HMCS Vancouver,

HMCS Vancouver, was a Thornycroft S-class destroyer, formerly HMS Toreador built for the Royal Navy in 1917-19. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in March 1928 and served primarily as a training vessel until 1936.

Contents

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• 1 History
• 2 Service history
• 3 References
• 4 External links

History[edit]

Main article: S-class destroyer (1916)

During the First World War, Royal Navy intelligence investigated German torpedo craft and found that they were more lightly armed than the designs the UK was building. The Royal Navy altered their destroyer designs so that the ships would be less expensive. This meant that the design known as the Admiralty modified 'Trenchant' or "S"-class would be smaller, faster and less expensive, ships which could be built quickly.^[1]

Service history[edit]

Toreador was ordered in June 1917 as part of the second order of Thornycroft S-class destroyer for the Royal Navy.^[2] She was laid down in November 1917 and launched 7 December 1918. She was placed in reserve at Portsmouth 16 August 1920.^[3]

This ship, along with her sister HMS Torbay, were donated by the British Government to Canada in March 1928 to replace their two existing destroyers, HMCS Patrician and HMCS Patriot.^[4] At the same time the Canadian Government commissioned the construction of two further destroyers, HMCS Saguenay and HMCS Skeena.^[5] During the 1930s the Vancouver served on the west coast of Canada alongside Skeena.^[6] Vancouver and Champlain were the first two ships with names associated with Canada.^[1] In 1930, Vancouver was named in the London Naval Treaty, which put limits on the amount of warships and their size a nation could have. They were noted as being set for disposal in 1936.^[1]

Vancouver was paid off on 25 November 1936^[1] and broken up in 1937.^[7]