HMCS Patriot

HMCS Patriot was a Thornycroft M-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Built by Thornycroft & Company, Southampton, she was launched on 20 April 1916 as HMS Patriot (1916) and served in the Royal Navy in World War I.

She was decommissioned after the war but was reactivated in 1920 and outfitted for transfer to the Royal Canadian Navy. She was commissioned in the RCN on 1 November 1920 and renamed HMCS Patriot.

HMCS Patriot departed for Halifax, Nova Scotia one month later in the company of her sister ship HMCS Patrician (ex-HMS Patrician) and the cruiser HMCS Aurora (ex-HMS Aurora (1913)). The three ships were offered by the Royal Navy to replace the RCN's HMCS Rainbow (1891) and HMCS Niobe which were last century warships.

HMCS Patriot saw immediate service patrolling the waters off Canada's Atlantic coast. She performed training duties and patrols for the next five years while based out of Halifax. In September, 1921, HMCS Patriot assisted Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's hydrofoil research by towing his high speed experimental hydrofoil HD-4. This experiment was conducted on the waters of Baddeck Bay in the Bras d'Or Lake estuary near the village of Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

HMCS Patriot remained in Halifax as the only operational vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy following budget cuts in 1922. She was used to train the newly formed Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Her constant use saw increased ineffectiveness and in 1927 the RCN took steps to decommission her. On 21 October 1927, she was paid off.

HMCS Patriot was sold for scrap in Briton Ferry, Wales, in 1929.

Commanding officers

 * LT C.T. Beard (RCN) 1/11/1920 - 2/9/1922
 * LT George C. Jones (RCN) 3/9/1922 - 23/8/1923, a future Chief of Naval Staff, and the first graduate of the Royal Naval College of Canada to command a ship in the Royal Canadian Navy
 * LT H.E. Reid (RCN) 24/8/1923 - 6/10/1926
 * LT C.R.H. Taylor (RCN) 7/10/1925 - 4/4/1926
 * LCDR C.R.H. Taylor (RCN) 5/4/1926 - 23/10/1927