| Restigouche-class destroyer | |
|---|---|
 Restigouche, Terra Nova and Gatineau in 1983 | |
| Class overview | |
| Name: | Restigouche-class |
| Builders: |
Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal Burrard Dry Dock Ltd., North Vancouver Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax Marine Industries Ltd., Sorel Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., Lauzon Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd., Victoria |
| Operators: |
Royal Canadian Navy  Royal Canadian Navy  |
| Preceded by: | St. Laurent-class destroyer |
| Succeeded by: | Mackenzie-class destroyer |
| In commission: | 7 June 1958 – 11 July 1997 |
| Completed: | 7 |
| Laid up: | 2 |
| Retired: | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Destroyer Escort |
| Displacement: |
As built:
2,390 t (2,390.0 t) (normal) After IRE: 2,900 t (2,900.0 t) (deep load) |
| Length: |
366 ft (111.6 m) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 42 ft (12.8 m) |
| Draught: |
13.17 ft (4.0 m) normal |
| Propulsion: |
2 x shafts 2 x English-Electric geared steam turbines 2 x Babcock and Wilcox boilers 30,000 shp |
| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,750 nautical miles (8,797.0 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: |
As built: 249 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
As built:
After IRE:
After DELEX:
After Gulf War:
|
| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
As built:
After IRE:
After DELEX:
After Gulf War:
|
| Armament: |
As built:
After IRE/DELEX:
After Gulf War:
|
| Aircraft carried: | none |
The Restigouche class destroyer was a class of destroyers that served the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from the late-1950s to the late-1990s.
The RCN began planning the St. Laurent-class destroyer in the late 1940s and originally intended to procure 14 vessels. Delays in design and construction saw the number of vessels for the St. Laurent-class halved to 7. The 7 remaining vessels were redesigned as the Restigouche-class, taking into account design improvements found during construction of the St. Laurent's.
There were seven ships of the class commissioned between 1958 and 1959.
The most noticeable difference between the St. Laurent and Restigouche classes was that the latter had the bridge raised one full deck higher in order to see over a new forward Vickers 3"/70 Mk.6 gun mount.
Improved Restigouche (IRE)[]
During the late 1960s, four ships of this class were refitted to what is known as the Improved Restigouche (IRE).
This refit involved replacing the aft 3"/50 gun with an octuple ASROC launcher. The old radar/communication mast was also replaced with a taller lattice mast. The stern was altered to accommodate a new variable depth sonar.
The three vessels that did not receive this refit were paid off into Category "C" Reserve soon afterward, during the manpower shortages of the early to mid-1970s when the newly-unified Canadian Forces experienced defence budget cuts. HMCS Chaudiere (DDE 235) was used as a parts hulk and donated her bow to HMCS Kootenay (DDE 258) after the latter was damaged in a collision. HMCS Columbia (DDE 260) became a dockside engineering training platform at CFB Esquimalt and HMCS St. Croix (DDE 256) had her weapons and propellers removed and her machinery spaces converted into classrooms.
Destroyer Life Extension Project (DELEX)[]
The four IRE vessels of the Restigouche-class that remained in active service with the CF were selected for the Destroyer Life Extension Project (DELEX) in the late 1970s. DELEX was commissioned to upgrade the ten newest St. Laurent and Restigouche-class ships with new electronics, machinery, and hull upgrades and repairs. The intent of DELEX was to extend the life of these ships for another 15 years of service while the Halifax-class frigates were being designed and built as part of the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project.
DELEX included the installation of a Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) known as the Automatic Data Link Plotting System (ADLIPS), as well as the Canadian Electronic Warfare System (CANEWS), and a new communication suite.
DELEX was very successful as it allowed older ships to participate in a modern electronic battle field using tactical data links between ships and aircraft.
The Kootenay suffered two mishaps during her career: In 1969 one of her gearboxes exploded, killing 7 crewmembers in one of the worst peacetime accidents in Canadian naval history. 20 years later, she collided with a freighter in 1989 and suffered bow damage and was repaired with parts removed from HMCS Chaudiere (DDE 235).
Gulf War refit[]
HMCS Terra Nova (DDE 259) was hastily and temporarily refitted in August 1990 as part of Operation FRICTION.
She was re-equipped with parts from the Halifax-class frigate program to act as a primary anti-ship strike and naval battery platform. Modifications were made in Halifax as well as while underway to the Persian Gulf and involved the installation of new weapons and subsequent electronics and sensors.
Among the new equipment for Terra Nova was an upgraded 3-inch (76 mm) rapid fire gun, Harpoon anti-ship missile launcher (8 missiles), Vulcan Phalanx 20 mm Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), and modified torpedo tubes for the Mk.46 Mod 50 homing torpedo. The upgrade saw the removal of the ASROC system and the well for the Limbo ASW mortar, which were replaced by Harpoon and CIWS respectively. Two 40 mm Boffin anti-aircraft guns (with an improvised fire control system) in addition to Javelin point-defense Surface-to-Air missiles and .50 cal machine guns were also added for improved close-quarter fighting.
As such, Terra Nova became the first ever guided-missile destroyer ever to serve in the Canadian Navy. Recently released documents indicate that the rapid Gulf War modification plans were determined to date back to the early 1980s as part of an emergency re-armament plan devised in case of a conventional war with the Soviet Union and/or the Warsaw Pact.
Ships[]
Royal Canadian Navy - St. Laurent-class destroyer - Canadian Forces Maritime Command 
| ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Original Pennant Number | Builder | Laid Down | Launched | Commiss- ioned |
Refits Completed | Paid Off | Fate | ||
| IRE | DELEX | Persian Gulf | ||||||||
| HMCS Restigouche | DDE 257 | Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal | 17 Jul 1953 | 22 Nov 1954 | 7 Jun 1958 | 1972 | 29 Nov 1985 | late 1990 or early 1991 | 31 Aug 1994 | Sunk off Mexico as an artificial reef in 2001. |
| HMCS Chaudiere | DDE 235 | Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax | 30 Jul 1953 | 13 Nov 1957 | 14 Nov 1959 | Never | Never | Never | 23 May 1974 | Placed in Category "C" reserve in 1974. Removed from reserve in 1988 and used as a parts hulk; donated part of her bow to HMCS Kootenay (DDE 258) in 1989. Sunk as an artificial reef off British Columbia in 1992. |
| HMCS Gatineau | DDE 236 | Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., Lauzon | 30 Apr 1953 | 3 Jun 1957 | 17 Feb 1959 | 14 Apr 1971 | 12 Nov 1982 | Never | 24 May 1996 | Currently about 75% scrapped, Pictou, NS. |
| HMCS St. Croix | DDE 256 | Marine Industries Ltd., Sorel | 15 Oct 1954 | 17 Nov 1957 | 4 Oct 1958 | 21 Oct 1964 | Never | Never | 15 Nov 1974 | Placed in Category "C" reserve in 1974. Stripped of weapons and propellers and machinery spaces converted into classroom space alongside at CFB Halifax. Removed from reserve in 1988 and sold for scrap in 1991. |
| HMCS Kootenay | DDE 258 | Burrard Dry Dock Ltd., North Vancouver | 21 Aug 1952 | 15 Jun 1954 | 7 Mar 1959 | 7 Jan 1972 | 21 Oct 1983 | Never | 18 Nov 1995 | Sunk as an artificial reef off Mexico in 2001. |
| HMCS Terra Nova | DDE 259 | Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd., Victoria | 11 Jun 1953 | 21 Jun 1955 | 6 Jun 1959 | 1968 | 9 Nov 1984 | Aug-Sep 1990[1] | 11 July 1997 | In 2001 Terra Nova was cast in the film K-19 - The Widowmaker as USS Decatur.[2] Currently about 85% scrapped, Pictou NS. |
| HMCS Columbia | DDE 260 | Burrard Dry Dock Ltd., North Vancouver | 11 Jun 1952 | 1 Nov 1956 | 7 Nov 1959 | Never | Never | Never | 18 Feb 1974 | Propellers replaced with no-thrust wheels in 1974 for use as a dockside engineering training platform at CFB Esquimalt. Removed from reserve status in 1988 and sunk as an artificial reef off British Columbia in 1996. |
References[]
- ↑ Conways says September. Canadian Navy of Yesterday & Today: Restigouche class destroyer escort says August
- ↑ "Bigelow's Boat" ,by Lisa Maccarillo, In Focus July 2002
- Chumbley, Stephen and Gardner, Robert (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1947-1995. Conway Maritime Press, 1995. ISBN 0-85177-605-1.
- Photo of HMCS Kootenay (pre IRE)
- Ships Served on by Owner of Dawn Dreamer
- 10 page account of explosion aboard HMCS Kootenay
- Couhat, Jean Labayle, Combat Fleets of the World 1978-79 Arms and Armour Press, 1978.
- RESTIGOUCHE Class DDE (escort destroyer) - Hazegray.org
- Janes Fighting Ships 1963-64
- Friedman, Norman, The Postwar Naval Revolution, Naval Institute Press, 1986. ISBN 0-87021-952-9.
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The original article can be found at Restigouche-class destroyer and the edit history here.