HMCS OUTARDE J161

 

Bangor Class Minesweeper

 

 

HMCS OUTARDE J161

 

Laid down: 15 Oct 1940

Launched: 27 Jan 1941

Commissioned: 04 Dec 1941

Paid off: 24 Nov 1945

Fate: Sold in 1945 for commercial use. Final disposition unknown

 

Named for OUTARDE Bay, Que., she was commissioned at Vancouver on 04 Dec 1941. OUTARDE spent her whole career on the west coast, alternately serving with the Prince Rupert and Esquimalt Forces. She was paid off 24 Nov 1945, at Esquimalt, sold in 1946 for conversion to a merchant ship, and re-named Ping Hsin by her Shanghai owners. She vanished from Lloyd's Register after 1950.

 

 

Photos and Documents          The Ship's Bell

 

 

Commanding Officers

 

Lt Henry McKee Kennedy, RCNR - 04 Dec 1941 - 25 Feb 1942

Lt Aubrey Alvin Randle Dykes, RCNR - 26 Feb 1942 - 09 Mar 1942

Lt Henry McKee Kennedy, RCNR - 10 Mar 1942 - 18 May 1942

Lt Ronald Jackson, RCNR - 19 May 1942 - 05 Feb 1943

A/LCdr James Alastair Macdonnell, RCNR - 06 Feb 1943 - unk

A/LCdr Harold Heap Rankin, RCNR - 06 Jun 1943 - unk

Lt H.B. Tindale, RCNVR - 24 Feb 1944 - 09 Mar 1944

Lt Alexander Charles Jones, RCNR - 10 Mar 1944 - 23 Aug 1944

Lt Harry Bush Tindale, RCNVR - 24 Aug 1944 - 24 Aug 1945

Lt J.P. Kieran, RCNR - 25 Aug 1945 - 04 Oct 1945

 

 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

 

 

 

Former Crew Members

 

Bowes, Albar Robert, A/Lt, RCNVR - 15 Jun 1944

 

Chambers, Lt

 

Diebel, John Keith, Lt (E), RCNVR - 28 Apr 1945

 

Dosie, John Charles, Lt (E), RCNR - 06 Jun 1943

 

Draeseke, Gordon Ladner, Lt, RCNVR - 16 Mar 1943

 

Flynn, James Arthur, SLt, RCNVR - 03 Apr 1943

 

Hardy, John, SLt, RCNVR - 29 Apr 1942

 

Heater, Allan Randolph, Skpr, RCNR - 27 Jan 1942

Lawson, Donald James, Lt, RCNVR - 10 Apr 1943

 

Leadlay, LTO

 

Leighton, Richard John Robert, A/Lt, RCNVR - 20 Jul 1944

 

Lemon, Wilford Augustus, Lt, RCNVR - 20 Jul 1942

 

MacDonald, Edmund Luther, Lt, RCNVR - 03 Feb 1944

 

McCuaig, Walter Donald, SLt, RCNVR - 05 Apr 1943

 

Morris, Gordie, AB

Norman, Morley Warner, Lt, RCNVR - 12 Jul 1944

 

Smith, Sto 2c

 

Travis, VA

 

Trepanier, Albert, AB

 

Wood, Sto 1c

 

Zaharuk, Wesley, SLt, RCNVR - 21 Apr 1943

 

 

Photos and Documents

 

Final tribute, with full naval 'honors, was paid on board HMCS "Cayuga" to Lieut. Alexander C. Jones, RCN (R), (Ret'd), who died recently in Victoria. Lieut. Jones, a former Merchant Service officer, was in charge of the Chart Depot in HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt, at the time of his death. During the war he commanded the minesweeper "OUTARDE" on the west coast. Above, as the pallbearers stand with bowed heads and the funeral firing party rests on its arms reversed, Chaplain F. H. Godfrey reads the burial service before the body is committed to the deep. 

 

Source: CROWSNEST Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 4, February, 1950

 

DJ01

DJ02

Gun crew on HMCS OUTARDE

 

(DJ01) Dick James, standing, 2nd from right (DJ02) Dick James, standing, left hand on gun breech mechanism (3) CPO Dick James on HMCS CAYUGA

 

From the collection of C1GI Dick James, RCN

 

AB Albert Trepanier on the bridge of HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

AB Gordie Morris on HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

Lt Kennedy, Commanding Officer, on the bridge of HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

 

Note: Lt Kennedy was CO of HMCS OUTARDE 04 Dec 1941 - 25 Feb 1942 and 10 Mar 1942 - 18 May 1942

Red Knowles on HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

Quarterdeck of HMCS OUTARDE J161 - sailors in photo unknown

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

Sailors on HMCS OUTARDE J161

top: OS John C. Knowles, Leatham, Sinclair / bottom: Laing

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

Stoker 2c Smith,  Victualling Assistant Travis, Stoker 1c Wood, LTO Leadlay on HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

L-R: Hal Stevens, Lt Chambers and Crawford on HMCS OUTARDE J161

From the collection of Harold Stevens

Courtesy of Rob Stevens

 

 

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