Thread: HMCS Uganda
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Old 14-08-16, 06:02 PM
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Default HMCS Uganda

HMCS Uganda was the only RCN ship to see active service in the Pacific theatre war against the Japanese. She was to serve with the RN Pacific Fleet between April & July of 1945.

HMS Uganda was completed on 3 July 1943 at Vickers-Armstrong & saw service in operations in the English Channel & Bay of Biscay. In July she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet as part of "Force K" , & whilst supporting Allied landings at Salerno was hit by a German glider bomb on Sep 13, 1943. She also supported the Allied landings at Salerno. She was in Charleston USA for a year's refit before being presented to the RCN on Oct 21, 1944, being commissioned as HMCS Uganda. After modernization in UK she sailed for the Pacific theatre
in Jan 1945, transiting the Suez canal on her way. Upon arrival in the Pacific theatre in April, she joined the RN 4th Cruiser Sqdn. In April she was part of Task Force 57 on operations in the Okinawa area & in screening Aircraft Carriers of the Fleet operating against Japanese airfields in the Ryukyu Islands. On June 14 she participated in the bombardment of Truk Atoll & was involved in operations against Tokyo in July.

In July HMCS Uganda basically voted herself out of the war. The reason was primarily political. The Canadian Government no longer intended to deploy personnel, other than volunteers, to the Pacific Theatre. The "Volunteers Only" policy, as it was called, required that all naval personnel specifically re-volunteer for service in the Pacific Theatre before they would be dispatched to participate in hostilities. Unaware of the impending policy change, HMCS UGANDA had already set sail to augment the British Pacific Fleet.
The "Volunteers Only" policy change had serious implications for UGANDA, as her commanding officer, Captain Edmond Rollo Mainguy, recognized. If the majority of the ship's company decided they did not wish to re-volunteer, the operational efficiency of his ship would suffer and his ability to continue to support the British Pacific Fleet would be jeopardized.
The issue came to a head when the ship's company was required to decide on whether or not they wished to re-volunteer, while simultaneously voting in an advance poll on 2 June for the general election. By nightfall, 344 members of the ship's company had re-volunteered, while 556 of their shipmates had not. As a result, and due in no small part to the logistical nightmare of trying to send home personnel who opted not to re-volunteer, the Admiralty decided that UGANDA should return to Esquimalt to disembark the non-volunteers. Still, it took some time to organize this, and she continued on operations until relieved by HMS Argonaut on 27 July, when UGANDA departed the Pacific Theatre.

Obviously there was a lot of hard feelings on this subject at the time. It was certainly a stain on both the war reputation of Uganda & the RCN. The 'Uganda Incident's' repercussions were to be felt for some time afterwards in the RCN.

Post 2WW Uganda was employed as a training ship operating out of Esquimalt on the west coast of Canada. On Jan 14, 1952 Uganda's name was changed to HMCS Quebec. However Uganda/Quebec was very expensive to maintain & operate, she was paid off on June 13, 1956 & was subsequently sold for breakup, ironically to Osaka Japan, where she was broken up from Feb 1961.


There is a fair amount of info on HMCS Uganda on the internet. The CFB Esquimalt Museum has a good site on the 'Pacific Volunteers Only' policy that affected Uganda. Some of the material above has been taken from their site.
http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.or...uganda-episode

Bryan

Last edited by RCN; 15-08-16 at 01:40 PM.
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