Commissioned at Portsmouth on 10 Jun 1931, she arrived at Halifax with SAGUENAY on 03 Jul 1931 and proceeded to Esquimalt the following month. On 24 Jan 1932 HMCS SKEENA and HMCS Vancouver provided protection to British assets and civilians in El Salvador at the request of the British Consul in San Salvador following the outbreak of a peasant uprising. A landing party was briefly sent ashore at Acajutla, but the situation there improved and the sailors saw no combat, although the two ships remained in the area until the end of the month. On 05 Jan 1935, HMCS SKEENA and HMCS VANCOUVER departed Esquimalt for exercises in the Kingston, Jamaica area with HMCS CHAMPLAIN and HMCS SAGUENAY, SKEENA returned to Halifax in Apr 1937. In the 1938, HMCS SKEENA, HMCS Fraser, HMCS SAGUENAY and HMCS ST LAURENT paid a port visit to San Diego as part of the spring training cruise. The East and West ships rendezvoused at the Panama Canal for joint exercises. When war broke out, SKEENA was engaged in local escort duties until ordered to the U.K. On her arrival at Plymouth, on 31 May 1940, she was assigned to Western Approaches Command taking part in the evacuation of France and escorting convoys in British waters. On 23 Nov 1940, while escorting convoy SC.11, SKEENA rescued 6 survivors from the torpedoed merchant ship SS Bruse. She returned to Halifax on 03 Mar 1941, for refit, then joined Newfoundland Command, Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF). In Apr 1942, she became a member of EG C-3. During this period she saw continuous convoy duty and on 31 Jul 1942, while escorting convoy ON.115, shared with WETASKIWIN in the sinking of U 588. In May 1944, she was assigned to EG 12 for invasion duties, and was present on D-Day. On 08 Jun 1944, HMCS SKEENA was attacked by U-953 (Oblt Karl-Heinz Marbach). The Gnats (acoustic torpedoes) exploded in the ship’s wake with no damage to the ship. HMCS SKEENA participated in operation “Dredger” against German escort vessels at the U-boat meeting points off Brest and southward. During the night of 5/6 Jul the 12th EG, comprising of QU’APPELLE, SASKATCHEWAN, SKEENA and RESTIGOUCHE, attacked 3 patrol boats off Brest: V715 was sunk but not before hitting QU’APPELLE and SASKATCHEWAN many times with small calibre gunfire. That Sep 1944 she was transferred to EG 11. On the night of 24/25 Oct 1944, SKEENA was wrecked in a storm. She was anchored off Reykjavik, Iceland and dragged her anchor and grounded in 50-foot (15 m) waves off Viðey Island with the loss of 15 crewmembers. Her hulk was written off and sold to Iceland interests in June 1945; she was then raised to broken up. Her propeller was salvaged and used in a memorial near the Viðey Island ferry terminal.
U-Boats Sunk: U-588 (Kptlt Viktor Vogel) sunk on 31 Jul 1942 by HMCS WETASKIWIN K175 and HMCS SKEENA I59 in position 49-59 N, 36-36 W. No survivor from crew of 46.