MalahatTwo7
07-09-2008, 12:43 PM
Sinking of HMCS Esquimalt commemorated. On April 16, 1945, it became the last Canadian ship of the war to go down
Charles Mandel, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, July 09, 2008
HALIFAX -- Once sworn enemies, Canadian and German sailors from the Second World War met in Halifax yesterday to commemorate the last Canadian warship sunk in enemy action during the war, HMCS Esquimalt.
Two crew members of HMCS Sarnia, the Canadian vessel that rescued 27 of Esquimalt's crew, and one man from the German submarine U-boat 190 that sent her to the bottom, reunited in a service of remembrance in the East Coast port city.
Neither of the two remaining survivors of Esquimalt's crew was able to make the trip to Halifax.
U-boat 190 torpedoed Esquimalt, a minesweeper, in the Halifax approaches more than 60 years ago, near the end of the war. While it might seem difficult to understand how Canadian sailors could embrace someone who helped kill 44 of their comrades, Werner Hirschmann, 85, said yesterday the men he once helped torpedo are now his comrades.
"They became real, true friends, based on the fact that I was one of the few people who could understand them, because I was there."
In fact, Hirschmann -- the former chief engineering office of the submarine and a resident of Toronto since 1952 -- noted that the survivors of the Esquimalt made him a lifetime, card-carrying member of the Esquimalt Memorial Association after he met them again in 1995.
Lou Howard, 84, a former navigating officer and sonar operator on the Sarnia -- one of eight remaining Sarnia survivors -- called the reunion in Halifax an "amazing award for what we did when we were 21 years old."
U-boat 190 had lurked outside the Halifax harbour for almost 50 days. The Esquimalt's sonar detected the submarine. Sure that it had been spotted, the German submarine command panicked and fired an acoustic torpedo that zeroed in on the throbbing sound of the ship's propellers.
The explosion ripped apart the stern of Esquimalt, and within four minutes the minesweeper had sunk.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
Photo credit: Canadian Second World War veterans Lou Howard, second from left, and Leo McDougall, right, look over a book of remembrance along with German veteran Werner Hirschmann in the CFB Stadacona Chapel of Remembrance yesterday in Halifax. Howard and McDougall served on the HMCS Sarnia and helped to rescue survivors from the HMCS Esquimalt after it was torpedoed by the German U-190 submarine on April 16, 1945. Hirschmann was the chief engineering officer on the U-boat and now lives in Canada.
Ryan Taplin, Canwest News Service
Charles Mandel, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, July 09, 2008
HALIFAX -- Once sworn enemies, Canadian and German sailors from the Second World War met in Halifax yesterday to commemorate the last Canadian warship sunk in enemy action during the war, HMCS Esquimalt.
Two crew members of HMCS Sarnia, the Canadian vessel that rescued 27 of Esquimalt's crew, and one man from the German submarine U-boat 190 that sent her to the bottom, reunited in a service of remembrance in the East Coast port city.
Neither of the two remaining survivors of Esquimalt's crew was able to make the trip to Halifax.
U-boat 190 torpedoed Esquimalt, a minesweeper, in the Halifax approaches more than 60 years ago, near the end of the war. While it might seem difficult to understand how Canadian sailors could embrace someone who helped kill 44 of their comrades, Werner Hirschmann, 85, said yesterday the men he once helped torpedo are now his comrades.
"They became real, true friends, based on the fact that I was one of the few people who could understand them, because I was there."
In fact, Hirschmann -- the former chief engineering office of the submarine and a resident of Toronto since 1952 -- noted that the survivors of the Esquimalt made him a lifetime, card-carrying member of the Esquimalt Memorial Association after he met them again in 1995.
Lou Howard, 84, a former navigating officer and sonar operator on the Sarnia -- one of eight remaining Sarnia survivors -- called the reunion in Halifax an "amazing award for what we did when we were 21 years old."
U-boat 190 had lurked outside the Halifax harbour for almost 50 days. The Esquimalt's sonar detected the submarine. Sure that it had been spotted, the German submarine command panicked and fired an acoustic torpedo that zeroed in on the throbbing sound of the ship's propellers.
The explosion ripped apart the stern of Esquimalt, and within four minutes the minesweeper had sunk.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
Photo credit: Canadian Second World War veterans Lou Howard, second from left, and Leo McDougall, right, look over a book of remembrance along with German veteran Werner Hirschmann in the CFB Stadacona Chapel of Remembrance yesterday in Halifax. Howard and McDougall served on the HMCS Sarnia and helped to rescue survivors from the HMCS Esquimalt after it was torpedoed by the German U-190 submarine on April 16, 1945. Hirschmann was the chief engineering officer on the U-boat and now lives in Canada.
Ryan Taplin, Canwest News Service