HMCS Haida (G63) - Cold War Operations

Cold War Operations

Haida was in mothballs for approximately 1 year but was prepared for reactivation in 1947 and underwent a refit for updated armament and sensors. While in refit, fire gutted the wheelhouse and boiler tubes burst later during speed trials. She returned to the fleet, still carrying the famous pennant G63, in May 1947.

Haida and her sister ship HMCS Nootka (R96) participated in exercises between the RCN's Atlantic Fleet and the United States Navy and Royal Navy over the next several years. Haida was involved in assisting during the grounding of HMCS Magnificent (CVL 21) off Port Mouton on 4 June 1949. That December, Haida was downgraded to a Depot and Accommodation Ship in Halifax.

The launch of the Korean War on 25 June 1950 saw Haida once again activated for war duty. She was converted to a destroyer escort and began refit in July 1950 which saw various new armaments and sensors and communications systems. She was recommissioned on 15 March 1952 and carried the pennant DDE 215. She departed Halifax on 27 September for Sasebo, Japan, arriving there on 12 November after passing through the Panama Canal.

Haida relieved Nootka on 18 November off the west coast of Korea and had an uneventful patrol, returning to Sasebo to replenish on 29 November. She patrolled off the east coast of Korea beginning on 4 December and took part with USS Moore (DE-240) in shelling of a railway yard in Songjin as well as a coastal battery and North Korean troops. On 18–19 December, Haida attacked an enemy train but missed the escaping locomotive which hid in a nearby tunnel, thus not joining the exclusive "Trainbusters Club". Haida returned to patrol on 3 January 1953 and escorted aircraft carriers as well as performing coastal bombardments. On 29 January, Haida entered the "Trainbusters Club" after attacking a train north of Riwon and also detonated a drifting anti-ship mine on her return to Yang do.

She departed Sasebo on 12 June, heading west through the Suez Canal and arrived in Halifax on 22 July 1953.

Haida departed Halifax for a second Korean tour on 14 December 1953, passing through the Panama Canal. Despite the cease fire, infractions by North Korea and China were occurring, thus the need for a naval presence around South Korea. She departed the Korean theatre on 1 November 1954 and headed for Halifax via the Suez Canal once again.

Following the Korean operations, Haida embarked on Cold War anti-submarine warfare duties with other NATO units in the North Atlantic and West Indies.

Haida's aging hull and infrastructure proved troublesome and in January 1958 she went into refit for hull repairs and protection for electronic equipment. Further refits in 1959 corrected various problems and she sailed for the West Indies in January 1960; however, further equipment failures culminating in the 3 April failure of her steering gear forced her to return to Halifax. A hull survey in May found extensive corrosion and cracking, forcing her into drydock for the remainder of the year. She undertook further repairs in June–July 1961 after further cracking was found during operations in heavy seas that March. More cracks were detected in March 1962 which forced a refit through February 1963.