Built by Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt, she was commissioned at Victoria on 04 Oct 1943, SWANSEA arrived at Halifax on 16 Nov 1943 and worked up off Pictou and in St. Margaret’s Bay. Assigned to EG 9, Londonderry, she made her passage there with convoy SC.154, taking part in the sinking of U 845 on 10 Mar 1944. On 14 Apr 1944 she repeated the process in company with HMS PELICAN, the victim this time being U-448. Eight days later, on 22 April 1944, this time with MATANE, SWANSEA sank U-311 southwest of Iceland. This kill was only awarded long after the war once the records of German and British intelligence became available.
She was present on D-Day, and for the next four months patrolled the Channel in support of the ships supplying the invasion forces. On 26 Aug 1944, while operating in the Channel, a US aircraft piloted by 1st Lt Samuel Hansard crashed nearby. SWANSEA’S boat crew went to rescue the pilot but he had died on impact. His body was recovered and given a burial at sea with full honours.
0n 01 Sep 1944 SWANSEA and SAINT JOHN sank U-247 off Land’s end.
She left Londonderry on 05 Nov 1944 for a major refit at Liverpool, N.S. from Dec 1944 to Jul 1945. It was the first tropicalization of a frigate for Pacific service, and on VJ-Day SWANSEA was assessing the results in the Caribbean. She was paid off 02 Nov 1945 to reserve in Bedford Basin, but was twice re-commissioned for training cadets and new entries between Apr 1948, and Nov 1953.
In early June, 1949, while the Maingay Commission was still hearing testimony, a group of junior hands in on the SWANSEA, incensed at poor treatment by their commanding officer, locked themselves in their mess. The response was a forceful entry by armed troops, a rapid court-martial of the senior hands, and their sentencing to 90 days’ hard labour and dishonorable discharge from the navy.
In Sep 1949, the RCAF supply vessel MALAHAT, which was returning from a supply mission to Coral Harbour on Southampton Island, developed engine problems. HMCS SWANSEA was diverted from her return to Halifax from her Northern deployment and tasked to rescue the MALAHAT. On 17 Sep 1949 HMCS SWANSEA took the MALAHAT in tow through the Hudson Strait to Goose Bay, Labrador, a distance of 1050 miles, arriving on 23 Sep 1949.
In Jun 1953 HMCS SWANSEA was part of the Canadian Squadron that attended the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II Fleet Review at Spithead. HMCS SWANSEA was rebuilt from 1956 to 1957, as a Prestonian class ocean escort.
On 13 Feb 1959, HMCS FORT ERIE, HMCS BUCKINGHAM, HMCS SWANSEA and HMCS LA HULLOISE returned to Halifax after a 5 week exercise in southern waters that included a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica. In Apr 1963, 12 RCN ships, ALGONQUIN, MICMAC, CAYUGA, ST CROIX, TERRA NOVA, KOOTENAY, SWANSEA, LA HULLOISE, BUCKINGHAM, CAPE SCOTT AND CNAVs BLUETHROAT and ST CHARLES, took part in NATO Exercise New Broom Eleven, an exercise designed to test convoy protection tactics (click here to see the newspaper article).
SWANSEA was paid off 14 Oct 1966 and broken up in 1967 at Savona, Italy.
U-Boats Sunk: (1) U-845 (Korvkpt Werner Weber) a type IXC-40 U-boat, sunk on 10 Mar 1944 by HMCS ST LAURENT H83, HMCS OWEN SOUND K340, HMCS SWANSEA K328 and HMS FORESTER in the North Atlantic at position 48-20N 20-33W. Of her crew of 56 there were 45 survivors.
(2) U-448 (Oblt Helmet Dauter) a type VIIC U-boat, sunk on 14 Apr 1944 by HMCS SWANSEA K328 and HMS PELICAN in position 46-22 N, 19-35 W. HMCS SWANSEA (K328) gained sonar contact, while screening for the escort Carrier HMS BITER D97, & immediately attacked. U- 448 went deep & HMS PELICAN joined SWANSEA following 4 hours of creeping attacks and having fired 56 depth charges, U-448 with her diesels, batteries damaged & depth gauge broken, as well as a 6-inch hole in the after part of the pressure hull, surfaced into heavy fire from both ships. U-448 was sunk. Of her crew of 51, 42 were rescued.
(3) U-311 (Kptlt Joachim Zander) sunk on 22 Apr 1944 by HMCS SWANSEA K328 and HMCS MATANE K444 in position 52-09 N, 19-07 W. Of her crew of 51 there were no survivors.
(4) U-247 sunk on 01 Sep 1944 by HMCS SAINT JOHN K456 and HMCS SWANSEA K328 in position 49-54 N, 05-49 W
