USS Haraden (DD-183)/ HMCS Columbia

USS Haraden (DD-183) was a Wickes class destroyer that had a short career with the US Navy before become HMCS Columbia and serving on convoy escort duties in the Atlantic.

The Haraden was named after Jonathan Haraden, an American sailor who served in the Massachusetts State Navy and as a privateer during the War of Independence.

USS Haraden (DD-183),
Spalato, 1919

The Haraden was launched at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company on 4 July 1918 and commissioned eleven months later, on 7 June 1919. She departed to European Wars on 30 June 1919 and arrived at Spalato in Dalmatia on the Adriatic on 28 July 1919, to join the US naval forces attempting to implement the terms of the Austrian armistice. During this period she served as the station ship at Trieste and then at Flume, as well as taking part in manoeuvres. She left the Adriatic on 23 October 1919, and reached Norfolk, Virginia, on 18 November.

The Haraden spent the winter of 1919-20 at Norfolk, and left for Charleston, South Carolina, on 7 April 1920 to join the reserve destroyer divisions based there. She served with those divisions until 15 March 1921. She then returned to New York for a refit, which ended on 2 May. She spent a few weeks taking part in training operations off the coast of New England, before returning to Charleston on 12 October 1921. She spent the winter of 1921-22 there, before leaving for Philadelphia on 20 April 1922. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 17 July 1922.

The Haraden was recommissioned on 4 December 1939, after the outbreak of war in Europe. She undertook a shakedown cruise from Guantanamo Bay, and then carried out neutrality patrol duties around Cuba. In March 1940 she returned to Newport, and spent the rest of the summer taking part in the neutrality patrol around Block Island and Nantucket Shoals.

The Haraden was then chosen to be one of the fifty destroyers given to Britain under the terms of the ‘Destroyers for Bases’ deal. She was decommissioned from the US Navy at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 24 September 1940 and transferred to British control.

As HMCS Columbia

The Haradan was allocated to the Royal Canadian Navy, and renamed as HMCS Columbia. After a refit to alter her to fit with British standards, she became a period of escort duties on the Atlantic. In June she briefly escorted Convoy SC-34, starting her active career in Canadian colours. This became a period of extensive convoy escort duties. In October 1941 she joined the forces defending Convoy SC-48. This was her first major convoy battle, and despite a large number of escorts the convoy lost nine merchant ships. The Columbia continued to escort the SC convoys throughout 1942, and is recorded as escorting two in 1943. She also served on anti-submarine patrols away from convoys.

On 25 February 1944 the Columbia ran into a cliff in heavy weather off the coast of Newfoundland. By now newer escorts were available in sufficient numbers, and the Columbia never returned to active service. Instead she was made watertight and used as a fuel and ammo hulk at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, from September 1944 until August 1945. She was then given to the War Assets Administration and sold for scrap.

U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Norman Friedmann . The standard history of the development of American destroyers, from the earliest torpedo boat destroyers to the post-war fleet, and covering the massive classes of destroyers built for both World Wars. Gives the reader a good understanding of the debates that surrounded each class of destroyer and led to their individual features.

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