Harry DeWolf

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Harry DeWolf
Commander Harry G. DeWolf, Commanding Officer, on the bridge of the destroyer HMCS Haida, 5 May 1944
Birth nameHenry George DeWolf
Nickname(s)Hard-Over-Harry
Born(1903-06-26)26 June 1903
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died18 December 2000(2000-12-18) (aged 97)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
AllegianceCanada
Service/branchRoyal Canadian Navy
Years of service1918–1960
RankVice-Admiral
Commands heldHMCS Festubert
HMCS St. Laurent
HMCS Haida
HMCS Warrior
HMCS Magnificent
Battles/warsSpanish Civil War
World War II
AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Cross
Mentioned in Despatches
Canadian Forces' Decoration
Legion of Merit (United States)
Légion d'honneur (France)
RelationsDeWolf family

Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf CBE, DSO, DSC, CD (26 June 1903 – 18 December 2000) was a Canadian naval officer who was famous as the first commander of HMCS Haida during the Second World War.

Early years[edit]

DeWolf entered the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1918 at age 15 when he attended the Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC) at Esquimalt, British Columbia.[1]

DeWolf graduated from RNCC in 1921 and was sent on an exchange with the Royal Navy to serve on board the battleship HMS Resolution. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1924 and took a six-month course in gunnery, torpedoes and navigation at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Returning to Canada in the summer of 1925, he was posted to one of the RCN's two destroyers, HMCS Patriot.[1]

In early 1930, Lieutenant DeWolf received his first command, the Battle-class trawler HMCS Festubert at Halifax. In May 1931, he married Gwendolen Gilbert of Somerset, Bermuda, whom he had met while serving aboard HMCS Patriot, which had spent a winter training there several years earlier. In 1932, DeWolf was posted to the destroyer HMCS Vancouver and then in 1933 to the destroyer HMCS Skeena.[1]

In July 1935, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and posted to National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa. He was made Assistant Director of Intelligence and Plans.[1]

Second World War[edit]

HMCS St. Laurent[edit]

Further information: HMCS St. Laurent (H83)

DeWolf returned to Canada in 1939 and was appointed commanding officer of the destroyer HMCS St. Laurent.[1] St. Laurent was posted to convoy duty out of Halifax. St. Laurent under DeWolf reportedly fired the RCN's first shots of the war as they helped rescue British and French troops escaping from continental Europe during Operation Dynamo after the Fall of France in late May and early June 1940. St. Laurent returned to convoy duty in the North Atlantic, and the following month, in July 1940, DeWolf's ship rescued 859 German and Italian prisoners of war, survivors of Arandora, which had been torpedoed by a U-boat, U-47.[1] DeWolf was promoted to commander in 1940. He and his ship were mentioned in despatches twice during his service on St. Laurent.

Years later, he recalled the following incident, which took place while in command of St. Laurent:

The mechanism of a live, armed torpedo was being painted by a sailor, who first lifted the safety catch to paint underneath it, and then lifted the firing handle to paint under that. The torpedo fired, naturally, and ran wild on deck," he said. "It slammed into the deck house, bounced off and kept changing around. Everybody, including me, was scared. The decks cleared pretty rapidly. Since we thought we were all going up any second, Petty Officer Ridge and myself decided to try and tame the torpedo. We got astride it. It was as slippery as a greased pig and we thought its propeller might cut our feet off. We rode and guided it over the rail and stuck one leg over the rail to hold it steady. The propeller was making a tremendous racket on the iron deck. We finally managed to release the air cock (the torpedo was driven by compressed air). We still had a live torpedo. When we got to port (in the United Kingdom) we hoisted it on the wall and left it there. I reported to headquarters, but I don't know what became of the torpedo.[1] (The warhead was eventually placed in a North Sea naval mine field.)

HMCS Haida[edit]

Further information: HMCS Haida (G63)
HMCS Haida during Second World War. DeWolf was in command of the destroyer from August 1943 to September 1944.

DeWolf took command of HMCS Haida in August 1943.[1] Under DeWolf, Haida earned a reputation as "the Fightingest Ship in the Canadian Navy", and was responsible for sinking 14 enemy ships in just over a year, earning numerous accolades. Haida and DeWolf saw service with convoys to Murmansk as well as operations to secure the English Channel in preparation for Operation Overlord. Most of his more famous battles took place at night in the English Channel, when DeWolf secured his reputation as a fearless and skilful tactician and became known to his crew as "Hard-Over-Harry" for bold manoeuvres off the coast of France. DeWolf earned the Distinguished Service Order for rescuing survivors of HMCS Athabaskan within range of enemy coastal guns on the French coast.[2]

DeWolf left Haida and was recalled to Ottawa, where he was promoted to captain in September 1944, becoming Assistant Chief of Naval Staff.[1]

Cold War[edit]

During the postwar years, DeWolf commanded the aircraft carriers HMCS Warrior and HMCS Magnificent between January 1947 and September 1948, before being promoted to rear admiral.[1]

He served as Flag Officer Pacific Coast at Esquimalt from 1948 to 1950, then was recalled to NDHQ where he served as Vice Chief of Naval Staff from 1950 to 1952, then was posted to Washington, D.C. as principal military advisor to the Canadian ambassador from 1952 to 1956.[1]

DeWolf was promoted to vice admiral in January 1956 and served as Chief of the Naval Staff before retiring from the RCN on 31 July 1960.[1]

Retirement[edit]

Construction for a Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessel. In 2014, it was announced the class of ships, along with its lead ship, would be named after DeWolf in his honour.

DeWolf and his wife retired to her home in Bermuda, although they spent their summers in Ottawa, his last RCN posting. DeWolf was an active golfer and fisherman and he was active in the Royal Canadian Navy Benevolent Fund, which raises money for retired sailors down on their luck.

On 23 September 1992, the Town of Bedford named a 1.4-hectare (3.5-acre) waterfront park on the Bedford Basin after DeWolf. The minutes of 28 November 2000 meeting of the Halifax Regional Council reveal that DeWolf had contributed $100,000 to the municipality, presumably as thanks for naming the prominent Admiral Harry DeWolf Park after him.[3]

He died in Ottawa on 18 December 2000 at the age of 97 and was buried at sea from HMCS Ville de Québec.

On 18 September 2014, it was announced that the planned new class of Canadian warships built specifically for the Arctic, and the lead ship of the class, the Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessel, would be named after him.[4]

Awards and decorations[edit]

DeWolf's personal awards and decorations include the following:






Ribbon Description Notes
Order of the British Empire (CBE)
  • Decoration awarded on 5 January 1946
  • Commander level
  • Citation[5]
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
  • Decoration awarded on 27 May 1944
  • Citation[6]
Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)
  • Decoration awarded on 20 January 1945
  • Citation[7]
1939–1945 Star
  • WWII 1939-1945
Atlantic Star
  • WWII 1939-1945 with France & Germany Clasp
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
  • WWII 1939-1945 with Overseas Service bar
War Medal 1939–1945 with Mentioned in dispatches
  • WWII 1939-1945[8]
  • Citation for - MID (1st)[9]
  • Citation for - MID (2nd)[10]
  • Citation for - MID (3rd)[11]
  • Citation for - MID (4th)[12]
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
  • Decoration awarded in 1952
Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)
  • with three Clasp for 42 years of services
Legion of Merit (United States)
  • Decoration awarded on 3 September 1946
  • Officer level
  • Citation[13]
  • United States United States award
Legion of Honour
  • Decoration awarded on 29 August 1947
  • Officer level
  • Citation[14]
  • France French award
Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 with palm
  • Decoration awarded on 25 August 1947
  • Citation[15]
  • France French award
King Haakon VII Freedom Cross
  • Decoration awarded on 8 January 1949
  • Citation[16]
  • Norway Norwegian award

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf: A Canadian Naval Legend
  2. ^ Goldstein, Richard (14 January 2001). "Harry DeWolf, Canada War Hero, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Halifax Regional Municipality Council Minutes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
  4. ^ "PM announces the name of the first of the Royal Canadian Navy's Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships". Prime Minister of Canada. 18 September 2014. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Commodore De Wolf has held various administrative appointments, including that of Director of Plans, at Naval Service Headquarters at a time of rapid expansion in the R.C.N. As Commanding Officer of one of HM Canadian Tribal Class Destroyers (HMCS Haida), he served at sea with unparalleled success during the invasion of the Continent. On being re-appointed ashore, he now holds the position of Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, which appointment is being filled with perspicacity and ability."
  6. ^ "For gallantry and distinguished service as Senior Officer of Destroyers in successful destroyer night actions in the English Channel on 26th and 29th April 1944." Details on the action in which HMCS Haida sunk the German Destroyer T-29 north of Brittany on 26 April 1944 can be found in Chapter 39 of the book "The Canadian Naval Chronicle 1939-1945".
  7. ^ "For outstanding courage, skill and devotion to duty in H.M. Ships Tartar, Ashanti, Eskimo, Javelin, and H.M. Canadian Ships Haida and Huron in action with German destroyers." Chapter 42 of "The Canadian Naval Chronicle 1939-1945" describes HMCS Haida (River Class Destroyer - G63) and HMCS Huron (Tribal Class Destroyer) sinking German Destroyer Z-32 and ZH-1 in the English Channel on 9 June 1944. Details on the action in which HMCS Haida sunk the German Minesweepers M-263 and M-486 as part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla's sweeps along the French coast on 6 August 1944 can be found in Chapter 43 of the book "The Canadian Naval Chronicle 1939-1945".
  8. ^ "Page 59 | Supplement 35842, 29 December 1942 | London Gazette | the Gazette".
  9. ^ "For outstanding zeal, patience and cheerfulness and for never failing to set an example of wholehearted devotion to duty without which the high tradition of the Royal Canadian Navy could not have been upheld. HMCS St. Laurent was the first Canadian warship to engage the enemy in World War II when firing on German troops at St. Valery near Dieppe, France on 9 June 1940".
  10. ^ "As Capitain of HMCS St-Laurent "For valuable services in command of HMC Destroyer (HMCS St. Laurent) in the early months of war in Convoy Escort duty in the Western Atlantic, and overseas during the evacuation from France".
  11. ^ "As Capitain of HMCS Haida "For bravery, skill and devotion to duty in H.M. Ships Affleck, Balfour, Eskimo, Wanderer and Tavy and H.M. Canadian Ships Haida and Huron in anti U-Boat operations." Details on the action in which HMCS Haida (Tribal Class Destroyer - G63) and HMCS Huron (Tribal Class Destroyer), and sunk the German Destroyer Z-32 in the English Channel on 9 June 1944 can be found in Chapter 42 of the book "The Canadian Naval Chronicle 1939-1945".
  12. ^ "As Capitain of HMCS Haida "For courage and determination in H.M. Ships Albright, Ashanti, Bellona, Diadem, Mauritius, Onslow, Tartar and Ursa and H.M. Canadian Ships Assiniboine, Haida, Iroquois, Qu’appelle, Restigouche and Skeena, in a series of successful attacks on enemy escorted convoys off the coast of France." Details on the action in which HMCS Haida (Tribal Class Destroyer) and HMCS Eskimo (Tribal Class Destroyer) sunk the German Submarine U-971 off the Biscay Coast on 24 June 1944 can be found in Chapter 44 of the book "The Canadian Naval Chronicle 1939-1945".
  13. ^ "For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service while serving as Chief Staff Officer to Rear-Admiral G.C. Jones, RCN. He frequently conferred with Commander Task Force Twenty-four and his staff in connection with planning and the operational control of the surface forces under Commander Task Force Twenty-four. His excellent professional grasp of strategic and tactical situations, together with his intelligent and co-operative attitude, contributed materially to the success of operations conducted by Commander Task force Twenty-four."
  14. ^ "For services at sea in the war against the enemy."
  15. ^ "For services at sea in the war against the enemy."
  16. ^ "Bestowed by His Majesty, King Haakon of Norway."

External links[edit]

Military offices
Preceded by Chief of the Naval Staff
1956–1960 		Succeeded by
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