks' repairs at Liverpool, N.S., she joined WLEF. In Oct 1942, allocated to duties connected with the invasion of North Africa, she left for Britain with convoy SC.107, which lost fifteen ships to U-boat attacks. Algoma served under RN orders the next few months, escorting convoys between Britain and the Mediterranean. In Feb 1943 she was based at Bone, Algeria, but returned to St. John's via the U.K in on 30 Apr 1943 in company with HMCS Calgary K231 as escort for convoy ON.179. She served briefly with Western Support Force which, based at St. John's, existed only during May 1943, and with WLEF, before joining Quebec Force in Jun 1943. Algoma escorted Quebec-Labrador convoys until mid-November, when she was lent to EG C-4 for one round trip to the U.K. She arrived at Liverpool, N.S., late in Dec 1943 for a major refit, which included extending her fo'c's'le and was not completed until mid-Apr 1944. In May she joined EG C-5 and arrived in Bermuda on 01 June 1944 to work up. Returning to St. John's on 27 Jun 1944, she made three round trips to the U.K. before joining EG 41 (RN), Plymouth Command, in Sep 1944. She was employed on patrol and escort duties in the Channel until the end of May 1945, when she returned to Canada and was paid off 06 Jul 1945 for disposal at Sydney. In 1946 she was sold to the Venezuelan Navy, being renamed Constitucion, and was not discarded until 1962.

Commanding Officers

Lt John Harding, RCNR - 11 Jul 1941 - 30 Aug 1943

A/LCdr J.P. Fraser, RCNR - 01 Sep 1943 - 10 Oct 1943

A/LCdr Harding, RCNR - 11 Oct 1943 - 03 Feb 1944

Lt Ernest Roy Hammond, RCNR - 17 Mar 1944 - 26 Mar 1944

Lt Steven Barry Kelly, RCNVR - 27 Mar 1944 - 05 Apr 1944

Lt Louis Frederick Moore, RCNR - 06 Apr 1944 - 09 Aug 1944

Lt W. Davenport, RCNR - 10 Aug 1944 - 24 Aug 1944

Lt John Norrison Finlayson, RCNR - 25 Aug 1944 - 06 Jul 1945

In memory of those who have crossed the bar They shall not be forgotten
A-B
Bonner, Frederick Arthur ____-2006 Served in Algoma as an AB	Brown, William Forbes Robertson 1923-2012
C-D
Campbell, Percival ____-____	Coulter, James Robert Boardman 1920-2004 Drafted to Algoma 20 Jul 1942 as Slt, RCNVR
M-N
Maddever, William John ____-1996	McKechnie, James Alexander 1921-2005 Drafted to Algoma on 13 Jul 1944 as Lt, RCNVR
O-P
Parker, Warren ____-2005
Q-R
Roscoe, Stanley 1921-2010
W-X
Wale, Henry ____-____