During the war years the class had many upgrades made, some based on the theater of war to which they were assigned to. In the beginning, all the class had been equipped with minesweeping gear however most of the class that did escort work in the Atlantic had the gear removed to improve range. Many had the galley relocated from the stern to midships to allow for extra depth-charge storage racks. When the need to increase the number of depth charges for the Atlantic runs arose, they were stowed along walkways. The forecastle was lengthened to midships to provide increased crew accommodations and give the ship better sea keeping stability in heavy seas. Sea keeping stability was also increased with the bow becoming more pronounced. The bridge was lowered and elongated with the removal of the as-built compass house. Anti-aircraft protection was needed so additional twin Lewis guns were mounted on the roof of the bridge. Normally 2 x Oerlikon 20mm cannons were placed on the bridge wings, however, in areas where enemy aircraft were a major threat, up to six cannons were used.
HMCS Sackville was used on the Atlantic run and Canadian shore patrol. From February 1942 to July 1944 she provided protection for 30 convoys containing 1,380 merchant ships manned by 90,000 seamen only loosing 9 ships sunk by enemy U-boats. She did not sink any U-boats herself but battled four submarines by keeping them occupied and away from the merchant ships or by damaging them, forcing the U-boats to disengage from the battle. During World War 2, 36 Flower-class corvettes were sunk by Axis submarines or aircraft and some by collision with Allied ships. The class sank or participated in the sinking of 47 German and 4 Italian submarines, mostly in the Atlantic.
In 1945 after the war, most Flower-class corvettes were scrapped or sold to friendly governments. Sackville was laid up in reserve for seven years then reactivated in 1952 when a Canadian agency, the Department of Marine and Fisheries, required a ship. Sackville was chosen because of her size and her shallow draught which would allow her access to shallow Canadian waters. Her armament was removed and she was converted as a research vessel. She was given a new pennant number, 532, painted on the hull then changed to 113 in 1958. A laboratory was built on the aft superstructure in 1964 so marine life and water samples could be inspected at the source. Now pennant number 113 remained in service in the rivers and coastal waters on the east coast of Canada until July of 1982 when she was retired from the Department of Marine and Fisheries.
In October of 1983, the decision was made to keep her a protected museum ship. HMCS Sackville was reassigned to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust to be restored to her 1944 appearance including the original dazzle camouflage while reusing hull number K181. Her armament was found and refitted along with crew quarters and dummy ammunition. Today, she serves as a museum ship moored beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and can be toured during the summer months.
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