 = HMS Comet ( <unk> ) = 
 
 HMS Comet was a C @-@ class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s . She saw service in the Home and Mediterranean Fleets and the ship spent six months during the Spanish Civil War in late 1936 in Spanish waters , enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict . Comet transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy ( <unk> ) in 1938 and renamed HMCS Restigouche . During World War II , she served as a convoy escort in the battle of the Atlantic , on anti @-@ submarine patrols during the invasion of Normandy , and was employed as a troop transport after <unk> Day for returning Canadian servicemen , before being decommissioned in late 1945 . Restigouche was sold for scrap in 1946 . 
 
 = = Design and construction = = 
 
 Comet displaced 1 @,@ 375 long tons ( 1 @,@ <unk> t ) at standard load and 1 @,@ 865 long tons ( 1 @,@ 895 t ) at deep load . The ship had an overall length of <unk> feet ( 100 @.@ 3 m ) , a beam of 33 feet ( 10 @.@ 1 m ) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches ( 3 @.@ 8 m ) . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines , driving two shafts , which developed a total of 36 @,@ 000 shaft horsepower ( 27 @,@ 000 kW ) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots ( 67 km / h ; 41 mph ) . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3 @-@ drum water @-@ tube boilers . Comet carried a maximum of 473 long tons ( <unk> t ) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5 @,@ 500 nautical miles ( 10 @,@ 200 km ; 6 @,@ 300 mi ) at 15 knots ( 28 km / h ; 17 mph ) . The ship 's complement was 145 officers and men . 
 The ship mounted four 45 @-@ calibre 4 @.@ 7 @-@ inch Mk IX guns in single mounts , designated ' A ' , ' B ' , ' X ' , and ' Y ' from front to rear . For anti @-@ aircraft ( AA ) defence , Comet had a single QF 3 @-@ inch 20 cwt AA gun between her funnels , and two 40 @-@ millimetre ( 1 @.@ 6 in ) QF 2 @-@ pounder Mk II AA guns mounted on the aft end of her forecastle deck . The 3 @-@ inch ( 76 mm ) AA gun was removed in 1936 and the 2 @-@ pounders were relocated to between the funnels . She was fitted with two above @-@ water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21 @-@ inch torpedoes . Three depth @-@ charge chutes were fitted , each with a capacity of two depth charges . After World War II began this was increased to 33 depth charges , delivered by one or two rails and two throwers . 
 The ship was ordered on 15 July 1930 from Portsmouth Dockyard under the 1929 Programme . Comet was laid down on 12 September 1930 , launched on 30 September 1931 , as the 14th ship to carry the name , and completed on 2 June 1932 . 
 
 = = Service history = = 
 
 After sea trials in May 1932 , Comet was commissioned for service in the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla , Home Fleet , in early June . On 21 July , she was damaged in a collision with her sister Crescent at Chatham and repaired at Chatham Dockyard between 28 July and 20 August . The ship was refitted at Chatham from 20 July to 3 September 1934 . Following the Italian invasion of <unk> , Comet was sent in August 1935 to the Red Sea with the other ships of the 2nd Flotilla to monitor Italian warship movements until March 1936 . 
 Comet returned to the UK in April 1936 and refitted at <unk> between 23 April and 29 June before resuming duty with the Home Fleet . In July she was deployed for patrol duties off the Spanish coast in the Bay of Biscay to intercept shipping carrying <unk> goods to Spain and to protect British flagged shipping during the first stages of the Spanish Civil War . On 9 August she assisted the crew of the crippled British yacht Blue Shadow off <unk> , after the small vessel was shelled by mistake by the Nationalist cruiser <unk> <unk> . The ship was briefly placed in reserve in late 1936 while discussions were held about transferring her to the Royal Canadian Navy . Two of her sisters were chosen instead and Comet was recommissioned for service with the Mediterranean Fleet as plane guard for the aircraft carrier Glorious on 29 December . 
 In April 1937 she returned to Portsmouth with Glorious , and on 20 May the ship participated in the Coronation Review of the fleet at Spithead by King George VI . Four days later , Comet began a refit at Portsmouth that lasted until 18 June . The ship resumed plane guard duties for Glorious in the Mediterranean . She began a major refit at Chatham on 26 May 1938 to bring her up to Canadian specifications that included the installation of Type 124 <unk> . 
 
 = = = Transfer to the Royal Canadian Navy = = = 
 
 On 11 June she was commissioned by the <unk> and renamed Restigouche , although her refit was not completed until 20 August . Restigouche was assigned to the Canadian Pacific Coast and arrived at <unk> on 7 November 1938 . She remained there until she was ordered to Halifax , Nova Scotia on 15 November 1939 where she escorted local convoys , including the convoy carrying half of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division to the UK on 10 December . Restigouche was ordered to Plymouth on 24 May 1940 and arrived there on 31 May . Upon arrival , the ship 's rear torpedo tube mount was removed and replaced by a 12 @-@ pounder AA gun and the 2 @-@ pounders were exchanged for quadruple Mark I mounts for the QF 0 @.@ 5 @-@ inch Vickers Mark III machine gun . 
 On 9 June , Restigouche was ordered to Le <unk> , France to evacuate British troops , but none were to be found and the ship investigated the small port of Saint @-@ <unk> @-@ en @-@ <unk> some 40 miles ( 64 km ) northeast of Le <unk> on 11 June . They found some elements of the 51st Infantry Division , but had not received any orders to evacuate and refused to do so . Whilst recovering her landing party , the ship was taken under fire by a German artillery battery , but she was not hit and returned fire . After returning to England , Restigouche escorted several troop convoys on the last legs of their journeys from Canada , Australia and New Zealand in mid @-@ June . On 23 June , the ship escorted the ocean liner SS <unk> Star to St. Jean de Luz to evacuate Polish troops and British refugees trapped by the German Army in south @-@ western France ( Operation <unk> ) . On 25 June 1940 , Restigouche , her sister HMCS Fraser , and the light cruiser HMS Calcutta were returning from St. Jean de Luz when Fraser was rammed by Calcutta in the <unk> estuary at night . <unk> forward of the bridge by the cruiser 's bow , Fraser was cut in half , although the rear part of the ship did not immediately sink . All but 47 of the ship 's crew and <unk> were rescued by Restigouche and other nearby ships . The rear portion had to be sunk by Restigouche . 
 The ship was transferred to the Western Approaches Command afterwards for convoy escort duties . She sailed for Halifax at the end of August for a refit that lasted until October . Upon its completion , Restigouche remained at Halifax for local escort duties until January 1941 when she sailed for the UK where she was reassigned to the Western Approaches Command . The ship was ordered to St. John 's , Newfoundland on 30 May to reinforce escort forces in the Western Atlantic . Whilst guarding the battleship Prince of Wales at <unk> Bay on 8 August , Restigouche damaged her propellers when she struck bottom and required repairs that lasted until October . She was not out of dockyard hands for very long before she was badly damaged by a storm while en route to join Convoy <unk> @-@ 44 on 12 December . <unk> at Greenock lasted until 9 March 1942 and her director @-@ control tower and rangefinder above the bridge had been removed by this time in exchange for a Type 271 target indication radar . 
 Other changes made during the war ( exactly when these occurred is unknown ) included the replacement of ' A ' gun by a Hedgehog anti @-@ submarine <unk> mortar , exchanging her two quadruple .50 @-@ calibre Vickers machine guns mounted between her funnels for two Oerlikon 20 mm AA guns , the addition of two Oerlikon guns to her <unk> platform , and the removal of her 12 @-@ pounder AA gun . Type 286 short @-@ range surface search radar was also added . Two QF 6 pounder <unk> guns were fitted on the wings of her bridge to deal with U @-@ boats at short ranges . ' Y ' gun was also removed to allow her depth charge stowage to be increased to at least 60 depth charges . 
 Restigouche was assigned to the Mid @-@ Ocean Escort Force when her refit was finished and served with a variety of escort groups . The ship was permanently assigned to Escort Group <unk> in April 1943 and received a refit between August and December . She rejoined the escort group upon completion of the refit until she was transferred to 12th Escort Group in early 1944 for anti @-@ submarine operations in the Western Approaches . In June – July 1944 , Restigouche patrolled in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay hunting for German submarines trying to sink Allied shipping . On the night of 5 – 6 July , the ship and the rest of the 12th Escort Group sank three small German patrol boats off Brest . The following month , the 12th Support Group , including Restigouche , engaged three minesweepers on 12 August , without sinking any . The ship was sent to Canada for a lengthy refit later in the month . After working up in Bermuda , she arrived at Halifax on 14 February 1945 and began escorting local convoys . This lasted until the end of the war in May , after which the ship was used to transfer returning troops from Newfoundland to mainland Canada until she was paid off on 5 October . Restigouche was sold for scrap in 1946 . 
 
 = = Ship 's bell = = 
 
 The <unk> Bells Project at Canadian Forces Base <unk> Naval and Military Museum includes information about the baptism of babies in the ship 's bell . The bell is currently held by the Royal Canadian Legion , <unk> , British Columbia . 
 
 = = Trans @-@ Atlantic convoys escorted = = 
 
 
 