HMCS QUEBEC C31

 

Crown Colony Class Light Cruiser

 

 

 

NOS CANONS

PARLERONT

HMCS QUEBEC C31 circa 1952 - taken during high speed trials on the west coast

 

Laid down: 20 Jul 1939

Launched: 07 Aug 1941

Commissioned: 03 Jan 1943

Transferred to RCN: 21 Oct 1944

Commissioned: 21 Oct 1944 as HMCS Uganda

Paid off: 01 Jan 1947

Re-commissioned: 14 Jan1952 as HMCS QUEBEC

Paid off: 13 Jun 1956

Fate: Scrapped at Osaka, Japan, in 1961

 

As HMS Uganda, the name-ship of her class, she was completed 03 Jan 1943, at Vickers-Armstrong Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne. After working up with the Home Fleet she joined Plymouth Command in Apr 1943 for operations in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel, and in Jul 1943 joined the 15th Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet, as part of Force "K." She was badly damaged by a German glider bomb on 13 Sep 1943, while supporting the Allied landing at Salerno, Italy, and arrived at Charleston, S.C., in November for a year of repair work.  Presented to the RCN, the ship was commissioned HMCS UGANDA on 21 Oct 1944, at Charleston, and in Nov 1944 returned to the U.K. for further modifications. She left in Jan 1945, for the Pacific via the Suez Canal, to join the 4th Cruiser Squadron, British Pacific Fleet. In Apr 1945 she joined Task Force 57 in the Okinawa area, and was thereafter principally employed in screening the Fleet's aircraft carriers operating against Japanese airfields in the Ryukyu Islands. On 14 Jun 1945 she participated in the bombardment of Truk, and in Jul 1945 supported carriers operating against Tokyo. She left the Fleet late in Jul 1945 and arrived at Esquimalt on 10 Aug 1945 for refit. Uganda spent the rest of her career as a training ship; she was renamed QUEBEC on 14 Jan 1952.

 

After transiting from Esquimalt to Halifax in 1952, QUEBEC was soon sailed for Newfoundland where she took Lieutenant Governor Sir Leonard Outerbridge CBE - DSO, on an official tour of isolated Nfld out ports. This was a RCN service guaranteed under the terms of union with Canada. Upon returning to Halifax, the QUEBEC was selected as the flagship of Rear Admiral Bidwell, and tasked to lead Canada's Coronation Squadron to the Queen's Review of all Royal Naval and U S Naval Vessels at Spit head. In 1955 HMCS QUEBEC was tied up at the RCSCC Training Camp [Protector] at Point Edward Naval Station, Cape Breton N S. She was finally paid off on 13 Jun 1956. On 06 Feb 1961 she arrived at Osaka, Japan to be broken up.

 

 

RCN Memories:     Last Man On Board

 

 

Photos and Documents          Ship's company photos          The Ship's Bell          Former Crew Members

 

 

Commanding Officers

 

Capt Patrick David Budge, DSC, RCN - 14 Jan 1952 - 10 Sep 1953

Capt Edward William Finch-Noyes, RCN - 11 Sep 1953 - 31 Jul 1955

Capt D.W. Piers, DSC, RCN - 01 Aug 1955 - 08 May 1956

Cdr Edgar Sydney MacDermid, RCN - 09 May 1956 - 13 Jun 1956

  

 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

A

 

 

B

 

 

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E

 

 

F

 

 

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H

 

 

I

 

Irwin, Ernest H.

 

 

 

 

 

J

 

 

K

 

 

L

 

 

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P

 

 

Q

 

Quick, Fred A.

 

 

 

 

 

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V

 

Van Duzee, Michael F.

 

 

 

 

 

W

 

 

 

Former Crew Members

 

Boulay, Jean Louis, OS, RCN

 

Crawford, Hugh Leonard, Cdr (L), RCN

 

Day, Lee, AW, RCN

 

Gervais, ??  circa 1954-1955

 

Legault, Sylvio, ABLM, RCN - 03 Sep 1954 - 03 Aug 1955

Moquin, Bert - circa 1954-1955

 

Russelo, Carl

 

Semple, Robert, Stoker - 1955

 

Sharkey, ?? - circa 1954-1955

 

 

Smith, Thomas J (Snuffy) - 1952-1953

 

Udashkin, Sid, ABAAS, RCNR - 31 Jul 1953 - 20 Nov 1956

 

Watson, Jack E., SN, RCN

 

 

Photos and Documents

 

HMCS QUEBEC

HMCS QUEBEC

 

RCN photo - negative #S2538

HMCS QUEBEC A & B turrets 6-inch guns firing

 

Courtesy of / from the photo collection of Eric Stapleton

HMCS QUEBEC arrives at Quebec city

 

From the collection of Lt VS Curry, CD, RCN (Ret'd)

 

Courtesy of Gerry Curry

HMCS QUEBEC

HMCS QUEBEC, HMCS MAGNIFICENT, HMAS SYDNEY and, HMCS SIOUX, returning from Coronation, off Halifax, June 1953

Courtesy of Gerald Sullivan

HMCS QUEBEC taking station alongside HMCS MAGNIFICENT for a jackstay transfer, 1953

 

Courtesy of Gerald Sullivan

 

After escorting the Royal Yacht Britannia to mid-ocean, the crew of HMCS QUEBEC salute the Queen with 3 cheers before the QUEBEC returns to Halifax - c1953-54

 

From the collection of Francis Walsh

 

Courtesy of Mike O'Keefe

 

Month-Long Cruise Due For QUEBEC

 

HMCS QUEBEC to make month-long cruise with port visits to Madeira Island, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Brest

 

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Tuesday, 27 Apr 1954

 

Research by / Courtesy of George Newbury

Newspaper Article from the Picton Gazette, 26 Jan 1955 on a PE County sailor, Robert Semple and HMCS QUEBEC's circumnavigation of Africa

 

Source: Prince Edward County Archives Microfilm collection

 

Researched and complied by: © John Lyons 2014

Newspaper Article from the Picton Gazette, 14 Jan 1955 on HMCS QUEBEC's circumnavigation of Africa

 

Source: Prince Edward County Archives Microfilm collection

 

Researched and complied by: © John Lyons 2014

Crossing the Line Certificate for B. Meikle during HMCS QUEBEC's South American Cruise 1954

 

Courtesy of Jason Rowbottom

Crossing the Line certificate for B. Meikle during HMCS QUEBEC's African Cruise 1955

 

Courtesy of Jason Rowbottom

Sailors from HMCS QUEBEC ashore - location unknown

 

Source: obituary for John Karlich

HMCS QUEBEC

 

From the collection of Larry Restall

 

Courtesy of Clayton Restall

 

 

GD01

GD02

(GD01) Gregory Deck posing with local child while ashore from HMCS QUEBEC.  Location unknown

(GD02) Gregory Deck (left) ashore with shipmates from HMCS QUEBEC. Location unknown

 

From the collection of Gregory Deck, RCN

 

Courtesy of Tina Deck Gardiner

 

 

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