HMCS Sudbury (K162)

HMCS Sudbury at sea, circa 1944-1945. This photograph was taken after the May 1944 completion of the refit that included a forecastle extension.
Career (Canada)	Royal Canadian Navy
Namesake:	Sudbury, Ontario
Builder:	Kingston Shipbuilding Ltd., Kingston
Laid down:	25 January 1941
Launched:	31 May 1941
Commissioned:	15 October 1941
Decommissioned:	28 August 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K162
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1941-44
Fate:	Sold in 1949 as mercantile Sudbury. Scrapped in 1967.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette (original)
Displacement:	925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 ST)
Length:	205 ft (62.48 m)o/a
Beam:	33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught:	11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion:	single shaft 2 x water tube boilers 1 x 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed:	16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range:	3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement:	85
Sensors and processing systems:	1 x SW1C or 2C radar 1 x Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:	1 x BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk.IX gun 2 x .50 cal machine gun (twin) 2 x Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 x Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 x depth charge rails with 40 depth charges originally fitted with minesweeping gear, later removed

HMCS Sudbury was a Flower-class corvette that served the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.

Sudbury was laid down at Kingston Shipbuilding Ltd., Kingston on 25 January 1941 and launched on 31 May 1941. She was commissioned into the RCN on 15 October 1941.

She was declared surplus and decommissioned by the RCN on 28 August 1945.

Civilian service

Sudbury entered civilian service and underwent several ownership changes by the early 1950s when she was acquired in 1954 by Island Tug and Barge of Victoria, British Columbia. She was converted to an ocean-going tugboat and retained her original name.

Sudbury and her crew specialized in deep-sea salvage and completed many dramatic operations. Their most daring rescue took place in November-December 1955 when they saved the Greek freighter Makeconia in the North Pacific. Sudbury towed the disabled vessel for 40 days through some of the roughest weather imaginable before arriving safely at Vancouver. The incident made headlines around the world and for the next decade Sudbury was one of the most famous tugs on the Pacific coast. She was eventually badly damaged during repairs by a boiler explosion, the fireman on watch having lingered too long in a quayside pub, and thus the hull was dismantled for scrap in 1966 and officially stricken in 1967.

External links

• Haze gray and underway's web page devoted to SS Sudbury.
• Navy League page devoted to HMCS Sudbury.
• HMCS Sudbury on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.
• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Ship Technical Information
• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Photo Archive