HMCS PRESCOTT K161

 

Flower Class Corvette

 

 

HMCS PRESCOTT K161

 

Laid down: 31 Aug 1940

Launched: 07 Jan 1941

Commissioned: 26 Jun 1941

Paid off: 20 Jul 1945

Fate: Broken up in 1951

 

Commissioned at Montreal on 26 Jun 1941, PRESCOTT arrived at Halifax on 04 Jul 1941 and was attached briefly to Halifax Force before arriving at St. John's on 31 Aug 1941 to join Newfoundland Command. She spent the rest of the year escorting convoys between St. John's and Iceland, but early in 1942 experienced mechanical difficulties requiring two months' repairs at Liverpool, N.S. Resuming her mid-ocean duties on 21 Apr 1942, she made two round trips to Londonderry before being transferred to WLEF in July. In Sep 1942 she was assigned to duties in connection with Operation "Torch", returning to Canada on 04 Apr 1943. Late that month she began a six-month refit at Liverpool, N.S., including extension of her fo'c's'le. After work-ups at Pictou she sailed from St. John's on 19 Dec 1943 for the U.K. to join EG 6, Londonderry. She served with the group, principally as escort to U.K.- Gibraltar/Freetown convoys, until Apr 1944, when its corvettes were replaced with frigates, then joined Western Approaches Command, Greenock, for invasion duties. In Sep 1944 she returned to Liverpool, N.S., for another refit and, after working up, went back to the U.K. to serve with Nore Command until the end of the war. Returning to Halifax late in May 1945, she was paid off at Sorel 20 Jul 1945 and broken up in 1951 at Hamilton.

 

U-Boats Sunk:  U-163 (Korvkpt Kurt-Eduard Engelmann) a type IXC U-boat, on 13 Mar 1943 by HMCS NAPANEE K118 and HMCS PRESCOTT K161 in the Bay of Biscay. Of her crew of 57 there were no survivors.

 

 

Photos and Documents          Ship's company photos

 

 

Commanding Officers

 

Lt Henry Auchinvole Russell, RCNR - 26 Jun 1941 - 30 May 1942

Lt Geoffrey Huntley Davidson, RCN - 31 May 1942 - 01 Jul 1942

Lt Henry Auchivole Russell, RCNR - 02 Jul 1942 - 11 Sep 1942

LCdr Wilfred J. McIsaac, RCNVR - 12 Sep 1942 - 28 Dec 1944

Lt George Jeffrey Mathewson, RCNVR - 29 Dec 1944 - 20 Jul 1945

 

 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

 

 

 

Former Crew Members

 

Barker, William Crichlow Lamond, Lt, RCNVR - 14 Apr 1943

 

Battersby, Henry, Surg/Lt, RCNVR - 10 Apr 1945

 

Brash, Robert, Ch/Skpr, RCNR - 26 Jun 1941

 

Bridle, Paul Augustus, SLt, RCNVR - 25 Apr 1942

 

Gibbs, John Archibald, Lt, RCNVR - 1945

Jette, Marcel Joseph Alphonse T., Lt, RCNVR - 27 May 1943

 

Millen, James Frederick, Wt (E), RCN - 12 Jun 1944

 

Morgan, Marcel Cosby, Lt, RCNVR - 07 May 1944

 

Patrick, Robert (Bob) 

Reid, Wilfred Creighton, SLt, RCNVR - 10 Apr 1942

 

Russell, Henry Auchinvole, Lt, RCNR - 12 May 1941 (Stand by) CO

 

Sherwood, Edward Torrance, Lt, RCNVR - 26 Jun 1941

 

Woolley, John Thomas, SLt, RCNVR - 26 Jun 1941

 

 

Photos and Documents

 

 

HW14

HW15

(HW14) PRESCOTT being launched  at the Kingston Shipbuilding Yards, Kingston, ON on 07 Jan 1941 into a frozen Lake Ontario  (HW15) HMCS PRESCOTT leaving Kingston in Jun 1941

 

From the collection of Henry J. (Hank) Winsor, RCNVR

 

Courtesy of Roger Litwiller

 

HMCS PRESCOTT K161 - 1940

 

From the collection of Sto PO George Rowlin

 

Courtesy of Ron Rowlin

HMCS PRESCOTT K161

 

Source: IWM Ministry of Defence Foxhill Collection of Ship Photographs FL 5767

Jacket patch for HMCS PRESCOTT

 

From the collection of Thomas Leaming Best

 

Courtesy of David Senior

 

 

D-Day letter written by Chuck Ormsby

Courtesy of Mike Ormsby

Three Corvette Commanding Officers in Gibraltar - 08 Mar 1943

Right to Left: Lt Wilfred Joseph (Red) McIsaac, RCNVR, HMCS PRESCOTT, LCdr W Evans, RCNVR, HMCS KITCHENER, and Lt LR Pavillard, RCNR, HMCS CAMROSE

Source: Imperial War Museum

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205148542

 

 

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