Allied Warships

HMCS Skeena (D 59)

Destroyer of the A class

NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassA 
PennantD 59 
Built byThornycroft (Southampton, U.K.) 
Ordered6 Mar 1928 
Laid down14 Oct 1929 
Launched10 Oct 1930 
Commissioned10 Jun 1931 
Lost25 Oct 1944 
Loss position
 
History

HMCS Skeena (A/Lt.Cdr. Patrick Francis Xavier Russell, RCN) was wrecked during a storm at Videy, Iceland.
This location is right off Reykjavík, the capital.

Commanding Officers:
Cdr. Harold Taylor Wood Grant, RCN
23 April 1938 - 30 November 1939
Promoted to Capt. on 30 August 1939

Lt.Cdr. Ernest Patrick Tisdall, RCN
1 December 1939 – 9 March 1940

Lt. Herbert Sharples Rayner, RCN
10 March 1940 - 1 April 1940

Lt.Cdr. James Calcutt Hibbard, RCN
2 April 1940 – 10 December 1941

Cdr. Harry Kingsley, RCN
11 December 1941 – 19 May 1942

A/Lt.Cdr. Kenneth Lloyd Dyer, RCN
20 May 1942 – 28 February 1943
DSC awarded on 25 November 1942

A/Lt.Cdr. Eric Eversley Garratt Boak, RCN
1 March 1943 – 20 November 1943

A/Lt.Cdr. Patrick Francis Xavier Russell, RCN
21 November 1943 – 25 October 1944

 

Commands listed for HMCS Skeena (D 59)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

CommanderFromTo
1Cdr. Harold Taylor Wood Grant, RCN23 Apr 193830 Nov 1939
2Ernest Patrick Tisdall, RCN1 Dec 19399 Mar 1940
3Herbert Sharples Rayner, RCN10 Mar 19401 Apr 1940
4James Calcutt Hibbard, RCN2 Apr 194010 Dec 1941
5Harry Kingsley, RCN11 Dec 194119 May 1942
6Kenneth Lloyd Dyer, RCN20 May 194228 Feb 1943
7Eric Eversley Garratt Boak, RCN1 Mar 194320 Nov 1943
8Patrick Francis Xavier Russell, RCN21 Nov 194325 Oct 1944

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Noteable events involving Skeena include:


17 Jul 1940
HMCS Skeena (Lt.Cdr. J.C. Hibbard, RCN) picks up 65 survivors from the British merchant Manipur that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-57 8 nautical miles north-west of Cape Wrath in position 58º41'N, 05º14'W.

2 Sep 1940
HMCS Skeena (Lt.Cdr. J.C. Hibbard, RCN) picks up 19 survivors from the British merchant Thornlea that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-46 about 200 miles west of Bloody Foreland in position 55º41'N, 14º20'W.

23 Nov 1940
HMCS Skeena (Lt.Cdr. J.C. Hibbard, RCN) picks up 6 men from the Norwegian merchant Bruce that was torpedoed and damaged west of Ireland in position 55º04'N, 12º15'W by the German submarine U-100.

Skeena also picks up 9 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Salonica that was torpedoed and sunk by U-100 west of Ireland in position 55º16'N, 12º14'W.

3 Mar 1941
HMCS Skeena (Lt.Cdr. J.C. Hibbard, RCN) arrives at Halifax for a refit.

31 Jul 1942
The German submarine U-588 was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 49º59'N, 36º36'W, by depth charges from the Canadian corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin (Lt.Cdr. G.S. Windeyer, RCN) and the Canadian destroyer HMCS Skeena (A/Lt.Cdr. D.L. Dyer, RCN). (see map)

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