| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Armed Merchant Cruiser |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | F 97 |
| Built by | A. Stephen & Sons Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 14 Apr 1938 |
| Commissioned | 4 Nov 1939 |
| End service | 10 Apr 1944 |
| History | On 19 October 1939 the passenger ship Canton of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Conversion was completed on 4 November 1939. Displacement: 15784 BRT Career: On 10 April 1944 returned and used as troopship by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). On 28 September 1947 returned to owner. |
Commands listed for HMS Canton (F 97)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. George Devereux Belben, DSC, RN | 26 Sep 1939 | 10 Feb 1941 |
| 2 | A/Capt. Charles Alfred Godfrey Nichols, RN | 10 Feb 1941 | 2 Mar 1942 |
| 3 | A/Capt. Geoffrey Neame Loriston-Clarke, RN | 2 Mar 1942 | 23 Sep 1942 |
| 4 | A/Cdr. (reitred) Richard John Edward Daintree, RN | 23 Sep 1942 | 15 Aug 1943 |
| 5 | Capt. Joseph Johnstone Eadie Barclay, RNR | 15 Aug 1943 | Apr 1944 |
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Notable events involving Canton include:
24 Feb 1941
HMS Thunderbolt (Lt. C.B. Crouch, DSO, RN) an unidentified ship in position 53°55'N, 26°49'W which opens fire despite repeated challenges by Thunderbolt, forcing her to dive.
The ship was the armed merchant cruiser HMS Canton (A/Capt. C.A.G. Nichols, RN) which mistook her for a U-boat. (1)
Sources
- ADM 199/1115
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.