User:McMuff/HMCS French

History
Fate	Taken over by Royal Canadian Navy 1939
Canada
Name	French
Acquired	1939
Commissioned	18 September 1939
Decommissioned	1945
Renamed	Le Francais
Identification	pennant number: Z23
Honours and awards	Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942
Fate	Abandoned 1953
General characteristics
Displacement	337 long tons (342 t)
Length	140 ft (42.7 m)
Beam	24 ft (7.3 m)
Draught	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion	2 Winton diesel engines, 2 shafts
Speed	11 knots (20 km/h)
Complement	40
Armament	1 × 4-inch gun

A former RCMP vessel, she was commissioned at Halifax on 18 Sep 1939, for local patrol work. By the spring of 1942, French was based at Mulgrave, N.S., as an examination vessel, and in Dec 1942 was transferred to Saint John N.B. Force. In May 1943, she joined Sydney Force and returned to examination service work in the Gut of Canso, based once more at Mulgrave. For her actions as an Escort Vessel, she was awarded the Battle Honour 'GULF OF ST LAWRENCE 1942'. In Jan 1944, she rejoined Halifax Local Defence Force, but after completing a major refit at Lunenburg in Jul 1944 she returned again to Mulgrave. Sold to commercial interests after the war, French was operating out of Halifax as Le Francais as recently as 1953. On 15 Aug 1953 she was badly damaged in a hurricane off Cape May, N.J., and abandoned to the underwriters.