Allied Warships

HMCS Fennel (K 194)

Corvette of the Flower class

NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy
TypeCorvette
ClassFlower 
PennantK 194 
Built byMarine Industries Ltd. (Sorel, Quebec, Canada) 
Ordered22 Jan 1940 
Laid down29 Mar 1940 
Launched20 Aug 1940 
Commissioned15 May 1941 
End service12 Jun 1945 
Loss position
 
History

Fo'c's'le extention at Baltimore (Maryland, U.S.A.) completed on 6 September 1943.

Decommissioned and returned to the Royal Navy on 12 June 1945.
Sold in 1948 to Kosmos and became the merchantile Milliam Kihl.
Rebuildt as bouy-boat in October 1948.
Refitted as whaler in 1951 in Kiel, Germany.
Laid up in 1960/1961.
Last drifting season 1964/1965.
Laid up again in Sandefjord.
Sold to Norwegian shipbreakers in Grimstad in 1966.

Commanding Officers:
???

Lt.Cdr. J.N. Smith, RCNR
16 April 1941 – 31 October 1941

T/Lt. James Mitchell Gillison, RCNR
1 November 1941 – 26 May 1942

T/Lt. Ralph Berton Warwick, RCNVR
27 May 1942 – 5 September 1943
Promoted to Lt.Cdr. on 1 July 1943

A/Lt.Cdr. William Purvis Moffat, RCNVR
6 September 1943 – 15 May 1944

Lt. Kenneth Lorne Johnson, RCNVR
16 May 1944 – 12 June 1945
Promoted to Lt.Cdr. on 7 September 1944.

 
Former nameHMS Fennel

Commands listed for HMCS Fennel (K 194)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

CommanderFromTo
1J. N. Smith, RCNR16 Apr 194131 Oct 1941
2James Mitchell Gillison, RCNR1 Nov 194126 May 1942
3Ralph Berton Warwick, RCNVR27 May 19425 Sep 1943
4William Purvis Moffat, RCNVR6 Sep 194315 May 1944
5Kenneth Lorne Johnson, RCNVR16 May 194412 Jun 1945

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Noteable events involving Fennel 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 (T/Lt.Cdr. A.F. Pickard, RCNR with Cdr. P.W. Burnett, DSC, RN escort group commander onboard), Canadian corvettes HMCS Fennel (A/Lt.Cdr. W.P. Moffat, RCNVR), HMCS Chilliwack (T/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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