November 2024
One of Canada’s newest naval ships was making the rounds of cities in southern Ontario, as part of the annual Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Great Lakes deployment. HMCS Harry DeWolf, one of the navy’s new Arctic Patrol Vessels, has been on the annual public relations tour, as they did last year.
Named after the late Vice-Admiral Henry “Harry” DeWolf, CBE, DSO, DSC, CD, the ship is the namesake of the Harry Wolfe-class of offshore patrol vessels, as the first ship commissioned in a new class of Arctic icebreakers. Stretching 400 feet in length, with a beam of 62 feet and a displacement of 6511 long tons, HMCS Harry DeWolf has an operational range of around 6,800 nautical miles and a speed of 14 knots in open water. An onboard hangar and flight deck is able to deploy with an air detachment operating helicopters up to the size of the current Sikorshy CH-148 Cyclone helicopter. The ship has a crew complement of 65, with accommodations for up to 87.
The ship also operates with two Rosborough Boats multi-role rescue boats, launched using a crane lift, and has armaments that include one BAE Mk 38, 25mm gun and two M2 Browning machine guns.
It wasn’t long after its commissioning in 2021 that HMCS Harry DeWolf was already earning notable achievements. On its inaugural deployment, it became the first RCN ship to do a complete circumnavigation of North America, including through the Northwest Passage, since HMCS Labrador completed the same voyage in 1954.
Great Lakes Deployment
Departing from Halifax on 1 October, HMCS Harry DeWolf headed for Montreal, then along the St. Lawrence River to Kingston, and then Toronto.
Next, the ship arrived in Hamilton for the weekend of 19 to 20 October, tying up alongside HMCS Star, Hamilton’s naval reserve division. HMCS Star has a significant connection to the RCN and to HMCS Harry DeWolf itself.
Along with being a training centre for RCN reservists since 1943, the establishment was the home of the the Great Lakes Training Centre from 1952-1964 and was once the third most important Naval training facility in Canada.
Secondly, HMCS Star is the home to HMCS Haida, a long-retired WWII-era ship, known as the “the Fightingest Ship in the Canadian Navy.” Now permanently berthed alongside Star’s jetty, the former warship operates as a floating museum, staffed by a dedicated crew of volunteers. VAdm DeWolf, then a Commander, was the first commanding officer of HMCS Haida.
Commander “Hard-Over-Harry” DeWolf
Known to his crew as “Hard-Over-Harry” for bold manoeuvres off the coast of France during his tenure on Haida, DeWolf’s fearless and skillful tactics earned him the Distinguished Service Order for rescuing survivors of HMCS Athabaskan after its sinking on 29 April 1944, while in range of enemy coastal guns on the French coast.
After spending the weekend in Hamilton, the ship and its crew set sail on 21 October for Windsor, after transiting through the Welland Canal, and onto Lake Erie.
My Own Naval Service
I served in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve for 13-years, spending about half that time with HMCS Star. While touring HMCS Harry DeWolf with my 16-year-old daughter, she remined me of some of the stories I regaled her with over the years. We particularly went looking for the Kisby Ring when touring the stern of the ship. Two of those stories are:
In the summer of 1989 I was posted on HMCS Porte St Louis, a reserve training ship, on a 3-month sail with PSL’s sister ship, Porte St Jean, along the east coast of Canada and the U.S.
On one foggy day, we were sailing in formation with the Porte St Jean about 500 yards behind us. I was on lifebuoy sentry duty and heard the following transmission come across my Personal Radio Communicator (PRC): “Lifebuoy sentry, this is the Bridge, over.” I acknowledged the transmission and was told that a large tanker had been spotted on radar, astern of our position and closing. I was to keep an eye out for it and report when I saw it.
Five or ten minutes later, I heard once again over the PRC, “Lifebuoy sentry, this is the Bridge, over.” I acknowledged and the person on the other end asked me if I could see the tanker. I replied, “Negative.”
“Are you sure you can’t see it,” the voice asked, somewhat exasperated, “It’s right behind us?” I replied, somewhat insulted that they were implying that I was blind, “Negative, all I can see behind me is the Jean!” There was no reply from the bridge after this.
Then it dawned on me; the person that I had been talking to was a woman. We didn’t have any women on our bridge crew. But the Jean did! Just then, I turned towards the bridge and saw the Yeoman (senior Signalman) walking towards me, laughing. I asked him, “Who was I talking to?” The Yeoman replied, “The Jean.”
Not to long after I came aboard the PSL in mid May, I made it well known that, before I left the ship, I was going to throw one of the Kisby Rings overboard. The Kisby Ring is a flotation device that you would toss to someone who has fallen overboard. What is so special about this, you may ask? Well, the Kisby Ring is attached to a device called a Paynes Wessex, which creates a cloud of yellow smoke when it hits water. This way, both the rescue party and the victim can see it easily and hopefully meet together. I had never seen a Paynes Wessex in action. They were expensive to buy and as such, we weren’t allowed to use them during training exercises. Regardless, I still planned to find an excuse to toss it overboard.
On one particular day, off the coast of Newfoundland, the Executive Officer decided to conduct a live man-overboard drill for the crew. Normally when we practised man-overboard drills, we would toss a rubber dummy, nicknamed Oscar, overboard. But the XO decided that he would get suited up and jump overboard himself. I happened to be on lifebuoy sentry at the time. I was chatting with the Navigating Officer when I heard a splash behind me and someone yelled, “Man overboard!” Then I saw the XO in the water. Upon seeing the XO in the water, my first reaction wasn’t the horror that you would expect. I could see that the XO had on a life jacket and parka, so I knew he hadn’t just accidentally fallen overboard. The day was warm and, although we were all issued with life-preserver belts, very rarely would anybody wear them. My first reaction was “What the fuck is he doing!?”
Suddenly I realised it was a drill, so I grabbed my whistle, blew it and shouted, “Man overboard!” Then I suddenly realised; this was my chance to toss the Kisby Ring overboard, without getting in trouble. My excuse would have been that I thought it was a real emergency and was simply acting properly. I reached out for the Kisby Ring, when suddenly; a hand grabbed me at the wrist and held it. I looked up and saw it was the Cox’n, the senior non-commissioned Officer, whom I didn’t realise, had been standing right behind me. He said in the gruff voice that seemed to be the requirement of all Cox’ns, “Don’t you fuckin’ dare, Forsyth!”
I guess he’d heard about my vow to toss one overboard.
Sources: HMCS Harry DeWolf – Wikipedia, Canadian naval ship visiting Lake Ontario, Lake Erie | News | toronto.com, Canada’s “Fightingest Ship” – HMCS Haida now a floating museum – Canadian Military History, HMCS Athabaskan (G07) – Wikipedia.
