Perry enjoyed being held by the pretty female rating...
HMCS Sackville History
HMCS Sackville was one of more than 120 corvettes built in Canada during the Second World War. Corvettes soon became the workhorses of the North Atlantic, escorting convoys and attacking submarines. HMCS Sackville was built at Saint John, NB and commissioned on 29 December 1941. Serving in several well known escort groups, C1, C2 and C3, Sackville escorted convoys from St. Johns to Londonderry, Ireland. From January 1942 to August 1944. Sackville was one of the original members of the famous Barber Pole Group. This group with its red and white Barber Pole Stripes painted on the funnel is still represented in the current Navy.
During August 1942, in a west bound convoy, 250 nautical miles east of Newfoundland, Sackville encountered a U-boat on the surface. At a range of less than a fourth of a mile, Sackville fired a star shell and the U-boat crash-dived. The corvette accelerated, steamed into the swirl of water and fired a pattern of depth charges.
The powerful blast literally threw the U-boat to the surface. She slipped back into the water and disappeared. Sackville was credited with a probable kill. Ninety minutes later, Sackville engaged another surfaced U-boat in a lethal ballet. Sackville zigged to ram, and the U-boat zigged to avoid, but Sackville got one good 4 inch shell away, punching a large hole in the base of the conning tower. Sackville was credited with a possibly damaged.
In September 1943, Sackville was part of the escort group with the combined westbound convoys ON. 202 and ONS. 18. These ill fated convoys became victims of the first use of the acoustic torpedoes.
In addition to several merchant ships, four of the escorts were torpedoed and sunk: the frigate HMS Lagan, the four stack destroyer HMCS St. Croix, the corvette HMS Polyanthus and the frigate HMS Itchen. Itchen had survivors from the first two ships, and when she too was torpedoed there was heavy loss of life. See the convoy escort diagram below for Sackville�s position and the last few minutes of activity before HMS Itchen was torpedoed. When Itchen blew up, pieces of her superstructure landed on the Canadian corvette HMCS Morden. It was during the enemy action prior to the sinking of Itchen that Sackville having fired depth charges experienced a tremendous explosion. It was thought that the depth charges detonated a torpedo close alongside. The number one boiler was severely damaged. Much later, when efforts to make repairs were unsuccessful it was decided to take Sackville from active service and use her as a training ship and later a Canadian Naval Auxiliary Vessel (CNAV) research vessel. This action prolonged the life of the ship, making her available as The Canadian Naval Memorial.
Thanks to Trustee and WWII Corvette veteran Max Corkum.
My Dad was on the board of the Sackville and, due to his many years in broadcasting, he did the voice overs for the push-button information tapes. It still freaks me out hearing them on board.
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