In 1944 she was converted into an aircraft component repair ship and renamed HMS Deer Sound.

Thompson and Sons built the ship as yard number 593 at their North Sands shipyard in Sunderland on the River Wear.

[4] She had a single screw, driven by a five-cylinder, single-acting two-stroke diesel engine built by William Doxford & Sons of Sunderland.

By mid-August she had joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron at Kyle of Lochalsh (port ZA) along with four other auxiliary minesweepers, plus an escort of Royal Navy destroyers.

[8] Port Quebec and other members of the 1st Minelaying Squadron laid mines in the Northern Barrage.

By 1947 Port Quebec's navigation equipment included wireless direction finding, an echo sounding device and a gyrocompass.