CANADIAN CORVETTE HMCS AGASSIZ

HMCS Agassiz was a Canadian corvette from the Second World War. The keel for this unit was laid in 1940, the launch took place in August of the same year, and the entry into service took place in 1941. The total length of the ship was 62.5 meters and a width of 10.1 meters. Full displacement reached approx. 950-1000 tons, and maximum speed - approx. 16 knots. The ship's armament included: a single 102 mm cannon, four machine guns, a dump and two depth charge launchers. HMCS Agassiz was one of the Flower class gunboats. The ships of this type were designed as units intended primarily for the protection of Allied Atlantic convoys, and their main task was ZOP (anti-submarine combat) activities. Their design was simplified as much as possible, as it was to be suitable for mass production of units even in small shipyards, without adequate experience. Units of this type had an archaic, for the years of World War II, but simple to build, a power plant based on a reciprocating steam engine, and not - which was rather standard then - a steam turbine. During the war, units of this type were modernized - mainly by adding new hydroacoustic devices. One of the units of this class was the HMCS Agassiz, which was built at Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver. The unit, shortly after entering the service, was assigned to the so-called NEF (Newfoundland Escort Force), and later to the 19th Escort Group, in which it protected Allied convoys in the North Atlantic from mid-1941 to 1943. The unit underwent two deep modernizations: in January-March 1943 and from December 1943 to March 1944. In the period 1944-1945, HMCS Agassiz protected mainly convoys sailing off the coast of the United States and Canada. The unit was decommissioned in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II.