Vol. 65, No. 1 spring 2020 6
Figure 3 (April 1942): Aſt er refi tting at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Chicoutimi’s foremast has been moved aſt and the bridge expanded. T ere are 20-millimeter cannons on the bridge and a 2-pounder in the aſt tub. A 20-inch searchlight has been mounted forward of the gun tub. T ere are now four depth charge throwers. T e galley stack now rises up the funnel instead of the aſt side of the bridge. T e structure between the mast and bridge is the British Type 271 radar. T e SW radar was retained but its older Yagi antenna has been replaced at the masthead by four dipoles confi gured in an ‘X’. Gun shield art has been added: Bugs Bunny chewing on a U-boat superimposed on an Indian head, saying “What’s Up Doc?”. T e camoufl age is an RN pattern.
solution was to place the gun tub at the aſt er end of the casing and move the mainmast forward. Canada did not have a supply of 2-pounder anti-aircraſt guns for which the tub was designed, so two dual 0.50-inch machine gun mounts were installed there. Lighter 0.30-inch Lewis guns were mounted on the bridge where the British had placed their heavier machine gun armament.
One other major diff erence between British and Canadian corvettes was to have severe ramifi cations on the Canadian ships’ eff ectiveness. British ships were equipped with gyro compasses, electronically controlled and stabilized devices that gave a true reading of the ship’s course in any sea condition, and which came with repeaters fi tted throughout the ship: on the bridge, in the wheelhouse, and in the Asdic house. Canada lacked enough gyro compasses to equip the fi rst program corvette fl eet, so they were all commissioned with a single magnetic compass mounted in a binnacle inside the Asdic house on the bridge. Magnetic compasses were not stabilized and were not up to the modern navigation standards
demanded by World War II. T eir needles moved with every movement of the ship, so courses had to be guessed from the needle’s mean position. T ey were graduated in 32 ‘points’ rather than 360 degrees. T ese factors greatly complicated station keeping, U-boat hunting, and working in company with RN ships. It was not possible for a Canadian corvette captain to conn his ship from the open bridge and be inside the Asdic house watching the compass at the same time. Steering commands had to be passed from the bridge to the wheelhouse via voice pipe; the coxswain at the wheel had no second compass. No gyros meant the ships were not built with the low- power system necessary to operate them, so the fi rst corvettes were also fi tted with the Type 123A Asdic, an older system already considered obsolete in the RN.
Other than these diff erences, the Canadian corvettes were much like their British sisters, having an overall length of 205 feet, breadth of 33 feet 1 inch, draſt aſt of 15 feet 6 inches, and displacing 950 tons. T e engine produced 2,750 horsepower at 185
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
