IROQUOIS SETS RECORD FOR DESTROYER ACTIONS

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A South Coast Port, England - Oct 3, 1944 (CP) — Some freak in her construction had made HMCS Iroquois the biggest Allied destroyer afloat by a couple of feet, but it is no freak that she has become one ot the hardest fighting warships. A Tribal class scrapper which got her battle knowledge on Murmansk convoy runs where on one occasion she came within reach of the German battleship Scharnhorst, Iroquois later moved into the Channel fighting.

Late in arriving, Iroquois lost no time in letting her explosive power be known by the enemy. And she kept it up until in 28 days of August she had steamed some 10,000 miles, fired more than 3,500 rounds of heavy ammunition alone, and assisted in sinking 23 enemy ships.

Officers at this base seem to think that never before has a destroyer written up such an action-heavy log in such a short time. Barely had Iroquois wet her hull  in Channel waters when her heavy guns were in action. Teaming up with HMCS Haida and Royal Navy destroyers, she made her debut by sweeping close into the coast of France to help wipe out two German convoys in one night.

That got them off to what their skipper Cdr. J. C. Hibbard, D.S.C., Victoria and Halifax, called "a good start". Ten days later her guns smoked again as she helped Royal Navy ships send eight enemy vessels to the bottom including a destroyer which could match Iroquois gun for gun. After that, her kills  were smaller  - individual ships attempting to run the Channel blockade being picked off regularly. But that didn't mean any relaxation for Iroquois.

Always on the alert, she hunted the Channel, speeding under cover of night close to German occupied ports. First Lieutenant of the Iroquois is Lt-Cdr. Tony Coughlin, D.S.C. of Ottawa while fellow officers are: Lt.-Cdr. G.W. Stead Vancouver; Lt.-Cdr. G.W. Ford, London, Ont; Lieut. V.M. Heayberd, Montreal, and Lieut. James Saks,  Edmonton.
 

 
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