User:McMuff/James D. Prentice

Captain James Douglas 'Chummy' Prentice was a Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy officer who served with distinction in the Battle of the Atlantic. In addition to being credited with the destruction of four U-boats while at sea, he also played a significant role ashore in training the often inexperienced recruits required by the RCN to fulfill its expanded wartime role.

Although born and raised in British Columbia, he decided to join the Royal Navy in 1912 when his father forbade him from joining the newly-formed Royal Canadian Navy. He retired from the RN in 1934 as a Commander when cutbacks during the Great Depression ended his possibility of promotion.

Prentice had returned to British Columbia after his retirement from the RN and had been ranching for a living when war broke out in 1939. He was called into active service by the RCN and posted to Sydney, Nova Scotia as port staff, however he soon began to lobby for a seagoing position.

With the Fall of France in 1940 the Kriegsmarine gained access to the open Atlantic, and the RCN found that it had to play an even more vital role in convoy protection. With experienced seagoing personnel at a premium, Prentice not had his wish for a seagoing command granted, in addition he was appointed Senior Officer, Canadian Corvettes. In this position he would write the tactical doctrine for Canadian ships on escort duty.

Prentice saw the corvette as an ideal anti-submarine vessel. His tactics involved ships maintaining their ideal speed following a contact, as opposed to the standard British practice that involved speeding up only within 800 yards of the target. Canadian corvettes would come dangerously close to their own exploding depth charges and suffer damage as a result, but it is probable that this practice helped to make up for their inferior equipment in comparison to RN corvettes.

In 1941 The RCN established the Newfoundland Escort Force, and Prentice became a key figure in Commodore Leonard Murray's plans to lead operations from St. John's. That September Prentice was in command of the HMCS Chambly (K116), which was conducting training exercises with HMCS Moosejaw (K164). On the 10th both ships came to the aid of Convoy SC 42, which was then under a heavy U-boat attack. Both ships collaborated in the destruction of U-501, the first RCN U-boat kill of the war. The action would lead to Prentice receiving his first DSO.