November 1942 - June 1950
Iroquois' First Lieutenant was Lieut.-Cdr C.R."Tony" Coughlin, D.S.C. of
Ottawa.
On October 18, 1944, the ship encountered a severe storm. A huge wave drove 'A" gun into the deck plates and formed such a large hole that anyone could easily transit from the forward portion of the fo'c'sle to the deck. Everything on the upper deck was cleaned off - port and starboard life boats, Carley floats and the motor launch. Tom Ingham, a stoker serving aboard Iroquois, was in one of the boiler rooms at the time of the incident. He thought the ship had hit bottom. Unfortunately, the incident was not without loss
of life. Lieut.-Cdr. Tony Coughlin was mortally wounded and succumbed to
his injuries on October 20. Iroquois was pounding north through the Irish
Sea on the way to Scapa Flow - heavy weather again. About 2100
hours, Coughlin came down from the bridge and as he hit the main deck,
at the break of the fo'scle, he was washed over the side. He came back,
partially, adjacent to Y-gun, hooking his leg around a deck stanchion.
Y-gun crew heard him yell, found him and hauled him back aboard.
Unfortunately, his leg was so badly damaged that bone marrow got into his
bloodstream and he died shortly thereafter. The ship continued
on to Scapa and he was buried in the Orkney Islands north of Scotland.
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Iroquois had three mascots - a dog, a cat, and a monkey. Here, (L-R) Stokers Armstrong, Lisk and Joe Gravel pose with their tiny friend named "Cheeta". Sherron, another crew member brought the monkey from a merchant ship. At night, the primate would hop into someone's hammock and crawl under the covers to keep warm. (Photo courtesy Tom Ingham)One favourite activity of crew which was off-duty was writing letters to home. This scene was recorded in Plymouth , 1944. From L-R seated, are: Hoffman, Garret, "Pop" Campbell, Marks, Williamson, Oates, Ingham and McPherson. In the hammock is Sto.Conrad. (DND-167)
In this photo, Lt. Saks of Iroquois is gathering information from a Free French Infantry person. The location was on Ile d' Yeu, in the Bay of Biscay. Saks was in charge of the first Iroquois landing party during August 1944. (Photo courtesy of James Dowell)
Most people in the Canadian and British Navy knew about Captain Walker and his ship HMS Starling (U66). He pioneered the method that turned the tide in the Battle Of The Atlantic. In total, Walker's group sank twenty three German U-Boats. While escorting a convoy from Gibraltar, HMS Starling sank six U-boats alone. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross four times. While at home in Liverpool, he developed thrombosis and died on 9 July, 1944. His body was taken by gun carriage from the cathedral in Liverpool and piped aboard HMS Hesperus and buried at sea on 12th July 1944. For his funeral, approximately 100 crew members of HMCS Iroquois were hand picked to form a guard of honour behind the gun carriage. (Photo courtesy of Tom Ingham)
On May 13 1945, HMS Devonshire transported Crown Prince Olav back to Norway. The Crown Prince spent some time on the bridge in the uniform of A British Army brigadier. In company with Devonshire were HM Ships Apollo, Arendal and HMCS Iroquois. As the ships entered Oslo Fiord, there was an outpouring of emotion by the Norwegian people. (Photos courtesy Tom Ingham)
HMS Devonshire in Copenhagen Denmark, 1945. (Photo submitted by Bernard Mouzer <bernardmouzer@talktalk.net>)
In Oslo Fiord, small boats come out to welcome HMS Apollo and her escorts all the way to Oslo.
This scene is a photo of several Iroquois crew returning greetings to the
Norwegian people who came out in every boat imaginable to salute the passing
ships as they proceeded up the Oslo Fjord. Crown Prince Olaf was on the British ship HMS Devonshire. (Photo via Jim Dowell)
Many Norwegians assemble on the Oslo waterfront to greet the ships. They were free at last, after five years of Nazi occupation. It was a big celebration. School kids would ask sailors for their autographs when then they walked down the street. Not to mention, there were lots of hugs and kisses from the girls. Iroquois crewmember George Boynett has his arm around the Norwegian girl.
Captain Ken Adams took over from Capt. Hibbard in Feb 1945 and was Captain until Iroquois returned to Canada. He followed Hibbard, again, as Capt D, Halifax, in July '45. (Photo via Ted Doyle).
July 29/06
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