HMCS Moosejaw (K164)

HMCS Moose Jaw, circa 1941
History
Canada
Name:	Moose Jaw
Namesake:	Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Ordered:	1 February 1940
Builder:	Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood
Laid down:	12 August 1940
Launched:	9 April 1941
Commissioned:	19 June 1941
Decommissioned:	8 July 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K164
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1941-43 English Channel 1944-45 Normandy 1944
Fate:	Scrapped in September 1949 in Canada.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flower-class corvette
Displacement:	925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
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 × fire tube Scotch boilers 1 × 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 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:	1 × BL 4 in (100 mm) Mk.IX gun 2 × .50 cal. machine gun (twin) 2 × Lewis .303 cal machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 × depth charge rails with 40 depth charges

HMCS Moose Jaw was a Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escort duties during the Second World War. Together with HMCS Chambly, she achieved the RCN's first U-boat kill of the war. She was named after Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Flower-class corvettes like Moose Jaw serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French as a class of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part, to better represent the people who took part in building them. This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W. Nelles. Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named. Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts, while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear. Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas.

Moose Jaw was originally named Churchill, for Churchill, Manitoba but after a naming conflict with a Royal Navy vessel, her name was changed. She was ordered on 1 February 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down at Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood on 12 August 1940 and launched on 9 April 1941. She was commissioned into the RCN two months later on 19 June at Collingwood.