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Allied Warships

HMCS Gatineau (H 61)

Destroyer of the E class

NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassE 
PennantH 61 
Built bySwan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.): Wallsend 
Ordered 
Laid down24 Mar, 1933 
Launched29 May, 1934 
Commissioned3 Jun, 1943 
End service10 Jan, 1946 
Loss position
 
HistoryFormer Royal Navy destroyer HMS Express transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on 3 June 1943.
Decommissioned 10 January 1946.  
Former nameHMS Express

Noteable events involving Gatineau include:

6 Mar, 1944
After unsuccessful attempts at towing the boat to port the German submarine U-744 was sunk at 1830hrs on 6 March 1944 in the North Atlantic, in position 52º01'N, 22º37'W, after being torpedoed by the British destroyer HMS Icarus (Lt.Cdr. R. Dyer, RN). U-744 was attacked for over 30 hours by depth charges from HMS Icarus, the Canadian frigate HMCS St. Catharines (Cdr. P.W. Burnett, DSC, RN), Canadian corvettes HMCS Fennel (Lt. W.P. Moffat, RCNVR), HMCS Chilliwack (A/Lt.Cdr. C.R. Coughlin, RCNVR), Canadian destroyers HMCS Chaudiere (A/Lt.Cdr. C.P. Nixon, RCN), HMCS Gatineau (A/Lt.Cdr. H.V.W. Groos, RCN) and the British corvette HMS Kenilworth Castle (Lt. J.J.Allon, RNR). (see map)


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