HMCS Trillium was a that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served mainly as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was one of ten corvettes loaned to the Canadian navy by the Royal Navy and the only one which remained an ocean escort throughout the war. She was named after the flowering plant genus Trillium, which includes wakerobin, tri flower, and birthroot.
Background
Flower-class corvettes like Trillium 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 Trillium was ordered 20 January 1940 for the Royal Navy as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down by Canadian Vickers Ltd. at Montreal on 20 February 1940 and was launched on 26 June 1940. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 31 October 1940 at Montreal. She sailed for the United Kingdom and was fully fitted out at Greenock in March 1941. Trillium was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada on 15 May 1941. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships.
During her career, Trillium had four significant refits. The first took place at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia beginning in August 1941 and taking three months to complete. Her second overhaul took place at Galveston which was begun in April 1942 and took until June to complete. Her third refit saw her fo'c'sle extended at Boston beginning in April 1943 and was completed 10 June 1943. The final refit of her career took place in late April 1944 at Pictou, Nova Scotia and lasted two months. Afterwards she needed a further month of repairs at Halifax.
War service
Royal Navy After workups at Tobermory, Trillium was assigned to local escort group EG 4. She remained with this group until June 1941, when she left for Canada.
Royal Canadian Navy After arriving in June 1941, Trillium was assigned to Newfoundland Command. She remained with this unit until March 1942. During her time with Newfoundland Command, she worked with escort groups 10N, 23N, N14 and N13. On 21 April 1941 she picked up 24 survivors from the British merchant Empire Endurance that had been torpedoed and sunk the previous southwest of Rockall.
In August 1942 she transferred to the Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) after working up. She was assigned to MOEF escort group A-3. During her time with A-3 she took part in three major convoy battles; SC 100 in September 1942, ON 166 in February 1943 and SC 121 in March 1943. On 22–23 February 1943, Trillium picked up 158 survivors from three ships which had been torpedoed over those two days. She remained with A-3 until April 1943, when she departed for a major refit.
After working up and returning to service, she was assigned to MOEF escort group C-4. She remained with the group before departing again for refit. After workups in Bermuda and returning to service, Trillium was assigned to MOEF group C-3 in September 1944. While escorting convoy ON 278, she sank a coastal merchant in a collision. Trillium needed five weeks repairs afterwards. Afterwards she returned to escort duty with C-3 for the remainder of her time with the Royal Canadian Navy. She left Canada for the last time as an escort on the last HX convoy of the war.
Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted ConvoyEscort GroupDatesNotesSC 35 & HX 13424 June – 4 July 1941Newfoundland to IcelandSC 39 & HX 1424-12 Aug 1941Newfoundland to IcelandON 817-24 Aug 1941Iceland to NewfoundlandSC 5912-21 Dec 1941Newfoundland to IcelandON 5028 Dec 1941 – 3 Jan 1942Iceland to NewfoundlandSC 6520-29 Jan 1942Newfoundland to IcelandON 626-15 Feb 1942Iceland to NewfoundlandSC 727–16 March 1942Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 7822 March – 3 April 1942Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 95MOEF group A38-18 Aug 1942Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 125MOEF group A329 Aug – 7 Sept 1942Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 100MOEF group A315-28 Sept 1942Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 135MOEF group A33-15 Oct 1942Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 212MOEF group A323 Oct – 1 Nov 1942Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 145MOEF group A310-20 Nov 1942Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 111MOEF group A31-17 Dec 1942Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 156MOEF group A324 Dec 1942 – 8 Jan 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 223MOEF group A319-31 Jan 1943Newfoundland to Northern IrelandConvoy ON 166MOEF group A312-25 Feb 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandConvoy SC 121MOEF group A33–12 March 1943Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 175MOEF group A325 March – 8 April 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandON 18715-22 Aug 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 2542-9 Sept 1943Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 20323 Sept – 3 Oct 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 26011-18 Oct 1943Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 2091-10 Nov 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 26618-26 Nov 1943Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 21510-22 Dec 1943Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 27227 Dec 1943 – 5 Jan 1944Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 22016-28 Jan 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandONS 3028 Feb – 10 March 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 28319–28 March 1944Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 2318–17 April 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandON 25314-25 Sept 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 3113-12 Oct 1944Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 26226 Oct – 6 Nov 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 31914-25 Nov 1944Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 2705-15 Dec 1944Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 32724 Dec 1944 – 2 Jan 1945Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 27813-14 Jan 1945Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandONS 4327 Feb – 13 March 1945Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandSC 17020–30 March 1945Newfoundland to Northern IrelandON 29612–27 April 1945Northern Ireland to NewfoundlandHX 35825 May – 6 June 1945Newfoundland to Northern Ireland; the last HX convoy of the war
Post-war service Trillium was returned to the Royal Navy at Milford Haven 27 June 1945. She was sold in 1947 for conversion to a whale-catcher. In 1950 she reappeared as the Honduran-registered Olympic Winner. In 1956 she was renamed Otori Maru No. 10 after being purchased by Japanese owners. In 1959 she was renamed Kyo Maru No. 16. She last appeared on Lloyd's Register in 1972–73. The ship was broken up by Kyusan Shoten K.K. at Akaho City in June 1971.
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