HMCS ''Thunder'' (

hull number Hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the HIN is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varies by country and type. United S ...

MCB 161) was a that served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. The ship was named for

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

. This was the third vessel to carry the

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...

and the second in the class, replacing a previous vessel sold to France. The minesweeper entered service in 1957 and was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

in 1997.

Design and description

The Bay class were designed and ordered as replacements for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

-era minesweepers that the Royal Canadian Navy operated at the time. Similar to the , they were constructed of wood planking and aluminum framing.Macpherson and Barrie, p. 271Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 49 Displacing standard at at deep load, the minesweepers were

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . They had a complement of 38 officers and ratings.Gardiner and Chumbley claim the complement was 40. The Bay-class minesweepers were powered by two GM 12-cylinder

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s driving two shafts creating . This gave the ships a maximum speed of and a range of at .Moore, p. 82 The ships were armed with one

40 mm Bofors Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

gun and were equipped with minesweeping gear.

Service history

''Thunder''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 1 September 1955 by Port Arthur Shipbuilding at

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur had been the district seat of ...

with the yard number 114 and launched 27 October 1956.Macpherson and Barrie, p. 277 The vessel was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 3 October 1957 with the hull identification number 161. After commissioning, ''Thunder'' was sent west and served with Training Group Pacific. In 1972, the ship was re-designated a patrol escort and given the new hull number PF 161. In 1979, the vessel was designated a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

and given the new hull number PB 161. ''Thunder'' was

on 22 August 1997.Colledge, p. 627Colledge claims the ship was paid off in September 1997.

References

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thunder (MCB 161), HMCS Bay-class minesweepers Ships built in Thunder Bay 1956 ships Cold War minesweepers of Canada Minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy