Royal Canadian Navy and Israeli Navy HMCS
Hallowell was ordered on 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943-44 River-class building program by the
Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). She was laid down by
Canadian Vickers Ltd. aT
Montreal on 22 November 1943 and launched 28 March 1944. She was commissioned into the RCN on 8 August 1944 at Montreal. After working up at
Bermuda,
Hallowell was assigned to the
Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) escort group C-1 as the Senior Officer's Ship. From late November 1944 until June 1945, she was continuously employed as a convoy escort on North Atlantic convoys. In June 1945 she returned to Canada and from July to August transported troops from
St. John's to
Canada. She was paid off at
Sydney, Nova Scotia on 7 November 1945 and placed in reserve at
Shelburne, Nova Scotia. After the war she was sold to Uruguayan interests in 1946 before being re-sold to a Palestinian group in 1949 for conversion to a short-service ferry in the
Mediterranean Sea. She was renamed
Sharon and remained in service until 1952, when she was purchased by the
Israeli Navy, rearmed and commissioned as INS
Miznak and given the designation K-32. She remained in service until 1958.
Royal Ceylon Navy Purchased from the Israeli Navy in 1958–3 years after another River-class frigate, HMCyS
Mahasena—she was commissioned as HMCyS
Gajabahu into the
Royal Ceylon Navy. She participated in many flag-showing missions in various countries, including a cruise to
Japan.
Gajabahu also took part in many international naval exercises. Following the failed
military coups d'état in 1962 in which the former
Captain of the Navy (as the Commander of the Navy was known then) was implicated, the government undertook a program of downsizing the military. As a result,
Gajabahu became the
flagship of the fleet and only major warship of the Royal Ceylon Navy after
Mahasena and
Parakram were sold off and
Vijaya was lost in a storm. During the
1971 Insurrection she could not be deployed to sea since her crew were dispatched for ground duty due to personnel shortages. "HMCyS
Gajabahu" became "SLNS
Gajabahu" when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. In the 1980s she was taken out of active service to be converted to a
training ship for the
Naval and Maritime Academy,
Trincomalee. ==References==