HMCS QUEBEC C31

Crown Colony Class Light Cruiser

As HMS Uganda, the name-ship of her class, she was completed 03 Jan 1943, at Vickers-Armstrong Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne. After working up with the Home Fleet she joined Plymouth Command in Apr 1943 for operations in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel, and in Jul 1943 joined the 15th Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet, as part of Force "K." She was badly damaged by a German glider bomb on 13 Sep 1943, while supporting the Allied landing at Salerno, Italy, and arrived at Charleston, S.C., in November for a year of repair work.  Presented to the RCN, the ship was commissioned HMCS UGANDA on 21 Oct 1944, at Charleston, and in Nov 1944 returned to the U.K. for further modifications. She left in Jan 1945, for the Pacific via the Suez Canal, to join the 4th Cruiser Squadron, British Pacific Fleet. In Apr 1945 she joined Task Force 57 in the Okinawa area, and was thereafter principally employed in screening the Fleet's aircraft carriers operating against Japanese airfields in the Ryukyu Islands. On 14 Jun 1945 she participated in the bombardment of Truk, and in Jul 1945 supported carriers operating against Tokyo. She left the Fleet late in Jul 1945 and arrived at Esquimalt on 10 Aug 1945 for refit. Uganda spent the rest of her career as a training ship; she was renamed QUEBEC on 14 Jan 1952.

After transiting from Esquimalt to Halifax in 1952, QUEBEC was soon sailed for Newfoundland where she took Lieutenant Governor Sir Leonard Outerbridge CBE - DSO, on an official tour of isolated Nfld out ports. This was a RCN service guaranteed under the terms of union with Canada. Upon returning to Halifax, the QUEBEC was selected as the flagship of Rear Admiral Bidwell, and tasked to lead Canada's Coronation Squadron to the Queen's Review of all Royal Naval and U S Naval Vessels at Spit head.  HMCS QUEBEC was on hand for the opening of the Cape Breton Causeway on 13 Aug 1955 and fired a gun salute the mark the occasion.  QUEBEC departed Halifax on 14 Jan 1955 for a good-will cruise around Africa, returning to Halifax on 15 Apr 1955. Later in 1955 she was tied up at the RCSCC Training Camp [Protector] at Point Edward Naval Station, Cape Breton N S. She was finally paid off on 13 Jun 1956. On 06 Feb 1961 she arrived at Osaka, Japan to be broken up.

Photos and Documents          Ship's company photos          The Ship's Bell          Former Crew Members

Sports and the RCN

The paying-off of HMCS ONTARIO and HMCS QUEBEC - Minutes of the 564th Meeting of the Naval Board, 1 April, 1958, and Minutes of the 570th Meeting of the Naval Board, 4 June, 1958, fond of Peter Haydon at the Naval Museum of Halifax. // Courtesy of Colin Darlington, Naval Museum of Halifax Volunteer

RCN Memories:     Last Man On Board

Commanding Officers

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

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Former Crew Members

Photos and Documents

(QUE000) The Commissioning of HMCS QUEBEC 14 Jan 1952 at Esquimalt, British Columbia

Library and Archives of Canada

RCN photo

(QUE001) HMCS QUEBEC

(QUE002) HMCS QUEBEC A & B turrets 6-inch guns firing  //  Courtesy of / from the photo collection of Eric Stapleton

(QUE003) HMCS QUEBEC arrives at Quebec city  //  From the collection of Lt VS Curry, CD, RCN (Ret'd)  //  Courtesy of Gerry Curry

(QUE004) HMCS QUEBEC

(QUE005) HMCS QUEBEC, HMCS MAGNIFICENT, HMAS SYDNEY and, HMCS SIOUX, returning from Coronation, off Halifax, June 1953  //  Courtesy of Gerald Sullivan

(QUE006) HMCS QUEBEC taking station alongside HMCS MAGNIFICENT for a jackstay transfer, 1953  // Courtesy of Gerald Sullivan

(QUE007) HMCS QUEBEC conducting jackstay transfer with HMCS MAGNIFICENT  // Courtesy of Ray Bean

(QUE008) Month-Long Cruise Due For QUEBEC  //  HMCS QUEBEC to make month-long cruise with port visits to Madeira Island, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Brest  //  The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Tuesday, 27 Apr 1954  //  Research by - Courtesy of George Newbury

(QUE009) Crossing the Line Certificate for B. Meikle during HMCS QUEBEC'S South American Cruise 1954  //  Courtesy of Jason Rowbottom

(QUE010) Newspaper Article from the Picton Gazette, 26 Jan 1955 on a PE County sailor, Robert Semple and HMCS QUEBEC'S circumnavigation of Africa  //  Source: Prince Edward County Archives Microfilm collection  //  Researched and complied by: © John Lyons 2014

(QUE011) Newspaper Article from the Picton Gazette, 14 Jan 1955 on HMCS QUEBEC'S circumnavigation of Africa  //  Source: Prince Edward County Archives Microfilm collection  //  Researched and complied by: © John Lyons 2014

(QUE012) Crossing the Line certificate for B. Meikle during HMCS QUEBEC's African Cruise 1955  //  Courtesy of Jason Rowbottom

(QUE013) HMCS QUEBEC and USS NEWPORT NEWS at Villefranche between 22 and 27 Mar 1955 during HMCS QUEBEC'S good-will cruise of Africa Jan-Mar 1955

(QUE014) Sailors from HMCS QUEBEC ashore - location unknown  //  Source: obituary for John Karlich

(QUE015) HMCS QUEBEC  //  From the collection of Larry Restall  //  Courtesy of Clayton Restall

(QUE016) HMCS QUEBEC fires a salute during the opening of the Cape Breton Causeway 13 Aug 1955  // Coutesy of Dave Poidy