View source for HMCS Athabaskan (R79)

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy}}
{{Other ships|HMCS Athabaskan}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image=HMCS Athabaskan AWM P05890.060.jpeg
 |image_caption=HMCS ''Athabaskan'' circa. August 1951 – February 1952, probably in Korean waters.
 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=
 |country=Canada
 |flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
 |name= ''Athabaskan''
 |namesake={{HMCS|Athabaskan|G07}}
 |ordered=April 1942
 |awarded=
 |builder=[[Halifax Shipyards]], [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
 |original_cost=
 |yard_number=
 |way_number=
 |laid_down=15 May 1943
 |launched=4 May 1946
 |sponsor=
 |christened=
 |completed=
 |acquired=
 |commissioned=20 January 1948
 |recommissioned=25 October 1954
 |decommissioned=21 April 1966
 |maiden_voyage=
 |in_service=
 |out_of_service=
 |renamed=
 |reclassified=
 |refit=
 |struck=
 |reinstated=
 |homeport=
 |identification=[[Pennant number]]: R79; later DDE 219
 |motto= "We Fight as One"
 |nickname= ''Athabaskan II''
 |honours= Korea 1950
 |captured=
 |fate=Sold for scrapping 1969
 |notes=
 |badge=
 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
 |class={{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer (1936)|0}} [[destroyer]]
 |displacement=*1,850 tons (standard),
               *2,520 tons (full)
 |length={{convert|377|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |beam={{convert|37.5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |draught={{convert|9|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |propulsion=3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, steam turbines, 2 shafts, 44,000 shp
 |speed={{convert|36|kn|km/h}}
 |range=*{{convert|5700|nmi|km}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h}}
        *524 tons oil
 |complement=190 (219 as leader)
 |sensors=
 |EW=
 |armament=*8 – [[QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI|4 in L/45 QF Mk.XVI guns]], 4 × twin mounting HA Mk.XIX
           *1 × twin [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm Bofors]] mount Mk.V
           *4 × single 40 mm Bofors mount Mk.III
           *1 × tubes for [[British 21-inch torpedo|{{convert|21|inch|mm|abbr=on|0}} torpedoes Mk.IX]]
           *1 × rack, 2 × throwers for [[depth charge]]s
 |notes=
 }}
}}

'''HMCS ''Athabaskan''''' was a {{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer (1936)|0}} destroyer that served with the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] in the immediate post-[[Second World War]] era. She was the second [[destroyer]] to bear the name "Athabaskan", after the many tribes throughout western Canada that speak Athabaskan family languages. Both this ship and the original {{HMCS|Athabaskan|G07|6}} were destroyers and thus this vessel became known as ''Athabaskan II'' or "Athabee".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=HMCS ATHABASKAN R79 / 219 - For Posterity's Sake |url=http://www.forposterityssake.ca/Navy/HMCS_ATHABASKAN_R79_219.htm |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=www.forposterityssake.ca}}</ref>

Having missed [[Battle of the Atlantic|action within the North Atlantic]], ''Athabaskan II''  served in the [[Korean War]] and played an important role in Canadian post-war naval reform following a crew protest in 1949.

==Construction and career==
''Athabaskan'' was ordered in April 1942. She was laid down 15 May 1943 at [[Halifax Shipyards]] and launched 4 May 1946.<ref name=uboat>{{cite web|url=http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4447.html |title=HMCS Athabaskan (ii) (R79) |work=uboat.net |accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> She was one of four Tribal-class destroyers built in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]] during the Second World War. She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 20 January 1948 at [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]].<ref name=Macpherson>{{cite book |last1=Macpherson |first1=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|isbn=0-00216-856-1}}</ref>

After commissioning, ''Athabaskan'' sailed for the west coast to begin her career as a training ship. She performed this task until the outbreak of the Korean War.<ref name=Macpherson/> It was during this period that the mutiny took place.

===1949 'mutiny'===
{{See also|History of the Royal Canadian Navy#1949 'mutinies'}}
On 26 February 1949, when the ''Athabaskan'' was on fueling stop at [[Manzanillo, Colima]], [[Mexico]], ninety leading seamen and below – constituting more than half the ship's company – locked themselves in their messdecks, and refused to come out until getting the captain to hear their grievances.

The captain acted with great sensitivity to defuse the crisis, entering the mess for an informal discussion of the sailors' grievances and carefully avoiding using the term "[[mutiny]]" which could have had severe legal consequences for the sailors involved. Specifically, while talking with the disgruntled crew members, the captain is known to have placed his cap over a written list of demands which could have been used as legal evidence of a mutiny, pretending not to notice it.<ref name=German>{{cite book |last=German |first=Tony |year=1990 |title=The Sea is at our Gates : The History of the Canadian Navy |publisher=McClelland and Stewart Inc. |location=Toronto |isbn=0-7710-3269-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/seaisatourgatesh00germ }}</ref><ref name=Gimblett>{{cite web |url=http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/controversies/rcn_mutinies.html |title=Dissension in the Ranks, "Mutinies" in the Royal Canadian Navy |last=Gimblett |first=Richard |work=CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum |access-date=8 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302002055/http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/controversies/rcn_mutinies.html |archive-date=2 March 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Years later, one of her crew suggested that one specific grievance involved the lack of [[rum ration]]s, a tradition which continued until 1970.

At nearly the same time, similar incidents happened on {{HMCS|Crescent|R16|6}} at [[Nanjing]], [[China]], and on the carrier {{HMCS|Magnificent|CVL 21|6}} in the [[Caribbean]], both of whose captains acted similarly to that of the ''Athabaskan''.<ref name=Gimblett/>

===Korean War===
''Athabaskan'' served three tours of duty during the [[Korean War]], departing from [[Esquimalt]] for her first on 5 July 1950 and returning from her third on 11 December 1953. Joining the UN forces, she participated in patrols, anti-submarine protection, ship escorts, and assisted in capturing ports, transporting troops, evacuation, and bombardments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Section |first=Naval Historical |last2=Headquarters |first2=Naval |last3=Ottawa |last4=Ontario |last5=histories |first5=with special thanks to CPO2 Chris Fraser for retyping these official |date=2019-07-24 |title=HMCS ATHABASKAN |url=https://navalandmilitarymuseum.org/article/hmcs-athabaskan/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> As a result of her actions, she earned the [[battle honour]] "Korea 1950–53"

===Post Korean War===
Following Korea, ''Athabaskan'' underwent a major refit, recommissioning on 25 October 1954 as a destroyer escort.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Athabaskan Enters New Commission |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |date=December 1954 |volume=7 |number=2 |pages=3}}</ref>  On 1 January 1955, ''Athabaskan'' was assigned to the [[Second Canadian Escort Squadron]] of [[Maritime Forces Pacific|Pacific Command]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 1955 |title=Two New Squadrons for Pacific Command |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |pages=2–3 |volume=7 |number=4}}</ref> While on a training cruise with [[HMCS Cayuga|HCMS Cayuga]], the 16-year-old female stowaway Joan Pilapil was discovered on 7 August 1955.<ref name=":0" /> In November 1955, the Second Canadian Escort Squadron was among the Canadian units that took part in one of the largest naval exercises since the Second World War off the coast of California.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Biggest West Coast Exercises Held |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |location=Ottawa |date=December 1955 |volume=8 |number=2 |pages=2–3}}</ref>

In January 1959, ''Athabaskan'' left for the east coast to become part of a Tribal-class squadron. She was battered by a major storm during a NATO training exercise in November and December 1959. The ''Athabaskan'' was damaged by a collision with [[HMCS Bonaventure|HMCS ''Bonaventure'']] in 1963.

One of her final actions was rescuing the crew of a Liberian tanker ''Amphialos'', which had broken up and sank 40 kilometres off of [[Liverpool, Nova Scotia|Liverpool]].<ref name=":0" /> ''Athabaskan'' was placed in reserve in 1964 at Halifax.<ref name="Macpherson" />

==Decommissioning and fate==
''Athabaskan'' was paid off for disposal on 21 April 1966. She was sold in 1969 and scrapped in 1970 at [[La Spezia]], [[Italy]].<ref name=Macpherson/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book|last=Brice|first=Martin H.|title=The Tribals|publisher=Ian Allan|date=1971|location=London|isbn=0-7110-0245-2}}
*{{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937–43|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Gravesend, Kent|date=2001|id= {{Listed Invalid ISBN|0-905617-95-0}} }} {{OCLC|537904081|49841510|248419884}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers and Frigates, the Second World War and After|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2006 |isbn=1-86176-137-6|authorlink=Norman Friedman}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|authorlink=Jürgen Rohwer}}
* {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland|authorlink=Michael J. Whitley}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|HMCS Athabaskan (219) (ship, 1945)}}

{{Tribal class destroyer (1936)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athabaskan (R79)}}
[[Category:Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal Canadian Navy]]
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of Canada]]
[[Category:Ships built in Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Naval mutinies]]
[[Category:1945 ships]]
[[Category:Korean War destroyers of Canada]]