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In June 1945 U-190 surrendered at Bay Bulls, Newfoundland, and was
officially commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy.
 The ship was piloted from Bay Bulls by RCN Lt. Peter Woods who
resides in Halifax to this date.
One of U-190s first duties as a vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy was
to undertake, in the summer of 1945, a ceremonial tour of communities
along the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, with stops in
Montreal, Trois Riviéres, Quebec City, Gaspé, Pictou, and Sydney. Back
in Halifax it commenced duties as an anti-submarine training vessel,
which role it continued to fulfill until 24 July 1947.
On 21 October 1947, U-190 was at last sent to the bottom during
Operation Scuttled.
Michael Hadley, in his book entitled "U-Boats Against Canada"
described the end of the U190 this way:
| "Operation Scuttled" marked paid to
U-190s account. Touted on two occasions in the press as an
exercise designed to train inexperienced post-war recruits in
the art of combined operations, it was in fact a final touch of
rather raffish theatre. Painted in bright red and yellow
longitudinal stripes, U-190 was towed to the spot where it had
sunk HMCS Esquimault, and where at precisely 1100 hours on 21
October 1947 the tradition-bound RCN intended to celebrate
Nelson's "glorious" Trafalgar Day victory over the
French fleet in 1805 by pounding the empty hulk into the depths.
While the hapless "enemy" drifted, the
"friendly" forces gathered for the kill: Tribal Class
destroyers HMCS Nootka ..., HMCS Haida ..., and the Algerine
minesweeper New Kiskeard [sic] .... The Naval Air Arm provided a
collection of "string bag" aircraft: eight Seafires,
eight Fireflies, two Ansons, and two Swordfish. The scenario,
staged for twenty-four representatives of press and radio,
called for a carefully choreographed sequence of battle
escalating from airborne rocket attack to the grand finale of
destroyer bombardment with 4.7 inch guns and a death blow with
Hedgehog. The RCN's final sally against a German U-Boat ended on
much the same comic operatic note as its first foray against
suspected invaders off Quebec City in 1939 .... Almost before
the ships had a chance to enter the act, U-190 pointed its bows
into the air after the first rocket attack and slipped silently
beneath the sea - just 19 minutes after "Operation
Scuttled" had begun. |
The hulk of U-190 lies on the ocean floor somewhere near the hulk of
its former prey, HMCS Esquimault. A fitting end to the
story. |
