HMCS Vancouver, was a Thornycroft S-class destroyer, formerly HMS Toreador built for the Royal Navy in 1917–1919.

During the First World War, Royal Navy intelligence investigated German torpedo craft and found that they were more lightly armed than the designs the United Kingdom was building.

This meant that the design known as the Admiralty modified 'Trenchant' or S class would be smaller, faster and less expensive, ships which could be built quickly.

S-class destroyers were armed with three quick-firing (QF) 4-inch (102 mm)/45 calibre Mk IV guns in three single mounts.

[4] Toreador, along with her sister Torbay, were loaned by the British government to Canada in 1927 to replace their two existing destroyers, Patrician and Patriot.

[9] In 1930, Vancouver was named in the London Naval Treaty, which put limits on the amount of warships a nation could have and their size.

Most of the time at Port La Union was spent passing idle and the destroyer remained there until 25 January when she departed for Acajutla.

[11][12][13] During a training deployment to the Caribbean Sea in 1934, Vancouver took part in the longest cruise attempted by the Royal Canadian Navy to that point.

[15] Canada intended to return the S-class destroyers to the United Kingdom as they were considered antiquated.

The United Kingdom initially wanted to have them scrapped at home, however they agreed to have them broken up in Canada as they were no longer sure of the two vessels crossing the ocean.