HMCS Eyebright was a that served mainly with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named after the medicinal flowering plant genus Euphrasia.

Background

Flower-class corvettes like Eyebright serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French for classes of small warships; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants.

Construction She was ordered for the Royal Navy (RN) as HMS Eyebright as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down by Canadian Vickers Ltd. in Montreal, Quebec on 20 February 1940 and launched on 22 July 1940. Eyebright was commissioned into the RN on 26 November 1940 in Montreal. She was towed to Halifax and was finished enough to make an ocean crossing, which she did in January 1941 with HX 104. However she was not completed until 16 April 1941 after she had arrived at Sunderland in the United Kingdom. On 15 May 1941 Eyebright was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.

Eyebright underwent two major refits during her career. Beginning in November 1941, Eyebright refitted in Charlottetown. The refit took two months to complete. The second refit took place in Baltimore, beginning in July 1943 and taking two months to complete.

War service

Royal Navy After completing Eyebright was sent to work up at Tobermory, where the escort training facilities were located. Once those were finished she was assigned to the RN escort group EG-4 based in Iceland in May 1941.

Royal Canadian Navy

Eyebright was loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy in May 1941. Upon arrival, she was assigned to Newfoundland Command as an ocean escort. There she was placed in the escort group 18N and then beginning in October 1941, group N16. In December 1941 she left for a two-month refit returning in January to serve briefly with escort groups N14 and N13. Eyebright participated in the battle for convoy SC 44 in September 1941. It was to be the only convoy she escorted to lose ships to submarine torpedoes.

Eyebright served with Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) groups C1, C3 and C4 from April 1942 through to November 1944. After returning from her second refit, Eyebright transferred to the Western Local Escort Force (WLEF) in November 1944 as part of escort group W-3. She stayed with that group until the end of the war with two exceptions, one trip with MOEF group C-5 and escorting the last HX convoy of the war to the United Kingdom.

Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted Convoy Record ConvoyEscort GroupDatesNotesHX 10421 January – 8 February 194121 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandOB 33213–23 June 194143 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to NewfoundlandHX 13630 June – 13 July 194146 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandOB 34516–24 July 194160 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to NewfoundlandHX 1425–12 August 194165 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandON 721–25 August 194138 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to NewfoundlandHX 14913–20 September 194157 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandSC 4420-22 Sept 1941Newfoundland to Iceland; 4 ships torpedoed & sunkON 19A28 Sept – 4 Oct 1941Iceland shuttleSC 4913-21 Oct 194131 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandON 2928 Oct – 5 Nov 194131 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to NewfoundlandSC 6623 January – 4 February 194229 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandON 6411–18 February 194237 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to NewfoundlandSC 7210–16 March 194219 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to IcelandON 7822 March – 3 April 194227 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 7915–27 April 194253 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 93MOEF group C39–17 May 194225 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 85MOEF group C431 May – 11 June 194260 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 123MOEF group C122–31 August 194239 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 99MOEF group C19–19 September 194259 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 133MOEF group C126 September – 5 Oct 194235 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 211MOEF group C113–20 October 194229 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 143MOEF group C12–11 November 194226 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 110MOEF group C124 November – 5 December 194233 ships escorted without loss from Halifax to NewfoundlandHX 221MOEF group C35–13 January 194336 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 163MOEF group C325 January – 8 February 194338 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 226MOEF group C314-23 Feb 194343 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 172MOEF group C310–21 March 194316 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 124MOEF group C328 March – 6 April 194333 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 180MOEF group C325 April – 7 May 194365 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 238MOEF group C313–21 May 194345 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 1872–10 June 194375 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 25615–21 September 194359 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandONS 1927 September – 9 October 194349 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 26117–25 October 194365 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 2107–17 November 194342 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 14723 November – 3 December 194350 ships escorted without loss from Halifax to NewfoundlandON 21617–29 December 194340 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 1503–14 January 194419 ships escorted without loss from Halifax to NewfoundlandONS 2829 January – 11 February 194429 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 27927–28 February 194459 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 2279–17 March 194461 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 28426 March – 5 April 194480 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 23214–23 April 194445 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 2893–13 May 1944130 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 23720–29 May 194464 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 2949–19 June 1944113 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 24229 June – 5 July 194499 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 16119 November – 3 December 194449 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern IrelandONS 3814 December 1944 – 2 January 194526 ships escorted without loss from Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 35825 May – 6 June 194556 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; the last HX convoy of the war

Post-war service

On 17 July 1945 she was returned to the Royal Navy. Laid up, she was and sold for civilian use in 1947 and converted into the Dutch whale-catcher Albert W. Vinke of in 1950. Albert W. Vinke last appeared on Lloyd's Register in 1964–65. The ship was broken up by South African Metal & Machinery Pty Ltd in Cape Town in February 1965.

References

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