United States Navy service The destroyer was
laid down on 10 September 1918 by
Bethlehem Shipbuilding at their yard in
Quincy, Massachusetts, with the
yard number 332. Named for
Roderick S. McCook, the ship was
launched on 31 January 1919,
sponsored by Mrs. Henry C. Dinger.
McCook was
commissioned on 30 April 1919. Following a period performing
shakedown training,
McCook was assigned to Destroyer Force,
Atlantic Fleet. She operated along the east coast of the United States until
decommissioning at
Philadelphia on 30 June 1922.
McCook remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until recommissioned on 18 December 1939. The next year
McCook was designated for exchange under the
Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kingdom.
Transfer to the UK By 1940, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations were fighting the
Axis powers alone after the
fall of France. The convoy route between North America and the United Kingdom was under attack by German
U-boats and required protection, but the British lacked adequate ships to defend the shipping lanes. That year, the US offered 50 "flush deck destroyers" to the UK in exchange for leases to British bases around the world. In September, the deal was sealed and 50 vessels of the
Clemson and
Wickes classes were transferred to the UK. Renamed the Town class by the British, their new names were chosen from towns with names common to both nations. After entering British service, the destroyers were modified with British
radar,
asdic and depth charge throwers. Two of the torpedo tube mounts were removed to make space for an
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, the aft 4-inch gun was replaced by a British 12-pounder gun and Type 273 radar was installed. Two boilers were removed and fuel storage was increased to improve range. The destroyer's final layout was three 20 mm Oerlikon cannon, one 3-inch gun, two .50 caliber machine guns, depth charge roller racks, one 21-inch torpedo tube mount sited on the deck centreline and the bridge area was revamped to make room for the new electronic equipment. Steaming to
Halifax, Nova Scotia,
McCook arrived on 20 September 1940. Decommissioned on 24 September by the United States Navy, the destroyer was transferred to the United Kingdom on the same date, but due to manpower shortages in the Royal Navy, she was retransferred immediately to the
Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned as HMCS
St. Croix (I81). Following the Canadian practice of naming destroyers after Canadian rivers (but with deference to the U.S. origin),
St. Croix was named after the
St. Croix River forming the border between
Maine and
New Brunswick.
Royal Canadian Navy service The destroyer sailed for the United Kingdom on 30 November via
St. John's, Newfoundland but encountered a hurricane en route and was forced to return to Canada. '
HMCS St. Croix'''
arrived at Halifax on 18 December and underwent repairs which kept the destroyer inactive until March 1941. On 14 March 1941 St. Croix'' assumed local escort and patrol duties in Canadian waters. At the end of August she joined the
Newfoundland Escort Force and plied between St. John's and
Reykjavík, Iceland.
St. Croix underwent a six-month refit at
Saint John, New Brunswick, returning to service in May 1942. By May 1942 the Newfoundland Escort Force had been renamed the
Mid-Ocean Escort Force and its range extended to
Londonderry Port.
St. Croix sank the on 24 July 1942, which, with other U-boats, had attacked her convoy (ON 113) on 23 July, sinking two merchant vessels and damaging a third. On the return voyage,
Convoy ON 127 was attacked by 13 U-boats. Between 10 September and 14 September eleven merchant ships and one destroyer were lost. En route from Londonderry Port to
Gibraltar on 4 March 1943 with
convoy KMS 10, she assisted the
corvette in the sinking of some off the
Iberian coast. With the addition of air escort to convoy defense in 1943, U-boat tolls in the North Atlantic diminished and many of the boats were withdrawn during the summer. In the fall, however, Germany began a new U-boat offensive. On 16 September,
St. Croix, then on her first patrol with an offensive striking group in the
Bay of Biscay, went to the aid of
convoy ONS 18, followed by
ON 202, both heavily beset by a
wolfpack. The defense of these convoys resulted in a long-running battle with losses to both sides. The convoys lost three escorts and six merchantmen, with two escorts damaged. The wolfpack lost three U-boats.
St. Croix was the first escort to be sunk, taking three hits from
U-305 in the stern on 20 September. was sunk by as she came up to screen
HMS Itchen's rescue operations.
Itchen, forced to retire that evening, returned the next morning and picked up 81 survivors from
St. Croix and one from
Polyanthus. The following day, 22 September,
Itchen herself was torpedoed. Three men were rescued, two from
Itchen, one from
St. Croix. was involved involved in picking up the survivors.
Trans-Atlantic convoys escorted ==References==