HMCS Minas

History
Canada
Name	Minas
Namesake	Minas Basin
Operator	Royal Canadian Navy
Ordered	23 February 1940
Builder	Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver
Laid down	18 October 1940
Launched	22 January 1941
Commissioned	2 August 1941
Decommissioned	6 October 1945
Identification	pennant number: J165
Recommissioned	15 March 1955
Decommissioned	7 November 1955
Identification	pennant number: 189
Honours and awards	Atlantic 1941-44, Normandy 1944
Fate	Sold for scrap 1958.
General characteristics
Class and type	Bangor-class minesweeper
Displacement	673 tons
Length	171.5 ft (52.3 m)
Beam	28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Draught	8.25 ft (2.5 m)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum water tube boilers, 2 shafts, vertical triple-expansion reciprocating engines, 2,400 ihp (1,790 kW)
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement	70
Armament	1 × QF 4 in (101.6 mm)gun 1 × QF 2-pounder Mark VIII 2 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon guns

HMCS Minas was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Invasion of Normandy. She was named for Minas Basin. After the war she was reactivated for a short period of time in 1955 before being sold for scrap.

Minas was ordered on 23 February 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 building programme. She was laid down on 18 October 1940 by Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd. at Vancouver and launched 22 January 1941. She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 2 August 1941 at Vancouver.

War service

After arriving at Halifax , Minas was assigned to Sydney Force. In January 1942, she transferred to Newfoundland Force, remaining with them until November that year. She joined the Western Local Escort Force (WLEF) as a convoy escort that month and served in an unaffiliated capacity until June 1943. On 21 November 1942, Minas, along with HMCS Timmins, rescued 60 survivors of the merchant ship Empire Sailor which had been torpedoed by U-518. Several survivors later died of the phosgene gas they had inhaled when their ship was hit. She collided HMS Liscomb on 3 February 3 1943, near Halifax; the damage resulted in a month of repairs. She became a part of EG W-7 in June 1943 when the unit adopted the escort group. She joined escort group W-4 in December 1943.

On 20 February 1944, Minas left Halifax with three of her sisters, travelling to Great Britain as part of Canada's contribution to the invasion of Normandy. She arrived in March 1944 and was assigned to the 31st Minesweeping Flotilla, taking part in the D-Day invasions. She returned to Canada, being refit in Dartmouth, N.S. in September 1944, rejoining the 31st Flotilla at Plymouth in January 1945. Later that year in September Minas returned to Canada and was paid off into reserve at Shelburne on 6 October 1945.

Postwar service

After the war the decommissioned Minas was moved to Sorel. In 1952, she was reacquired by the Canadian Navy and recommissioned on 15 March 1955, to be used as a training vessel on the west coast. She was paid off on 7 November 1955, sold in August 1958 and broken up in Seattle the following year. The ship's wheel remains on display at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 53 in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.