Member LoginLast-survivor of the twenty-seven Tribal Class destroyers
We are very fortunate to have HMCS HAIDA preserved in here in the Hamilton harbour!
- As the ship is the last survivor of the twenty-seven Tribal Class destroyers, thirteen of which, including HMCS ATHABASKAN, were lost during the Second World War. The ship sank more surface tonnage than any other Canadian ship during that conflict and consequently is known as Canada’s fightingest ship.
- The ship is one of only three remaining of the over four hundred Canadian warships from the Second World War, a time when Canada’s navy was the third largest in the world!
- HMCS Haida is the only survivor of the eight Canadian warships that served during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953; and along with HMCS SACKVILLE, and has received appropriate honours when passed by ships of the current fleet.
Missions: Arctic 1943-1945, English Channel 1944, Normandy 1944, Biscay 1944, Korea 1952-1954
Legacy of HMCS HAIDA Lives On
In 1963, prior to being paid off, HMCS HAIDA sailed on a farewell tour of the Great Lakes. This inspired a group of businessmen to form Haida Inc. to buy him as a memorial to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy. He was open to the public for many years at Ontario Place in Toronto. Acquired by the Province of Ontario in 1970, HMCS HAIDA was transferred to Park Canada in 2003. Extensive repairs to his hull were carried out and he arrived at his new berth in Hamilton on the 60th anniversary of his commissioning on August 30, 2003.
In 1990, the Historic sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated HMCS HAIDA as a National Historic Site.
In 1989, Friends of HMCS HAIDA was formed to raise funds for projects that would assist in the preservation and maintenance of the ship.
In 2018 designated ” Honourary Flagship ” for the Royal Canadian Navy.
Remains the only ship in the RCN to have circumnavigated the world, twice. ( 1953,1955)