HMCS Morden (K170)

HMCS Morden, 1941
History
Canada
Name:	Morden
Namesake:	Morden, Manitoba
Ordered:	1 February 1940
Builder:	Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co., Port Arthur
Laid down:	25 October 1940
Launched:	5 May 1941
Commissioned:	9 May 1941
Out of service:	paid off 29 June 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: K170
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1941-45
Fate:	Scrapped 1946.
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)
Installed power:	2 × fire tube Scotch boilers 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Propulsion:	Single shaft
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range:	3,500 nmi (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	85
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:	1 × BL 4 in (102 mm) Mk.IX single 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 Morden was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She fought primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as an ocean escort.

The "corvette" designation was created by the French for classes 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.

Morden is a city in the Pembina Valley region of southern Manitoba in Canada. (Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after Canadian communities). 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.

Morden was ordered on 1 February 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. at Port Arthur on 25 October 1940 and launched 5 May 1941. Morden was commissioned at Montreal on 6 September 1941.

During the war, Morden had four significant refits. Her first major refit took place at Southampton for a two-month refit beginning in November 1941 after escorting her first convoy. The second was a brief refit at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in June 1943. Her third major refit took place at Derry from November 1943 until January 1944, during which her fo'c'sle was extended. Morden's final major refit was begun in December 1944 at Sydney and completed in May 1945 at Halifax.

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