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HMCS Huron was a Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and the Korean War. Entering service in 1943, she was the first ship to bear this name. During the Second World War the vessel saw service in Operation Neptune in the Bay of Biscay and along the French coast in support of the invasion of Normandy and escorted convoys to the Soviet Union. With the onset of the Korean War, she was modernized and deployed twice to Korea. Following the Korean War, Huron reverted to a training ship.

Design & Construction

The Tribal-Class were designed to fight heavily armed destroyers of other navies, such as the Japanese Fubuki-class. Canada chose the design as the size and power of the Tribal class would allow them to act more like small cruisers than as fleet destroyers, an important consideration for the fairly small Royal Canadian navy. Huron was among the first batch of Tribal-class destroyers with modified ventilation and heating systems for North Atlantic winter service. Canadian Tribals were a foot longer than their British counterparts and carried an auxiliary boiler for heating and additional power requirements.

Huron was ordered on 5 April 1940 as part of the 1940 shipbuilding programme. Due to the increased workload on British shipyards after the Fall of France, her keel-laying was delayed. She was laid down on 15 July 1941 by Vickers-Armstrongs in Newcastle upon Tyne and launched on 25 June 1942. She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 19 July 1943. She was completed on 28 July.

Service History

October 1943 - February 1944

After commissioning, Huron joined the Royal Navy Home Fleet and was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, based at Scapa Flow. From 1-11 October, she took part in Operation Holder, a naval operation to deliver personnel, stores and mail from Scapa Flow to Murmansk at the base of the Kola inlet. Several Allied ships had remained through the summer in the northern USSR to avoid passage during the months of long daylight hours. On her return to Scapa Flow, Huron was damaged by a collision with an oiler and required repairs which lasted a month. On her return from repairs, she took part in the escort of convoys on the hazardous Arctic route to the USSR. She took part in the escort of six convoys from November 1943 to March 1944, three outbound and three return convoys.

February 1944 -

On 10 February 1944, Huron was nominated for Service with 10th Destroyer Flotilla, based at Plymouth as part of Allied preparations for Operation "Neptune", the naval phase of the Normandy Landings. As part of this, Allied forces were engaged in Operation "Hostile", covering minelayers as they laid minefields in German waters, and Operation "Tunnel", patrols against German shipping in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay. By late April 1944, Huron had carried out eleven Hostile and Tunnel missions

On 25 April 1944, Huron, along with several other destroyers, encountered three torpedo boats of the German 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla while performing an Operation Tunnel mission. The result of the engagement saw the Canadian destroyers sink T29 and severely damage the others. Huron was damaged in the action, colliding with HMS Ashanti. At the end of May, the 10th Destroyer Flotilla was assigned to the Hurd Deep Patrol, maintaining a patrol line to intercept German surface craft still based at Brest, Cherbourg, and ports in the Bay of Biscay to prevent Axis naval forces moving through the English Channel.

On 9 June 1944, as a result of Ultra intercepts, Huron and several other destroyers intercepted a force of German destroyers heading for the Allied invasion fleet in what became known as the Battle of Ushant, off the coast of Brittany. After a fierce gun battle, she assisted Haida in running Z32 aground and pummeling the wreck. Later that month, on 27 and 28 June 1944, while on patrol with fellow Tribal-class destroyer HMS Eskimo, they intercepted a German detachment composed of a heavily armed minesweeper and two naval trawlers. Huron sank the minesweeper and a trawler. However, the second trawler severely damaged Eskimo, knocking that destroyer out of action.

August 1944 -

In August 1944, Huron was nominated to undergo a refit in Halifax, Canada, where she arrived later that month. After completing her refit and post work trials, she arrived at Cardiff on 28 November to be fitted with new radar and targeting equipment. In February 1945 she was based at Plymouth, engaged in escort duties in the Western Approaches. At the end of March 1945, she was assigned to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow where she completed two further Russian convoy operations. After VE Day, she operated in Norwegian waters, with visits to Trondheim to ensure the surrender of German forces. In June she returned to Canada, where she began a refit in order to prepare for service in the Pacific Ocean. However, her refit was still incomplete when it was suspended in August 1945 after the surrender of Japan. Huron was placed into reserve in March 1946, where she would remain until recommissioning in 1950.

1950 -

Huron underwent another refit in late 1949 into early 1950, to prepare her for a return to service. She was re-commissioned at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in February 1950 for training duties. With the outbreak of the Korean War on January 22, 1951, she was sent to Korean waters to join the UN naval forces. On March 15, 1951, the destroyer arrived at her destination, and in early April, HMCS Huron and her sister ship Athabaskan provided cover for aircraft carriers on the east coast of Korea as they carried out airstrikes on Wonsan.

In May 1951, Huron moved to the west coast to cover aircraft carriers and carry out coastal patrols. During one of her patrols, the destroyer captured a large Chinese junk with eight crew members. At the end of June 1951, the destroyer moved to the east coast, covering the aircraft carriers and carrying out the tasks of shelling the coast and coastal patrols. Huron provided cover for the aircraft carriers HMS Glory and USS Sicily during air strikes against North Korea. On 14 August 1951, Huron departed for Canada, she was replaced by HMCS Athabaskan.

Upon her return to Canada on 21 September 1951, HMCS Huron underwent a major overhaul which last until 1953. The conversion changed her armament, replacing the "Y" gun mount with a twin Squid anti-submarine mortar mount . The main battery was replaced by 102 mm guns instead of 120 mm guns in "A" and "B" mounts, "X" turret became a twin 76 mm/50 gun. The anti-aircraft armament was also upgraded to four single Bofors 40mm guns.

The second deployment to Korea as a member of the Commonwealth group lasted from June 18, 1953 to February 5, 1954. The last part of this deployment fell on the period of the truce. The third cruise, from October 1 to December 26, 1954, was undertaken in conjunction with the United Nations fleet, which was watching Korean waters.

After her Korean campaigns, HMCS Huron was returned to training duties. From time to time she took part in NATO activities, until April 20, 1963 she was transferred to the reserve in Halifax. She was sold for scrapping in August 1965 and taken to La Spezia, Italy to be broken up.

Battle Honors

HMCS Huron earned the following battle honors during her service: Arctic 1943-45 - English Channel 1944 - Normandy 1944 - Korea 1952-3