In the early part of the war, as armed merchant cruisers equipped with antique guns and very little armour, Prince David and her sisters were sent to hunt enemy submarines and surface ships, tasks better suited to warships.
[7] By the late 1930s, and with war looming, the Canadian chief of the Naval Staff had designated the three 'Prince' ships as candidates for conversion to armed merchant cruisers, for the task of convoy escort.
[8] When Canada officially declared war on Nazi Germany, 10 September 1939, the Royal Canadian Navy consisted of six destroyers, five minesweepers, two training ships and a mobilized strength of 366 officers and 3,477 ratings including reservists.
The British Admiralty had been depositing defensive equipment in Canada between the wars in order to arm fast liners as AMCs in the event of hostilities.
Voltaire[13] was a British AMC, in fact one of the RN's largest, and, like Prince David, she had been charged with the task of defending convoys and intercepting enemy shipping.
Voltaire's sudden disappearance and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it could hardly fail to impress the men of Prince David with the danger of their role, and its importance in the war at sea.
Non-aggressive countries have almost invariably gone to war unprepared, and the Allies had been forced to "make do"[16] with the equipment and ships at their disposal.On 24 August, Prince David was ordered to rendezvous with HMS Circassia, an 11,000 ton AMC.
The vessel, which was seen stern on, in poor visibility, at a range of 12,000 yards (11,000 m), was reported by Prince David to be a heavy cruiser, steering south-east at 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph).
At the end of August Prince David came upon the 4,000 ton British merchantman St. Margaret wallowing towards Trinidad at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph), with engine trouble.
Due to delay in locating civilian addresses of men who had left the service when the war ended, the last cheque was not sent out until nine years after the event, 11 September 1950.
1&2)[18]After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Prince David was transferred to Canada's West Coast to join her sister ships for a refit and upgrade of weapons.
As well as providing protection to shipping in the region, they were to reassure the public by their presence and satisfy American demands for a Canadian naval force in the area.
It was calculated that cinema-goers would not likely accept the huge sound truck that had been hoisted aboard, and reposed on the weather deck port side, as a regular item in Combined Operations weaponry.
[19]After the Japanese occupation of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands, and fearing their attack posed a serious threat to the Northwest, a strong American naval force was deployed in Alaskan waters.
Operating under orders of the United States Navy, and designated as Force "D", they escorted convoys between Kodiak and Dutch Harbor (now Unalaska), Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands campaign.
[22] The 'Princes' themselves were not known for their manoeuvrability; heavy and blocky, when forced to keep pace with a slow convoy and in order to maintain steerage, the ships often ran with the leeward shaft at twice the speed of the other.
The rebuilding, which took place at Esquimalt and Vancouver, was completed in December 1943 and shortly after re-commissioning, she left for the United Kingdom via Cristobal and New York, under Captain T.D.
[24]On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Prince David disembarked 418 troops, including elements of Le Régiment de la Chaudière, Royal Marines and a detachment of British pioneers on the Mike and Nan beaches in the Juno sector.
H-hour was set for 7.25, and after a delay of twenty minutes for a more favourable tide in the Juno sector, Prince David's landing craft started their hour-long trip to the beaches.
As the one remaining assault craft made its way back to Prince David, a charging tank carrier forced her over an obstacle, which tore out her bottom and she sank at once.
HMCS Prince David sailed for the island of Kithera on 14 September with a force of 530 troops of the 9th British Commando to begin the liberation of Greece.
Prince David loaned the commandos her flotilla of landing craft to facilitate a series of attacks and reoccupation designed to take control of the inner islands of the Aegean.
[28] With the vacuum created by the hasty retreat of Nazi forces, the returning Greek government in exile clashed with left-wing resistance leaders, who now had military control over much of Greece.
During November and with public order deteriorating in Athens, Prince David was required to help concentrate forces there for a test of strength between the government and the opposition.
Prince David's 529th flotilla landed loyal Greek troops at first light on 4 December as rifle and mortar fire could be clearly heard in the city.
[29] On 9 December and with Greek hostilities expanded, Prince David sailed again for Piraeus, this time heavily laden with ammunition and a contingent of 311 troops of the British 2nd Parachute Brigade.
While steaming through a swept channel, escorted by HMS Beaufort, a Hunt-class destroyer, a mine detonated on Prince David's port side, directly forward of her 4-inch magazine and next to her fuel and fresh water tanks.
After an underwater inspection confirmed that the explosion had opened a 17 by 12 ft (5 by 4 m) hole below the waterline, it was decided that Prince David should withdraw to find repair facilities in quieter waters.
She sailed for Ferryville Dry-dock, at Bizerta Tunisia; there she was to remain for the next four weeks while she was fitted with a large patch[30] (which fell off a few days after leaving for Gibraltar[31] ).
Renamed Charlton Monarch, she entered the immigrant trade and ran from Britain to Australia, enjoying the freedom of the sea which she helped to secure.