In the midst of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, our local history feature is about one way Timmins contributed to the war effort.
Local historian Karen Bachmann notes that the Battle of the Atlantic lasted the entire duration of the war, from 1939 to 45. The Germans and the Allies were sinking each other’s supply ships.
Britain brought in lightly-armored Corvettes to escort supply ships. They were able to sink German submarines by using depth charges.
“We talk about those Corvettes, because communities were encouraged to sponsor and support those Corvettes. So Timmins was such a community,” Bachmann narrates. “The HMCS Timmins was a World War II flower class Corvette that was commissioned for the Royal Canadian Navy on February 10th in ’42 and it started to do a lot of its work on the West Coast.”
It was eventually shifted to the Atlantic side of the continent.
“She was an escort vessel for merchant ship convoys travelling between Halifax, St. John’s and the American Eastern Seaboard,” Bachmann continues. “We did that on that end because I don’t think a lot of people realize that the Germans were coming very much towards North America and they were actually in the St. Lawrence Seaway.”
Next week, we look at the post-war life of HMCS Timmins.
