The Prince Robert along with her sister ships Prince Henry and Prince David were taken over by the Canadian Nay in 1939. Prior to that they were well known on the West Coast where they served as costal liners, on the triangle run between Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle. Prince Robert later served on the Alaska run.
While the Henry and David were converted for war in the East, work on the Prince Robert was done in the Burrard Drydock in Vancouver.
Capturing the German ship Weser and bringing her back to Esquimalt was a tremendous boost in Canadian morale. It was known that the "Weser" was in Central American waters either loading or unloading cargo when Prince Robert sailed in September 1940 from Esquimalt. When the "Weser" sailed from Manzanillo she was shadowed by an undetected Prince Robert. On September 25, once the German ship had left territorial waters, Prince Robert closed in and put a boarding party on before the crew had a chance to scuttled the ship. Star shells were fired without the Weser knowing the vicinity of the Prince Robert. The Weser was brought back to Esquimalt and later renamed "Vancouver Island", put into service in Allied convoys before being torpedoed later in the war.
After that episode, the Robert was assigned to convoying duties, New Zealand and Australian airmen to Canada for training. In November and December of 1941 in company with motor ship "Awatea" she transported the Canadian contingent to bolster the defences at Hong Kong. It was to be a fateful trip as Hong Kong fell to the Japanese three weeks after the 1975 men arrived, sending those who survived the battle to spend the rest of the war in prison camps. The shock that hit Canada was terrible. Soldiers barely had a chance as they were there such a short time before the raid hit.
On the way home from Hong Kong, the Prince Robert stopped at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and left none too soon, as it was hit three days later. This brought the US into the war. About four hours after the bombing, a message was received that the US Army Transport Cynthia Olsen had been torpedoed about 240 Kilometers south of the Robert, who turned and searched for survivors, but found none. During August and September of 1942, the Prince Robert was on loan to the US Navy to support landings at Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.
After a conversion to an anti-aircraft ship in June 1943, she joined the Gibralter Command, Mediterranean Fleet to supply convoys with cover from the United Kingdom to the Mediterranean and served well. She was also active in the D Day Operations.
In July 1945, she joined the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet in Sydney, Australia. When the Japanese surrendered, she was sent back to Hong Kong to bring back the surviving Canadians that she had dropped off four years earlier and found that 557 men had been lost. Thousands of Victorians turned out at the HMC Dockyard to welcome home the repatriated soldiers. They were in terrible condition and many were immediately hospitalized, all being old men mentallly and physically.
In her long career, the Prince Robert is believed to have steamed more miles than any other wartime RCN vessel and had the distinction of escorting Canadian troops to Hong Kong in 1941 and the survivors back home again in 1945.
American Liner President Garfield
Boarding Party from the Prince Robert Including Alfred (VE3BF)
On the Prince Robert No Explanation Needed
Ceremony Crossing the "Line" Captain Heart
Visitors in Suva, Fijian Police on board the Prince Robert
HMCS Prince Robert and HMAS Australia in Auckland, New Zealand
Tropical Gear for Royal Canadian Navy
Captain FL Houghton
