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HMCS
ST STEPHEN K454
River
Class Frigate
CCG ST STEPHEN
Weather
Ship
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Post wartime badge |
HMCS ST STEPHEN K454 Click
on the above photo to view a larger image
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Battle honours and awards: Atlantic
1944-45
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Laid down: 5
Oct
1943
Launched: 06
Feb 1944
Commissioned: 28
Jul 1944
Paid off: 30
Jan 1946
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Re-commissioned: 27
Sep 1947
Paid off: 31
Aug 1950
Fate:
Sold approx 1968. Final disposition unknown
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Commissioned on 28 Jul
1944, at Esquimalt, St. Stephen arrived at Halifax on 28 Sep 1944
and in Oct 1944 proceeded to Bermuda to work up. Returning in
mid-Nov 1944, she joined EG C-5 and spent the balance of the war as
a mid-ocean escort. She left Barry, Wales, on 27 May 1945, to take
passage home with convoy ON.305, and early in Jun 1945 began
tropicalization refit at Dartmouth, N.S. This was cancelled in Aug
1945 and on 30 Jan 1946, the ship was paid off at Halifax and
laid up in Bedford Basic. On 27 Sep 1947, she was
re-commissioned, having undergone alterations to fit her as a
weather ship. She spent the next three years at weather station 4YB
(Station "Baker") between Labrador and Greenland, on
rotation with an American ship
until
Aug 1950, when she sailed to Esquimalt to be paid off on 31 Aug 1950 and lent to the Department of Transport. Retained primarily as a
"spare" in the event of a mishap to St. Catharines or
Stone Town. She was purchased by the Department in 1958. Ten year
later she was sold to a Vancouver buyer, purportedly for conversion
to a fish factory ship.
The following is an excerpt from the
Canadian Coast Guard web site:
"It was to this class, rapidly becoming redundant in the
post war navy, that the Department turned as the basis of an
entirely new kind of vessel, the specially equipped deep sea weather
ship. The first of the line, HMCS St. Stephen, remained for
a while as a weather ship under naval control. With a complement of
some ninety officers and ships company, and a civilian staff of five
Transport meteorological observers, HMCS St. Stephen served
in the North Atlantic, on alternate patrols with a United States
ship on station "Baker", from Dec 1947 till Jun 1950
by which time, for economic reasons, it was decided that Canada
should abandon her half share in the Atlantic work and take full
responsibility for station "Peter" in the Pacific, in
position 50 deg. North latitude and 145 deg. West longitude. This
position in 900 miles from Vancouver."
"The St. Stephen, which had been used as a standby
vessel to support the others, was converted in the same way by 1955
but, as they were able to keep going without replacement, her
services were never needed and she remained in reserve at Victoria.
If rumour is to be believed, this was just as well for a cannibal
diet of fittings and equipment had sustained life in her sisters at
many an awkward moment."
Weather
ship ST STEPHEN: Did you know that when ST STEPHEN went to sea she
always has a list? The reason was they converted on of the water tanks
to a fuel tank to she would have extra fuel to be able to stay on station
for 30 days. Did you know that ST STEPHEN was fitted with a mast and a
sail? The frigate was fitted with a special mast and sail for use in
heavy weather for better maneuverability and fuel consumption. ST
STEPHEN trivia courtesy of Gerry Cunningham, RCN
Photos
and Documents Ship's
company photos Canadian
Weather ships They
Won't Forget Her
Commanding Officers
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LCdr Charles Peterson,
RCNR - 28 Jul 1944 - 22 Jan 1945
A/LCdr Richard Cassels
C.,
RCNVR - 23 Jan 1945 - 22 Mar 1945
LCdr Neville Spencer Charles
D.,
RCNVR - 23 Mar 1945 - 08 Aug 1945
Lt G.F. Crosby,
RCNVR - 09 Aug 1945 - 05 Sep 1945 |
LCdr
Anthony F. Pickard, RCNR - 17 Sep 1945 - 04 Dec 1945
Lt William Geldart Findlay,
RCNR - 05 Dec 1945 - 30 Jan 1946
Lt
Ernest M. Chadwick,
RCN - 27 Sep 1947 - 25 Aug 1949
LCdr Godfrey Harry Hayes,
RCN - 26 Aug 1949 - 31 Aug 1950 |
In memory of those who have crossed the bar 
They shall not be
forgotten
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Amelia,
Mike
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Bakody,
Howard
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Binnington,
Charles R.
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Blackwell,
Eugene
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Brooks,
George S.W.
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Chepelsky,
Michael F.
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Chadwick,
Ernest M. |
Cunningham,
Gerald
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Ciz,
Michael |
Crosby,
Walter R.
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Findlay,
William G.
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Hampson,
Lawrence G. |
Hayes,
Godfrey H. |
Hughes,
Donald C.
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Hurtubise,
Albert J.
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Lawrence,
John S.
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Maxwell,
Donald E. |
McGinn, George
H. |
McInnis,
William F.
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McKinnon,
Donald C. |
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Melanson,
Louis M.
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Mott, Ralph
S. W.
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Nelson, Norman
E. |
Pickard,
Anthony F.
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Rafuse,
Wilfred A.
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Sedgwick,
Carl I.
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Sellon,
Murray G.
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Silmser,
Robert W.
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Smith, S.
Kingston
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Stipkala, J. Bernard
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Swan,
Norman W.
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White,
William A.
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Former Crew Members
(MC) = Crew (messdeck) photo of
Michael Chepelsky
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Almas,
Gordon (MC)
Anderson,
John (Jack) Edward Peter, Midshipman, RCN - 16 Jun 1948
Baird,
John Douglas Boyd, Surg/Lt, RCNVR - Jan 1945
Bakos,
George (MC)
Beatty,
Edward (MC)
Borals,
Steve (MC)
Brown, Toby (MC)
Cain, Glen (MC)
Cameron (MC)
Campbell,
James McGeer, Lt, RCNVR - 25 Mar 1945
Campbell,
John Scott, Lt, RCNVR - 12 Jul 1944 / 28 Jul 1944
Case,
Aurther (MC)
Cornwall, Joe (MC)
Danielson (MC)
Gagne,
Joseph Paul Rene, Wt (E), RCN - 30 Jul 1946 / 14 Jun 1946
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Gauthier,
Jim (MC)
Grudniski,
Leo, Lt, O.St.J., CD, RCN 
- served in Weather ship St Stephen in the 1950s
Hartshorn (MC)
Hyde (MC)
Lahnen, Ossie (MC)
Lee, Bob (MC)
Marr,
Francis Barbour, Lt, RCNVR - 12 Jul 1944 / 28 Jul 1944
Mason,
Harry (MC)
Masters,
William Clarke, SLt, RCNVR - 10 Feb 1945
McCarthy,
Dan (MC)
McDonald, Hugh (MC)
McDonald, Ken (MC)
McKenna,
Robert Leonard, Lt, RCNVR - Jan 1945
McNeil
(MC)
McPherson (MC)
Melvin,
William James Spencer, Surg/Lt, RCNVR - 12 Jul 1944
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Mills,
Scully (MC)
Oake,
Raymond (MC)
O'Brien
(MC)
Petersen,
Charles, A/LCdr, RCNR - 26 Jun 1944, CO
Pierce,
Bill (MC)
Pollish, George (MC)
Robinson,
Percy (MC)
Romanson,
George, Midshipman, RCN - 16 Jun 1948
Schlatter,
Al (MC)
Shaver,
Bob (MC)
Sloane,
John Donald, SLt, RCNVR - 04 May 1945
Staunton,
Thomas Arthur, Lt, RCNVR - 26 Jun 1944 / 28 Jul 1944
Thompson,
John Edgar, A/Lt, RCNVR - 03 Jul 1944 / 28 Jul 1944
Turcan
(MC)
Wasteneys,
Michael Edmund, Lt (P), RCN - 26 Jun 1948
Wrench,
Walter E.
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Photos
and Documents
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HMCS St Stephen K454 Jacket Patch
From the collection of Michael Chepelsky
Courtesy of Kristine Chepelsky
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Sailors off HMCS St Stephen K454 during her
transit of the Panama Canal enroute to Esquimalt
Michael Chepelsky, first on right - Remainder
unknown
From the collection of Michael Chepelsky
Courtesy of Kristine Chepelsky
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Sailors in a messdeck on HMCS St Stephen
Norman Nelson, middle row far right in the white
shirt
From the collection of Norman Nelson
Courtesy of Rick Nelson |
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Norman Nelson on HMCS St Stephen
From the collection of Norman Nelson
Courtesy of Rick Nelson |
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Boxing on HMCS St Stephen
From the collection of Norman Nelson
Courtesy of Rick Nelson |
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Norman Nelson ashore in Bermuda - circa Oct/Nov
1944
From the collection of Norman Nelson
Courtesy of Rick Nelson |
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