History

HMCS OTTAWA is the fourth ship in the Canadian Navy to carry this proud name. She was launched on the 31st of May 1996 and accepted by the Navy on the 31st of July 1996. Commissioned in Cornwall, Ontario on the 28th of September 1996, she is manned with a mixed gender crew of 225 personnel, and is the fifth and last Halifax-class frigate to join Canada's Pacific Fleet. OTTAWA is based in Esquimalt, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada.

To the current HMCS OTTAWA her predecessors have passed the following Official Battle Honours: 

ATLANTIC 1939-1945 
NORMANDY 1944 
ENGLISH CHANNEL 1944 
BISCAY 1944

Read about the first three ships to carry the name OTTAWA by scrolling down or by clicking on the Ship's name.

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HMCS OTTAWA H60

 

The first HMCS OTTAWA (H60) had a short, but action filled, career. She began life in 1931 as HMS CRUSADER before her commissioning into the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) on the 15th of June 1938 in Chatham, England. Originally stationed on the west coast, OTTAWA was transferred to Halifax, Nova Scotia following the outbreak of the Second World War where she escorted convoys between Great Britain and Canada.

In the first year of the war, OTTAWA conducted convoy escort duties in the western Atlantic. In the fall of 1940, OTTAWA deployed to Scotland to assist in local escort operations until her return to Canada in the spring of 1941. OTTAWA then joined the Newfoundland Escort Force where she continued her service off the coast of Newfoundland until her loss 15 months later.

On September 13th 1942, 500 nautical miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, OTTAWA was torpedoed. Less than 30 minutes later, unable to maneuver, she was hit a second time. This time the torpedo broke her in half, sinking her. With her went the lives of five officers, including the Commanding Officer, and 109 men. Only 65 survivors were rescued from the freezing Atlantic waters.

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HMCS OTTAWA

(formerly HMCS GRIFFIN)

The second HMCS OTTAWA was launched as HMS GRIFFIN and commissioned into the RCN as HMCS GRIFFIN. The name "Griffin" was kept for only three weeks, until her name was changed to HMCS OTTAWA and she was commissioned into the RCN on the 7th of April 1943. 

OTTAWA joined the Mid-Ocean escort force in April 1943 as an escort between St. John's Newfoundland, and Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On April 25th 1944, OTTAWA was transferred to a "Hunter Killer" group of Canadian destroyers. As senior ship in EG-11 she led HMC ships KOOTENAY, CHAUDIERE, GATINEAU, and ST. LAURENT. On D-Day, the EG-11 participated in "Operation Neptune" as anti-submarine pickets, 25 miles east of Plymouth, England.

On the 6th of July 1944, OTTAWA and KOOTENAY were detached from a convoy to assist the STATICE with a submarine contact off Beachy Head, Sussex. As OTTAWA swept the area, she gained sonar contact and attacked with depth charges. Shortly afterwards, large amounts of debris appeared on the surface, including caps marked U-678. Post war investigations credited OTTAWA with two additional submarine kills, U-621 and U-984. In total OTTAWA and her group were credited with the sinking of five U-Boats.

In September 1944, OTTAWA returned to Canada for refit. In May 1945, she was declared surplus and turned over to the War Assets Corporation for disposal.

 

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HMCS OTTAWA DDE 229

 

The third HMCS OTTAWA was launched at Canadian Vickers in Montreal, Quebec, on the 29th of April 1953 and commissioned on the 10th of November 1956. She was the third of a new generation of ships to join the Canadian Fleet.

All Canadian in design and construction, she and her sisters were the result of revolutionary thinking in the field of naval warfare. They carried the most advance equipment available for the detection and destruction of submarines, and had a distinctive rounded hull to aid with the water washing of nuclear fallout or chemical agents. OTTAWA belonged to the first class of Canadian ship to have air conditioning and a pressurized "citadel" which prevented chemical agents or nuclear fallout from entering the ship. OTTAWA was altered throughout her life to keep pace with the rapid changes in Maritime Warfare.

HMCS OTTAWA III steamed 834,634 nautical miles over her lifetime, visited over 350 ports in more than 40 countries throughout the world. In 1968, she became the first bilingual ship of the Canadian Navy. Her final sail past came on the 31st of July 1993.

A little over one year later the first steel was cut in Saint John, New Brunswick for the fourth HMCS OTTAWA.