Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
Royal Canadian Navy — Destroyer I04

HMCS Annapolis (I04)

Wickes-class destroyer

HMCS Annapolis (I04)
Unknown author — U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 46903 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — I04 The U.S. Navy destroyer USS MacKenzie (DD-175) anchored in a U.S. West Coast harbour, circa 1920-1922.

Service

  1. United States Navy as USS MacKenzie25 July 1919 — 24 September 1940389 days of the war
  2. Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Annapolis24 September 1940 — 4 June 19451,714 days of the war
Wickes-class destroyer Particulars
Name
HMCS Annapolis
Pennant / hull number
I04
Namesake
Alexander Slidell MacKenzie
Builder
Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California
Laid down
4 July 1918
Launched
29 September 1918
Commissioned
25 July 1919
Decommissioned
27 May 1922
Recommissioned
6 November 1939
Struck
8 January 1941
Fate
Sold for scrapping, 4 June 1945 (1945)
Status
Scrapped

Specifications

Displacement, full load
1,200 long tons (1,219 t)
Length
95.71 m (314 ft)
Beam
9.14 m (30 ft)
Draught
2.74 m (9 ft)
Speed
35 knots (64.8 km/h, 40.3 mph)
Complement
145
Main gun
102 mm (4 in)

The second Mackenzie (Destroyer No. 175) was laid down on 4 July 1918, Independence Day, at San Francisco, Calif., by the Union Iron Works; launched on 29 September 1919; sponsored by Mrs. Percy J. Cotton, wife of the superintendent of hull construction at the buiulding yard; and commissioned on 25 July 1919, Lt. Cmdr. Eugene T. Oates in command.

Following commissioning and shakedown, Mackenzie -- redesignated as DD-175 on 17 July 1920 -- became a unit of the Pacific Fleet and operated with Destroyer Squadrons 2 and 4 until decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif., on 27 May 1922. MacKenzie remained in reserve until she was recommissioned at San Diego on 6 November 1939, Cmdr. Fred W. Connor in command.

In 1940, the ship was one of 50 destroyers exchanged, under the terms of the Lend‑Lease Agreement, for strategic bases off the North American coast. She arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 20 September 1940. Mere, on the 24th, she decommissioned, was turned over to the Royal Canadian Navy and recommissioned as HMCS Annapolis. Mackenzie was stricken from the Navy Register on 8 January 1941.

Until 1944, Annapolis sailed with the Halifax and Western Local Escort Forces escorting convoys from east of St. Johns, Newfoundland, to New York. In April 1944, she was attached to HMCS Cornwallis, near Annapolis, Novia Scotia, where she remained as a training ship until the end of the war. On 4 June 1945, she was turned over to the War Assets Corp. and sold to Frankel Bros., Ltd., of Toronto for scrapping.

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Mackenzie II (Destroyer No. 175)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 27000 shp
  • two shaft geared turbines
Armament
  • 4 x single 102 mm/50 cal guns
  • 1 x 76 mm AA gun
  • 3 x 12.7mm machine guns
  • 12 x 533 mm torpedo tubes (4x3)

Sister ships

79 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from HMCS Annapolis (I04) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from Mackenzie II (Destroyer No. 175) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: Unknown author — U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 46903 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons