HMCS PROVIDER F100

 

Depot Ship - Fairmiles

 

 

HMCS PROVIDER with two motor launches on her starboard bow.

Source: RCN by Charles Dobie

Click on the above photo to view a larger image

 

Laid down: 1941

Launched: 1942

Commissioned: 01 Dec 1942

Paid off: 22 Mar 1946

Fate: Sold for scrap in 1961

 

Sister to PRESERVER, she was commissioned at Sorel on 01 Dec 1942, and arrived at Halifax on 14 Dec. Two flotillas of Fairmiles were to proceed to the Caribbean to alleviate a shortage of escorts there, and PROVIDER was ordered south to be their base supply ship.  She accordingly sailed on 19 Jan 1943, but had to return owing to storm damage and sailed again ten days later, arriving at Trinidad on 20 Feb.  One Fairmile flotilla, the 73rd, joined her at Guantanamo, Cuba, proceeding with her in March to a new base at Key West. Returning to Halifax on 23 Apr, she was then assigned to Gaspé Force, arriving on 22 May, and subsequently transferred to Sept Iles, where  she remained from 29 Jun until Nov.  At the end of 1943 she proceeded to Halifax and thence to Bermuda to serve as base ship for the 70th and 78th Flotillas.  PROVIDER returned to Halifax on 31 Jul 1944, but sailed again that Sep for Bermuda, where she was attached to the recently established base HMCS SOMERS ISLES, until May 1945.  She then went to Halifax as base supply ship until she was paid off on 22 Mar 1946, to be sold later that year to Peruvian owners and renamed MARUBA.  Subsequently acquired by the Peruvian Navy, she served as OREGNOS until disposed of for scrap in 1961.

 

 

Photos and Documents          Ship's company photos

 

HMCS PROVIDER F100 - A brief history by Glen Parsneau

 

 

Commanding Officers

 

Cdr J.A. Heenan, OBE, RCNR - 01 Dec 1942 - 04 May 1943

LCdr William Haring Koughan, RCNR - 05 May 1943 - 03 Jul 1943

Cdr Edward G. Skinner, DCS, RCNR - 04 Jul 1943 - 17 Nov 1943

A/Cdr T. Gilmour, RCNR - 18 Nov 1943 - 14 Feb 1945

Capt Louis Joseph M. Gauvreau, RCN - 15 Feb 1945 - 19 Nov 1945

LCdr D.G. King, RCN - 20 Nov 1945 - 22 Mar 1946

 

 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

 

 

 

 Former Crew Members

 

Bird, John Irvine, Lt, RCNVR - Jan 1945

 

Cairns, Thomas Gillone Shipley, Lt, RCNVR - 15 May 1943

 

Chisholm, Hugh Alexander, Surg Lt, RCNVR - 28 Jul 1943

 

Christensen, Henning Enevold, LCdr (E), RCNR - 06 Jul 1942

 

Coates, William Otty, Surg/Lt, RCNVR - 03 Jul 1944

Dorman, Donald Bertram, Paym/Lt, RCNVR - 10 Jun 1943

 

Emmerson, Leonard Gordon, A/Wt (E), RCNR - 22 Jul 1944

 

Hicks, Hollis Rupert, Upper deck stoker - 1944-1945  (born 1924, alive and well in 2018)

 

MacDonald, Maurice John Lothian, Lt, RCNR - 04 May 1943

Olsen, Svend Oluf, Lt (E), RCNR - 13 May 1943

 

Revfem, Erik, Lt (E), RCNR - 10 Jul 1942 (Stand by)

 

Ross, Grant McGregor, Lt (S), RCNVR - 07 Apr 1945

 

Skinner, Frederick William Wt (E), RCNR - 07 Apr 1945

 

Wilson, William George, Lt, RCNR - 02 May 1945

 

 

Photos and Documents

 

HMCS PROVIDER F100 - 17 Jan 1943

 

Courtesy of the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum

HMCS PROVIDER and Q106 (possibly in Bermuda)

 

Source: RCN by Charles Dobie

3 RCN officers and 2 USN Officers

 

Photo taken in May 1944 while Laithwood Leigh was serving in HMCS PROVIDER F100

Laithwood Leigh, 2nd from right

 

Written on the back of the photo:  The Terrible "5"

"Daffodil" "Longtails" May 1944

"This just missed me in New York"

 

Click here to view the back of the photo

HMCS PROVIDER F100 with Fairmiles, Hamilton, Bermuda, 1944

 

From the collection of Laithwood Leigh

Courtesy of Judy Saunders

Officers on HMCS PROVIDER F100 - Laithwood Leigh first on right

 

From the collection of Laithwood Leigh

Courtesy of Judy Saunders

 

 

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