HMCS Sudbury ( K162 ) HMCS " Sudbury " was a that served the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War . She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort . She was named for Sudbury , Ontario . Background . Flower - class corvettes like " Sudbury " serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different to earlier and more traditional sail - driven corvettes . The " corvette " designation was created by the French as a class of small warships ; the Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877 . During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s , Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class , needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity , in this case based on a whaling ship design . The generic name " flower " was used to designate the class of these ships , which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants . Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part , to better represent the people who took part in building them . This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W . Nelles . Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named . Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts , while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear . Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas . Construction . " Sudbury " was ordered 7 February 1940 as part of the 1939 - 1940 Flower - class building program . She was laid down by Kingston Shipbuilding Ltd . at Kingston on 25 January 1941 and launched on 31 May 1941 . She was commissioned into the RCN on 15 October 1941 at Montreal , Quebec . " Sudbury " underwent two significant refits during her service time . The first began in December 1942 at Liverpool , Nova Scotia and lasted two months . The second major overhaul took place at Esquimalt , British Columbia from February to 10 May 1944 . During this refit " Sudbury " had her fo ' c ' sle extended . War service . After arriving at Halifax for deployment , she was initially assigned to Sydney Force . In January 1942 she joined Newfoundland Force for a brief period . In March 1942 she transferred to the Western Local Escort Force ( WLEF ) . When the U - boat threat spread to the North American coast and they began to target unescorted oil tankers , escorts were assigned to protect them against the menace . In June 1942 , " Sudbury " was named as one of those escorts . In September 1942 , she was placed under United States control and assigned to escort convoys between New York and Guantanamo until departing for refit in December . After returning to service in June 1943 , " Sudbury " rejoined WLEF as a member of escort group W - 9 . In September 1943 , she was loaned to the Mid - Ocean Escort Force ( MOEF ) escort group C - 5 . Upon her return to WLEF , she resumed service with W - 9 until January 1944 . In January 1944 , " Sudbury " was reassigned to the Pacific coast and arrived in February , where she immediately underwent a major overhaul . After workups in May 1944 , she joined Esquimalt Force and remained with them until the end of the war . Post - war service . " Sudbury " was paid off at Esquimalt 28 August 1945 . She was sold for civilian use and entered service in 1949 . " Sudbury " entered civilian service and underwent several ownership changes by the early 1950s when she was acquired in 1954 by Island Tug and Barge of Victoria , British Columbia . She was converted to an ocean - going tugboat and retained her original name . " Sudbury " and her crew specialized in deep - sea salvage and completed many dramatic operations . Their most daring rescue took place in November – December 1955 when they saved the Greek freighter " Makeconia " in the North Pacific . " Sudbury " towed the disabled vessel for 40 days through some of the roughest weather imaginable before arriving safely at Vancouver . The incident made headlines around the world and for the next decade " Sudbury " was one of the most famous tugs on the Pacific coast . She was eventually badly damaged during repairs by a boiler explosion , the fireman on watch having lingered too long in a quayside pub , and thus the hull was dismantled for scrap in 1966 and officially stricken in 1967 .