This is one of several Cold War-era destroyer escorts sunk as artificial reefs off both coasts of Canada (and San Diego and Mexico). The Columbia (technically no longer "HMCS" since it was decommissioned) was commissioned in 1959, decommissioned in 1974 (not a very long life for a navy ship) and sunk off Campbell River in 1996. The ship was sunk in a sheltered bay so unlike many of the other current-swept Campbell River-area dive sites, this wreck isn't known for colourful marine life. I dove here on March 8, 2026 on the Ocean Guardian charter boat out of the Oceanfix dive shop. There were 2 mooring buoys on the wreck. We tied up to the forward one (tied in around the bridge area).
As I descended down the line, there was a surprisingly-strong current for such a sheltered bay. Down on the wreck, the current was much less. Visibility was about 30', which was less than expected for the time of year. I reached the ship near the bridge area.
I swam forward and reached the gun on the bow. Like the other sunken destroyer escorts, this one was "demilitarized" by having the gun barrels removed. The current "gun barrels" are actually steel pipes.
I continued to swim forward toward the tip of the bow.
My deepest depth on this dive was 121' where I set up my camera on a tripod on the bottom under the bow. Since it was pretty dark, I wanted to take some long-exposure shots of where the steel of the hull crumpled like an accordion when it hit the bottom. Unfortunately, I aimed wrong (too low) so I didn't get the pictures I was hoping for of the whole bow sitting on the bottom. I couldn't spend much time down here since this depth was quickly limiting my dive time.
There was a cloud sponge on the starboard (right) side of the hull near the bow. This was one of several cloud sponges that I saw on this wreck.
I swam back past the gun to the bridge.
Unlike some of the other sister ships sunk as artificial reefs, this one is missing all the "busy" stuff on the mast.
