Forces With History #233--HMCS QUEBEC (Part 2)
The Making of a Legend
(If you missed Part 1, FWH #231, you can find it on my website www.robertwmackay.ca, then clicking on “Newsletter”, then “Archives.”)
Once Sicily was out of the war, next up for the Allies was the invasion of the Italian mainland. The attack was made across the Strait of Messina, a waterway narrow enough that landing craft could be used to carry the troops so they wouldn't have to embark and disembark in larger ships.
HMS UGANDA and other ships bombarded the Italian coast as the British 8th Army (that included the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade) invaded.
From September 9th to 13th UGANDA fired 816 6-inch shells. At one point while operating in a smokescreen she was rammed by her sister cruiser HMS DELHI and on the 12th she suffered a near miss from a radio-controlled FRITZ-X bomb that splashed off her port beam—the same weapon she had dodged in the Bay of Biscay during previous action.
On September 13th her luck ran out. UGANDA was operating close to shore, firing in support of ground troops. A Dornier 217K-2 bomber launched yet another radio-controlled glider bomb, and this one struck the ship, smashing almost vertically down through the after director and exploding under her keel. Seventeen crewmen were killed and seven wounded, but the ship was saved by the extraordinary efforts of her damage control teams.
Two days later, with only one engine of four working, UGANDA limped into safety in Malta. For two weeks her crew and repair staff did what they could to make her seaworthy. She sailed to Gibraltar for more repairs, and then to Charleston, South Carolina, for very extensive work, arriving at the end of November, 1943.
In the ten months that followed, UGANDA was returned to working condition by skilled US workers at the Navy Yards. New essential parts arrived from the UK including two engines, two boilers, and shafts.
Another crucial event occurred: on April 6th 1944 HMS UGANDA was handed over to the Canadian government, along with a sister cruiser, HMS MINOTAUR and two destroyers, which became HMCS SIOUX and ALGONQUIN.
MINOTAUR was renamed HMCS ONTARIO.
UGANDA kept her name in recognition of the people of Uganda, who had become attached to “their” ship, and as a favour to the RN.
A mixed crew of British and Canadians was assembled, with the Brits replaced by Canadians as they became available. Pleasant days that included sunny sojourns on South Carolina beaches and American rations kept morale high.
The crew of 907 men was drawn from every province as well as the Dominion of Newfoundland; 87% were reservists and the balance RCN regular force.
HMCS UGANDA was commissioned in the RCN on Trafalgar Day, October 21, 1944. Being in all respects ready for sea, she slipped and proceeded for Halifax and active duty.