HMCS GRILSE 71

 

USN Balao Class Submarine

 


 

HMCS GRILSE SS71

Source: City of Vancouver Archives.  Photographer Walter E. Frost

 

Laid down: 24 Feb 1943

Launched: 18 Jun 1943

Commissioned: 13 Sep 1943

Paid off: 11 May 1961

Commissioned in the RCN: 11 May 1961

Paid off: 02 Oct 1969

Returned to USN: 02 Oct 1969

Fate: Sunk as a target on 19 Nov 1969

Ship's sponsor: Mrs. P. Sevigny

 

Commissioned as USS BURRFISH on 13 Sep 1943, she was borrowed from the USN and commissioned as HMCS GRILSE on 11 May 1961 at New London, CT. After she was paid off she was returned to the USN. On 19 Nov 1969 she was sunk as a target off San Clemente Island, CA.

 


 

Photos and Documents          Ship's Company Photos          The Ship's Bell

 

Commissioning book

 


 

Commanding Officers

 

LCdr Edmond Gilbert Gigg, RCN - 11 May 1961 - 02 Dec 1962

LCdr G.C. McMorris, RCN - 03 Dec 1962 - 27 Sep 1964

LCdr J. Rodocanachi, RCN - 28 Sep 1964 - 09 Sep 1966

LCdr Maurice Tate, RCN - 09 Sep 1966 - 20 Aug 1968

LCdr Carl Edwin Falstrem, RCN - 20 Aug 1968 - 02 Dec 1968

 


 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

 

Akers, Donald F.

Barker, Michael J.

Bell, J.C.

Bell, James D.

Bond, John V.

Brown, Donal J.

Brown, Donald L.

Brown, William D.

Button, Fred J.

Cermak, Richard A.

Claxton, C. Darryl

Coulter, Reginald B.

Duffy, John B.

Duguid, William H.

Dunn, Michael A.

Dykes, John R.

Ebner, Ernest F.

Fahey, Robert G.

Fast, Allen

Fisher, Brian J.

Fitzgerald, James O.

Fullerton, Sidney D.

Gibbard, Douglas H.

Gigg, Edmund G.

Gunning, Charles T.

Halvorson, E. Anton

Hansen, Walter P.

Hendry, Ian G.

Hinde, James R.

Holland, Orville D.

Howatson, William F.

Hunt, Raymond C.

Huzzey, Givelin

Irvine, Kenneth G.

Jennings, Brian

Johnson, Peter C.

Jones, Edward V.

Kirk, Peter A.

Langlois, Howard F.

Mack, Andrew L.

MacKay, Roy A.

Marginet, Raymond E.

McCreedy, Ross H.

McKerracher, Donald H.

McMorris, George C.

Nesbit, Keith G.

Ormsby, Bryan

Orton, R.

Ovens, John J.

Reid, Merville J.

Rodocanachi, John A.

Salaga, Steven A.

Sexsmith, John R.

Siemens, Raymond D.

Sinkinson, Brian L.

Smith, Gordon J.

Tate, Maurice

Therrien, Bert

Thompson, Roy G.

Thomson, William G.

Tudor, David T.

Turner, Henry M.

Wavryk, Walter L.

Webster, Harry A.

Wood, James C.

Woolgar, David E.

Yurgensen, Wilfred G.

Zerbin, Helmut

 

 

 


 

Former Crew Members

 

Brower-Berkhoven, Isaac

 

Scott, Jim, MA

 


 

Photos and Documents

 

   

 

Commissioning crew of HMCS GRILSE broken down by home provinces

 

Courtesy of Brian Lapierre

HMCS GRILSE celebrating her 4th anniversary in the RCN, May 11, 1965

 

Source: CROWSNEST Magazine, Vol 17, No. 5, May 1965

HMCS GRILSE 71 and HMCS Antigonish proceeding through the first lock on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, heading back to Esquimalt - Feb 1966

Courtesy of Robert Berbeck

Left to right: HMCS CAPE COTT 101, HMCS GRILSE 71, and HMS ACHERON. Foreground: HMCS ST CROIX (left), HMCS ANTIGONISH (right). Recife, Brazil, Feb 1966

Courtesy of Robert Berbeck

Article on HMCS GRILSE's post-refit "fast cruise" and operations

 

Crowsnest Magazine, January 1965, Page 24

Courtesy of Brian Lapierre

HMCS GRILSE - undated

 

DND / RCN photo

HMCS GRILSE - undated

 

DND / RCN photo

 

        

 The older submarines had to do a dive daily. HMCS GRILSE came up from her dive with an derelict boat caught in her vents and transferred it to HMCS ANTIGONISH where it immediately fell apart. This was in the Pacific ocean in April 1966. These photo show the various stage of transferring the dingy to HMCS ANTIGONISH. HMCS ST CROIX and HMCS STETTLER are doing a transfer in the background.

 

Courtesy of Robert Berbeck

 

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