uboat.net

Allied Warships

HMCS St. Croix (I 81)

Destroyer of the Town class


HMCS St.Croix as seen during the war.

NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassTown 
PennantI 81 
Built byBethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down11 Sep, 1918 
Launched31 Jan, 1919 
Commissioned24 Sep, 1940 
Lost20 Sep, 1943 
Loss position57.30N, 31.10W (See a map)
 
HistoryHMCS St. Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. Andrew Hedley Dobson, DSC, RCNR) was torpedoed and sunk south of Iceland in position 57º30'N, 31º10'W by U-305 while escorting convoy ON.202.
The ship was one of the first victims of the new developed acoustic torpedo Gnat.
Of the 5 officers and 76 men picked up by the British frigate HMS Itchen (sunk by German U-boat U-666), only one, Leading Stoker William Allen Fisher, survived the sinking of the Itchen a few days later. 

Hit by U-boat
Sunk on 20 Sep, 1943 by U-305 (Bahr).

Former nameUSS McCook (DD 252)

Noteable events involving St. Croix include:

Photograph taken by Charles James Sadler, RCNVR. First Class Stoker, Official number V-4963, serving in the Canadian destroyer HMCS Columbia.

2 Oct, 1941
HMCS St. Croix (Cdr. H. Kingsley, RCN) picks up 34 survivors from the Dutch merchant Tuva that was torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the German submarine U-575 in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland in position 54º16'N, 26º36'W.

24 Jul, 1942
The German submarine U-90 was sunk in the Northern Atlantic, in position 48º12'N, 40º56'W by depth charges from the Canadian destroyer HMCS St Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. A.H. Dobson, RCNR). (see map)

10 Sep, 1942
At 21.10 hours on 10 September 1942 the German submarine U-659 attacked the convoy ON-127 southwest of Iceland and reported hits on two ships. In fact, two torpedoes hit the British tanker Empire Oil at the bow and stern and stopped the tanker. At 01.47 hours the next day, the German submarine U-584 sank the drifting Empire Oil with two coups de grâce. The master, 12 crew members and six gunners were picked up by the Canadian destroyer HMCS St Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. A.N. Dobson, RCNR) and landed at St.Johns on 15 September. 29 crew members and five gunners were picked up by the Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa (A/Lt.Cdr. C.A. Rutherford, RCN) On 14 September, 13 crew members and five gunners were lost when this destroyer was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-91.

4 Mar, 1943
The German submarine U-87 was sunk west of Leixoes, in position 41º36'N, 13º31'W, by depth charges from the Canadian corvette HMCS Shediac (Lt. j.E. Clayton, RCNR) and the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. A.H. Dobson, DSC, RCNR). (see map)

12 Apr, 1943
The Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. A.H. Dobson, DSC, RCNR) and the Canadian corvette HMCS Camrose (Lt L.R. Pavillard, RCNVR) together pick up 28 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Ingerfire that was torpedoed and sunk about 400 miles east of Newfoundland, Canada in position 51º29'N, 42º59'W.

12 Apr, 1943
The Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix (A/Lt.Cdr. A.H. Dobson, DSC, RCNR) and the Canadian corvette HMCS Camrose (Lt L.R. Pavillard, RCNVR) together pick up 28 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Ingerfire that was torpedoed and sunk the previous day about 400 miles east of Newfoundland, Canada in position 51º29'N, 42º59'W.




Deadly Seas
Bercuson, David Jay and Herwig, Holger H.

Books dealing with this subject include:

Deadly Seas, Bercuson, David Jay and Herwig, Holger H., 1997 (transl.)


Return to the Allied Warships section