133 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca McLEAN, George Charles WWII George was born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1925. He joined the RCNVR in October 1943, at HMCS Chippawa in Winnipeg. He was eighteen years old. In February 1944, he was called up for Active Service. After three months of training at Chippawa, he was posted to HMCS Cornwallis, Nova Scotia where he completed basic training and took a Submarine Detector course for about six weeks. In December 1944, he was assigned to the corvette HMCS Amhurst, K 148. He boarded the Amhurst in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and made a six-hour run to Halifax. His job was helping to secure the hawsers (big tie ropes). The Amhurst had a crew of 96 – full complement she had a displacement of 950 tons, length 205’ 1”, width 33’ 1” and top speed of 16 knots. Her armament consisted of the following: one four-inch gun on the forward position; two Oerlikons (anti-tank guns) on the bridge; one pom pom (gun) on the stern; a supply of depth charges and hedge hog (a submarine weapon) on the forward part of the ship. The guns had 24 spikets (bombs were loaded on spikets for firing five in a pattern), which were an added armament. They fired forward of the ship. The Amhurst sailed south to Bermuda via the Azores for what the Navy called “evolutions” (sea maneuvers training). His training had included gunnery training. His specialty was sub training. This was a highly sophisticated and technical training much like radar. Under water, it is called “asdics”. As operators, they wore earphones. They had the range recorder and an operator on there too. When an enemy sub was in the vicinity of the ship, they would receive an echo in the earphones. The range of detection was about 1000 yards. They operated off a compass. The “Old Man” (Captain) would tell them to sweep, sending out a beam within so many degrees to port and/or starboard. If contact was made and classified as an enemy sub, the Action operators would then take over the set. The Action Operator was usually an H.S.D. (Higher Submarine Detector). If George were relieved, he would go to the rails on the stern of the ship for depth charging purposes. In other words, when the exact location of the enemy sub was pinpointed, depth charges were dropped. The signal for the depth charge to be dropped would come from the bridge where the “Old Man” was stationed. He would give the order to flash on the light, and then George would pull the lever and the depth charge would be dropped. Setting the depth charge was a very exacting job. Every set had to be double-checked to ensure accuracy. This procedure took place immediately before deployment of the depth charge and usually in the dark of night because that is when enemy subs were especially active. George’s main service in the Navy was in the North Atlantic, escorting convoys en route to Ireland. The base in Ireland was Londonderry. One particular night, they escorted the Lady Rodney from Halifax to St. John’s, Newfoundland. There were a bunch of WRENS (Canadian Navy Women) on board. They ran into an echo and must have chased the sub for at least four hours, dropping several depth charges. The next day, they heard that enough damage had been caused to the enemy sub to make her surface, and the aircraft got her. (continued)
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