HMCS KOOTENAY FACT SHEET

It is recommended to include this Fact Sheet when submitting a claim

to Canadian Veteran Affairs.

FACT SHEET

HMCS KOOTENAY  -   “ We are as One”

The KOOTENAY disaster of October 23, 1969 is known as the worst peacetime accident in the history of the Canadian Navy.  A number of combined factors contributed to the severity of the incident.  Yet, it was the ability and the bravery of the Ship’s Company to respond quickly, and without panic, that prevented the original explosion and resulting hellish fire from escalating into an even greater calamity.  As the Captain, Commander Neil Norton would later write, “… a less professional crew could easily have finished the day in life rafts”.

-          October 23, 1969, an explosion ripped through the engine’s starboard gearbox of the Destroyer Escort, HMCS KOOTENAY, approximately 200 miles off the southwest coast of England.

-          As a result of the fire and deadly toxic smoke created by the explosion, nine crewmen died and 53 were seriously injured.  Some 40 years later, the disaster remains deeply imprinted in the memories of the survivors.

-          The ship had been part of a nine vessel Task Group (with HMCS BONAVENTURE, TERRA NOVA, FRASER, ST-LAURENT, OTTAWA, ASSINIBOINE, MARGAREE and SAGUENAY).

KOOTENAY and SAGUENAY were detached that day to conduct routine full power trials.

-          At 08:10, just after the morning watch had been relieved, the order was given “full speed ahead both engines”.

-          Within eleven minutes disaster had struck.  At 08:21 a bearing in the starboard gearbox failed.  Its casing had been improperly installed and the oil intended to circulate through it as a coolant overheated, reportedly at 650 Celsius.

-          With the pressure in the engines up to its maximum for the ship to be under full power, the bearing exploded rupturing the gearbox.  A massive wall of fire blasted the 10 men working in the engine room, burning them as it raged through the space.

-          Four miraculously escaped and survived.  The Engineering Officer made it all the way to the bridge and reported on the explosion indicating that there was an immediate need to shut off the steam to the engines.

-          In the engine room, the pump feeding the lubricating oil to the ruptured gearbox continued to spew lubricant around the engine room fueling the flames.  The intense heat and deadly smoke foiled attempts to close the valves of the severed oil line.

-          The fire surged out of the engine room and into the main cafeteria, where a group of 15 sailors were finishing morning coffee.  Very quickly they were surrounded by flames and smoke.  Although they had a nightmarish experience, all but one eventually escaped to the upper deck.  The crewman who expired, did so as a result of the smoke inhalation injuries he had sustained.

-          The explosion immediately killed a nineteen-year-old Hull Tech who was walking along the Engineering flats just above the engine room.

-          Meanwhile, three sailors on duty in the wheelhouse, forward of the engine room, found their six-by-six space rapidly overtaken by smoke.  They stayed put, however, until they could communicate with the bridge and obtain permission to leave their posts.  Once the wheelhouse was evacuated, the ship was left steaming across the Atlantic at full speed (since the boilers were stoked to full pressure) and completely out of control.

-          Remaining crew members rallied on the Quarter Deck and swiftly organized firefighting equipment and rescue operations.  One key task was to keep the magazine area hosed down to prevent overheating, as the ship’s ammunition was stowed just behind the bulkhead shared with the engine room.

-          Most of the fire-fighting equipment and the Chemox breathing apparatus were stored in Burma Road (the main passageway) and were rendered inaccessible or destroyed by the fire.  As a result, three resourceful Ship’s Divers strapped on their SCUBA tanks and went below to assist in rescue operations, themselves at great risk of their tanks exploding.

-          With the electrical system destroyed in the blaze, the ship could not radio for help.  It was some time before the backup generator was started.   In the meantime, an Officer fired an emergency red flare to alert the other ships which were all out of sight, over the horizon.

-          Eventually, the other ships realized KOOTENAY was in trouble.   Helicopters were deployed immediately and fire-fighting equipment and specially trained personnel from other ships were dropped off on the smoke-engulfed ship.  To accomplish this, the helicopter pilots had to fly dangerously close to KOOTENAY’s quarterdeck guard rails, as the ship did not have a flight deck.

-          The fire was out by 10:30, but it would not be until 12:15 that the heat had abated sufficiently and the site was secure enough for the damage to be assessed.  The heat in the engine room had reached a level so intense that it melted the aluminum ladder leading out of the space and it “bowed out” the side of the ship’s hull.

-          Over the years, members of the 1969 KOOTENAY tragedy have come to realize that they are still traumatized and suffering from psychological disorders.  It must be kept in mind that in 1969 no one had ever heard of PTSD nor was there any type of professional counseling available.  Members of the Ship’s Company were reassigned to other ships, many left to deal with their painful memories in isolation.  At a commemorative reunion 40 years later, in 2009, some of them managed to talk with their mates for the first time about what had been unspeakable for so long.

-          Video accounts from surviving spouses indicate that the families received minimal support after the death of their loved ones.  The decision was to allow only one immediate family member attend each funeral, a harsh disappointment for bereaved relatives. 

-          There was inconsistency in how the men who perished were laid to rest.  Four were committed at sea, against family wishes in some cases.  Four were interred in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England.  The one who survived the explosion, but died later on his way back home, is buried back in Canada, in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  At the time this gave rise to political and media-focused controversy, imaginably of little consolation to the families who had lost someone dear.

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