HMCS NOOTKA
DDE 213
 A
NOOTKA was already in service with the RCN when the Tribal was laid down.
The first of the name was a 696 ton Basser Class coal burning trawler named
after Nootka Sound in British Columbia. The old ship was eventually sold
and became a mercantile tug. Commissioned on 7th August 1946 at Halifax,
NOOTKA served as a training ship on the east coast and the Caribbean until
her conversion to a destroyer escort in 1949 and 1950. A minor calamity
occurred on 1st April 1949 when NOOTKA was refuelling at sea. The quick
release coupling on the hose accidently released itself and a fountain
of high pressure oil sprayed all over the ship from the 293 radar antenna
to the waterline and including the Chief Stoker and the Engineering Officer.
There was so much of it to clean up that NOOTKA used up all of her cotton
waste and had to get more from MAGNIFICENT. After completing more exercises,
she was paid off on 15th August 1949. |
 |
HMCS NOOTKA after her conversion to a destroyer escort. What a graceful sight to see a Tribal steaming at high speed. (HMCS HAIDA Archives Photo 997.004.002)
- During her conversion to an escort destroyer, NOOTKA'S 4.7 inch
guns were replaced with 4 inch mountings by February 1950. It was decided
that she should be further altered. The 'Y' mounting was removed altogether
and two triple-barelled Mark IV Squids were installed. After some trials,
she returned to port for additional alterations in order to fit two Boffin
gun mounts. These were single 40mm Bofors on a twin 20mm Oerlikon powered
mounting. Earmarked for Korean duty, she transited the Panama Canal in
December 1950 for the first of two tours of duty in that theatre of war.
Returning to Halifax via the Mediterranean at the end of 1952, she became
the second RCN ship to circumnavigate the globe. HMCS QUEBEC was the first.
During 1953 and 1954 she underwent further conversion and modernization,
afterward resuming her original training duties.
March 1961 saw HAIDA, HURON and NOOTKA battling through an icy gale to help search for a Nova Scotian fisherman who encountered difficulties in the Atlantic. NOOTKA's evaporator pump, turbo-generator and sonar gear gave trouble in spite of regular and extensive refits. In 1963, with HAIDA, she toured the Great Lakes in the course of a summer's cruising. NOOTKA'S last series of exercises found her in Bermuda. While berthing at the jetty, the wind pushed her hard up against the jetty while berthing and she sustanied some damage. A temporary concrete patch allowed her to return home. She was de-comissioned at Halifax on 6th February 1964 and broken up at Faslane Scotland the following year.
The Nootka, for which the ship is named, are North American Indians who traditionally lived along the seaward coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Outstanding sea hunters as well as fishermen and woodworkers, the Nootka and a few neighboring imitators were the only tribe to harpoon humpback and California gray whales using 35 foot whalers. Whale oil was an important product, but the prestige of whaling was far more important.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Builders: Halifax Shipyards, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Canada
Engined by: John Inglis, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Canada
Ordered: June 1941
Laid Down: 20th May 1942
Launched: 26th April 1944
Commissioned: 7th August 1946
Pennant numbers: R96 July 1946 - December 1949; DDE 213 January 1950 - October 1964
Radio call sign: CZJS
Voice call sign: Sand Iron