HMCS Valleyfield (K329)

7 May 1944, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Valleyfield was sunk by the German submarine U-548 southeast of Cape Race. The U-boat fired one acoustic torpedo (GNAT or T5) which hit the frigate in the port-side boiler room, cutting the warship in half. Valleyfield sank in 4 minutes and was unable to transmit a distress signal. After more than an hour, HMCS Giffard started rescuing the survivors from the frigid ocean. Forty-three men were rescued but five later died of hypothermia. In all, 125 of the crew perished in the sinking while only 38 survived. Five sailors were buried with full military honours in Mount Pleasant cemetery in St. John’s. The skipper Lt. Cdr. Dermot T. English was among those lost in the sinking, while CPO Samuel A. Peet survived. Both were born in St. John’s, Newfoundland.