HMCS Fraser (H48)
.jpg?lang=en) HMCS Fraser in her previous guise as HMS Crescent
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK | |
| Name | HMS Cresent |
| Ordered | 1930 |
| Builder | Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down | 18 December 1930 |
| Launched | 29 September 1931 |
| Out of service | Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy on 17 February 1937 |
| History | |
.svg?lang=en){kind=small} Canada | |
| Name | HMCS Fraser |
| Namesake | Fraser River |
| Cost | $978,527[1] |
| Commissioned | 17 February 1937 |
| Honours & awards | Atlantic |
| Fate | Sunk 25 June 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | River-class destroyer |
| Displacement | list error: <br /> list (help) 1,375 long tons (1,397.1 t) standard 1,942 long tons (1,973.2 t) deep |
| Length | 329 feet (100 m) o/a |
| Beam | 33 feet (10.1 m) |
| Draught | 12.5 feet (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion | 3 x Admiralty 3-drum water tube boilers (except Kempenfelt, Yarrow boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 36,000 shp on 2 shafts |
| Speed | 35.5 kn (65.7 km/h) |
| Range | 5,500 nmi (10,186.0 km) at 15 kn (27.8 km/h) |
| Complement | 181 (10 officers, 171 ratings) |
| Armament | list error: mixed text and list (help)
|
HMCS Fraser (formerly the Royal Navy HMS Crescent) was a River-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1937 to 1940.
Royal Navy Service
She was laid down on 18 December 1930 at Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness and launched on 29 September 1931. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Crescent, a C-class destroyer, in 1932. She was decommissioned from the Royal Navy on 17 February 1937 and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Fraser at Chatham[1] on the same day.
Service pre-World War II
She arrived at Esquimalt on 3 May 1937 and was stationed on the West Coast until the outbreak of the war.[1]
World War II service
Ocean Convoy Escort
At the outbreak of World War II, Fraser was ordered to the East Coast, arriving at Halifax on 15 September. She and her sisters were employed as local escorts to ocean convoys sailing from Halifax. In November the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station took operational control of the Canadian destroyers.[1]
Caribbean Patrol
In March 1940 she was ordered to join the Jamaica Force for Caribbean patrol service before being re-assigned to British waters. On 26 May she left Bermuda for Britain, arriving at Plymouth on 3 June.[1]
English Channel and Western Approaches
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On the night of 25 June 1940, Fraser was tasked to join the destroyer HMCS Restigouche and cruiser HMS Calcutta on Operation Ariel to rescue 4,000 refugees trapped by the German Army from the coast of Bordeaux, France.
Collision with Calcutta and loss
The warships encountered rough seas and poor visibility, forcing the commanding officer of Fraser to close quarters with the other two vessels. Fraser executed a turn to port to bring the ship behind Calcutta but in doing so, the two ships collided. The bow of the heavier Calcutta sliced into Fraser with such force that the destroyer was cut into three pieces. The wreck lies in an approximate position of 45°45′N 1°30′W / 45.750°N 1.500°W.[2]
Fraser lost 47 sailors[1], and a further 19 were lost from Calcutta. Many of the survivors from Fraser transferred that summer to HMCS Margaree and were lost when that vessel sank on 22 October 1940 as a result of a collision with the freighter MV Port Fairy.
Commanding Officers
| From | Until | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Feb 1937 | 24 Mar 1937 | Captain V G Brodeur CB CBE RCN[1] |
| 25 Mar 1937 | 31 Aug 1938Z | Commander R E Reid CB RCN[1] |
| 1 Sep 1938 | 25 Jun 1940 | Commander W B Creery CBE RCN[1] |