View source for HMCS Red Deer

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
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|Ship country=Canada
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}}
|Ship name= ''Red Deer''
|Ship namesake=[[Red Deer, Alberta|City of Red Deer]]
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|Ship builder=[[Canadian Vickers|Canadian Vickers Ltd.]], [[Montreal]]
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|Ship laid down=1 January 1941
|Ship launched=5 October 1941
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|Ship commissioned=24 November 1941
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|Ship decommissioned=30 October 1945
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|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: J255; 196 (1952)
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|Ship honours=Atlantic 1942–45,<ref name=Britain>{{cite web|title= Battle Honours | url=http://www.britainsnavy.co.uk/Battle%20Honours/A%20Battle%20Honour%20Date.htm#1900|work=Britain's Navy|access-date=18 September 2013}}</ref> Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942, 1944<ref name=Gulf>{{cite web|title=Royal Canadian Warships that Participated in the Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence|url=http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battlegulf/canwarship|work=Veterans Affairs Canada|access-date=18 September 2013|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927080617/http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battlegulf/canwarship|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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|Ship fate=Sold for scrap 1959
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class={{sclass|Bangor|minesweeper|1|ship}}
|Ship displacement={{convert|672|LT|t|abbr=on}}
|Ship length={{convert|180|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|oa]]
|Ship beam={{convert|28|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|9|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=2 Admiralty 3-drum water tube boilers, 2 shafts, vertical triple-expansion reciprocating engines, {{convert|2400|ihp|kW|-1|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed={{convert|16.5|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship complement=83
|Ship armament=*1 × [[QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|12-pounder ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}) 12 cwt HA gun]] or [[QF 3-inch 20 cwt|QF {{convert|3|in|adj=on|0}} 20 cwt gun]]
*1 x [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pdr Mark VIII]]
*2 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|QF 20 mm Oerlikon]] guns
*40 [[depth charge]]s as escort
}}
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'''HMCS ''Red Deer''''' was a {{sclass|Bangor|minesweeper||ship}} that served in the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]]. The minesweeper saw action in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] and the [[Battle of the St. Lawrence]]. She was named for [[Red Deer, Alberta]]. After the war the vessel was briefly reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy, but was not recommissioned and was sold for scrap and [[Ship breaking|broken up]] in 1959.

==Design and description==
A British design, the ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were smaller than the preceding {{sclass|Halcyon|minesweeper|1}}s in British service, but larger than the {{sclass|Fundy|minesweeper|4}} in Canadian service.<ref name=chesneau>Chesneau, p. 64</ref><ref name=mac167>Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 167</ref> They came in two versions powered by different engines; those with a [[diesel engine]]s and those with [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|vertical triple-expansion steam]] engines.<ref name=chesneau/> ''Red Deer'' was of the latter design and was larger than her diesel-engined cousins. ''Red Deer'' was {{convert|180|ft|m|1}} [[Length overall|long overall]], had a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|28|ft|6|in|m|1}} and a [[Draft (hull)|draught]] of {{convert|9|ft|9|in|m|1}}.<ref name=chesneau/><ref name=mac180>Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 180</ref> The minesweeper had a [[Displacement (ship)|displacement]] of {{convert|672|LT|t}}. She had a complement of 6 officers and 77 enlisted.<ref name=mac180/>

''Red Deer'' had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two [[Admiralty three-drum boiler]]s. The engines produced a total of {{convert|2400|ihp|lk=in}} and gave a maximum speed of {{convert|16.5|kn|lk=in}}. The minesweeper could carry a maximum of {{convert|150|LT|t|0}} of [[fuel oil]].<ref name=chesneau/>

In general, ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were armed with either a single [[Quick-firing gun|quick-firing]] (QF) [[QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|12-pounder ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}) 12 cwt HA gun]] or a [[QF 3-inch 20 cwt|QF {{convert|3|in|adj=on|0}} 20 cwt gun]] mounted forward.<ref name=chesneau/><ref name=mac180/>{{efn|name=gun nomenclature}} The ships were also fitted with a [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2-pounder Mark VIII]] aft and were eventually fitted with single-mounted [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|QF 20 mm Oerlikon]] guns on the [[Bridge (nautical)|bridge]] wings.<ref name=mac46>Macpherson (1997), p. 46</ref> Those ships assigned to convoy duty were armed with two [[depth charge]] launchers and four chutes to deploy their 40 depth charges.<ref name=chesneau/><ref name=mac46/> ''Red Deer'' was equipped with LL and SA minesweeping gear to counter magnetic and acoustic [[naval mine]]s.<ref name=mac46/>

==Service history==
''Red Deer'' was ordered as part of 1940–1941 construction programme. The minesweeper's [[keel]] was laid down on 10 January 1941 by [[Canadian Vickers|Canadian Vickers Ltd.]] at [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]. The ship was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 5 October later that year. ''Red Deer'' was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] into the Royal Canadian Navy on 24 November 1941 at Montreal with the [[pennant number]] J255.<ref name=m183>Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 183</ref>

After commissioning, ''Red Deer'' was assigned to the [[Western Local Escort Force]] as a convoy escort. At various periods after that she served with Sydney Force, Halifax Local Defence Force and the Gulf Escort Force, as part of the Battle of the St. Lawrence. On 12 January 1942 she rescued 95 survivors from the British merchant ship SS ''Cyclops'', which had been torpedoed by {{GS|U-123|1940|2}}. Beginning in February 1944, ''Red Deer'' was assigned to Newfoundland Force. In May 1944 she began a refit at [[Liverpool, Nova Scotia|Liverpool]], completing it in July 1944 and working up in [[Bermuda]] later that month. She returned to Newfoundland Force after working up and remained with the unit until the end of the war. She was paid off at [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] on 30 October 1945 and laid up at [[Shelburne, Nova Scotia|Shelburne]].<ref name=m183/>

After the war ''Red Deer'' was placed in strategic reserve at [[Sorel, Quebec]]. In 1952, she was reacquired by the Royal Canadian Navy and refitted in preparation for active duty and given the new pennant number 196. She was never recommissioned and was sold to [[Marine Industries]] of Sorel in February 1959 to be broken up.<ref name=m183/><ref name=C1>Colledge, p. 333</ref>

==Affiliations==
126 RCSCC Red Deer is a [[Royal Canadian Sea Cadets|Royal Canadian Sea Cadet]] Corp in Red Deer, Alberta, that is named after HMCS ''Red Deer''.

==See also==
* [[List of ships of the Canadian Navy]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{notes
| notes =

{{efn
| name = gun nomenclature
| "Cwt" is the abbreviation for [[hundredweight]], 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
}}
}}

===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |editor-last=Chesneau |editor-first=Roger |date=1980 |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=Greenwich, UK |isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Barrie |first2=Ron |date=2002 |title=The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002 |edition=Third |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |location=St. Catharines, Ontario |isbn=1-55125-072-1}}
* {{cite book|title=Minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy 1938–1945 |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |date=1997 |location=St. Catharines, Ontario |isbn=0-920277-55-1}}

==External links==
* [http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww2/bangor/ Haze Gray and Underway]
* [http://www.readyayeready.com/cgi-bin/query/display.pl?index=1348 ReadyAyeReady.com]

{{Bangor class minesweeper}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Deer (J255)}}
[[Category:Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Montreal]]
[[Category:1941 ships]]
[[Category:World War II minesweepers of Canada]]