Restigouche-class Destroyer

The ''Restigouche''-class destroyer was a class of seven destroyer escorts that served the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from the late-1950s to the late-1990s. All seven vessels in the class were named after rivers in Canada.

The Royal Canadian Navy began planning the in the late 1940s and originally intended to procure fourteen vessels. Delays in design and construction saw the number of vessels for the ''St. Laurent'' class halved to seven. The seven remaining vessels were redesigned as the ''Restigouche'' class, taking into account design improvements found during construction of the ''St. Laurent''s. The seven ships of the class were commissioned between 1958 and 1959.

Design and description

Based on the preceding design, the ''Restigouche''s had the same hull and propulsion, but different weaponry.Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 45 Initially the ''St. Laurent'' class had been planned to be 14 ships. However the order was halved, and the following seven were redesigned to incorporate improvements made on the ''St. Laurent''s. As time passed, their design diverged further from that of the ''St. Laurent''s.Milner, p. 248

The ships had a displacement of , at deep load. They were designed to be long with a beam of and a draught of . The ''Restigouche''s had a complement of 214.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 251

The ''Restigouche''s were powered by two English Electric geared steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft, using steam provided by two Babcock & Wilcox boilers. They generated giving the vessels a maximum speed of .

The ''Restigouche''s were equipped with SPS-10, SPS-12, Sperry Mk 2 and SPG-48 radar along with SQS-501 and SQS-503 sonar.Gardiner and Chumbly, p. 46

Armament

The ''Restigouche''s diverged from the ''St. Laurent''s in their weaponry. The ''Restigouche''s were equipped with one twin mount of Vickers /70 calibre Mk 6 dual-purpose guns forward and maintained one twin mount of 3-inch/50 calibre Mk 22 guns aft used in the preceding class.Calibre denotes the length of the barrel. In this case, 50 calibre means that the gun barrel is 50 times as long as it is in diameter A Mk 69 fire control director was added to control the new guns.Boutiller, p. 323 They were also armed with two Limbo Mk 10 mortars and two single Bofors 40 mm guns. However the 40 mm guns were dropped in the final design.

The 3 in/70 Mk 6 gun was initially designed by Vickers for use aboard the . The guns weighed , had 1,000 rounds stored and could fire 90 rounds per minute. The gun could fire a projectile that weighed at a muzzle velocity of . Each twin mount had a 360° train rate, was capable of elevation between −15° and 90°, and able to elevate at 30° per second. The 3 in/70 mounting was placed in the 'A' position, and could fire a round up to .Barrie and Macpherson (1996), p. 37

The 3 in/50 Mk 22 dual-purpose gun was a United States design that dated back to the Second World War. Each gun weighed . The gun fired a projectile that weighed at a muzzle velocity of . The guns were placed in a Mk 33 twin mount capable of traversing 360° and with an elevation range of −15° to 85°. The 3 in/50 mounting was placed in the 'Y' position. Each gun could fire up to 50 rounds per minute up to .

The Limbo was a British-designed three-barrel mortar capable of launching a projectile shell between . Placed on stabilized mountings, the projectiles always entered the water at the same angle. The total weight of the shell was .

The destroyers were also equipped beginning in 1958 with Mk 43 homing torpedoes in an effort to increase the distance between the ships and their targets. The Mk 43 torpedo had a range of at . They were pitched over the side by a modified depth charge thrower.

Improved Restigouche Escorts (IRE)

As part of the 1964 naval program, the Royal Canadian Navy planned to improve the attack capabilities of the ''Restigouche'' class. Unable to convert the vessels to helicopter-carrying versions like the ''St. Laurent''s due to budget constraints, instead the ''Restigouche''s were to receive variable depth sonar (VDS) to improve their sonar range, placed on the stern, and the RUR-5 anti-submarine rocket (ASROC). The destroyers also received a stepped lattice mast. Called the Improved Restigouche Escorts (IRE), ''Terra Nova'' was the first to undergo conversion, beginning in May 1965. The conversion took ten months to complete, followed by sea trials. The sea trials delayed the conversion of the next ship for four years. By 1969, the budget for naval programs had been cut and only four out of the seven (''Terra Nova'', ''Restigouche'', ''Gatineau'' and ''Kootenay'') would get upgraded to IRE standards and the remaining three (''Chaudière'', ''Columbia'', and ''St. Croix'') were placed in reserve.

The ASROC launcher replaced the 3 in/50 cal twin mount and one Mk 10 Limbo mortars aft. The ASROC was rocket-propelled Mk 44 torpedo that had a minimum range of and a maximum range of . The Mk 44 torpedo had a weight of , was long and carried a warhead. The torpedo itself had a maximum range of at . The torpedo was acoustically guided. The ships carried eight reloads.

Destroyer Life Extension (DELEX)

The Destroyer Life Extension (DELEX) refit for the four surviving ''Restigouche''s was announced in 1978. An effort by Maritime Command to update their existing stock of naval escorts, the DELEX program affected 16 ships in total and came in several different formats depending on the class of ship it was being applied to. On average, the DELEX refit cost $24 million per ship. For the ''Restigouche''s this meant updating their sensor, weapon and communications systems. The class received the new ADLIPS tactical data system, new radar and fire control systems and satellite navigation.Milner, p. 278 The ships had the Mk 127E navigational radar, SPS-502 radar and AN/SPG-515 fire control radar and Mk 69 gunnery control system installed. The upper part of the lattice mast was removed and replaced by a pole mast with a TACAN antenna fitted to it. The AN/SQS-505 C3 sonar dome was fared into the hull and the Bofors illumination rocket system was removed, replaced by a Super RBOC chaff system.Barrie and Macpherson (1996), p. 16

The class were also fitted with two triple Mk 32 torpedo tube mountings to use the new Mk 46 torpedo. They were situated between the ASROC launcher and the Limbo mortar well. The ships began undergoing their DELEX refits in the early 1980s.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), pp. 251–255 However, by the time the ships emerged from their refits, they were already obsolete as the Falklands War had changed the way surface battles were fought.

Gulf War refit

With the advent of the Gulf War in August 1990, Maritime Command was asked to have a fleet of ships available to send to the Persian Gulf, preferably three ships. The and the replenishment ship would be made part of the task force, however all the other ''Iroquois''-class vessels were in refit. Maritime Command chose from among the remaining fleet the vessel with the best electronic countermeasures suite, ''Terra Nova'', to deploy with the task force.Milner, p. 296 ''Terra Nova'' was quickly altered to make her ready for an active war zone. The ship's ASROC system was landed and instead two quad Harpoon surface-to-surface missile system was installed. A Mk 15 Phalanx close-in weapon system was placed on the quarterdeck in place of the landed Limbo ASW mortar and two 40 mm/60 calibre Boffin guns were installed in single mounts where the ship's boats were. The ship was also fitted with new chaff, electronic and communications systems.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 255 ''Restigouche'' received a similar refit before deploying as ''Terra Nova''s intended replacement in the Persian Gulf in 1991.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 254

Service history

Seven ships were ordered as part of the 1951-2 budget, as repeat ''St. Laurent''s. Constructed at several shipyards across the country, the first to enter service was the lead ship of the class, ''Restigouche'' on 7 June 1958, followed by ''St. Croix'' later in 1958 and ''Gatineau'', ''Kootenay'', ''Columbia'', ''Terra Nova'' and ''Chaudière'' in 1959. While still in builder's hand, ''Restigouche'' suffered a collision with the freighter ''Manchester Port'' in November 1957. Following her commissioning she was present at the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, alongside ''Terra Nova''.

In 1960, ''Terra Nova'' and ''St. Croix'' escorted the royal yacht , carrying Queen Elizabeth II on a royal visit. In 1968, ''Gatineau'' became the first Canadian warship to become a member of STANAVFORLANT, the standing NATO naval force in the Atlantic.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 252 On 23 October 1969, while in European waters, ''Kootenay'' suffered a gearbox explosion that killed 7 and injured 53 of the crew. This was Canada's worst peacetime naval accident.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 253

''Terra Nova'' was the first to undergo IRE conversion, beginning in May 1965. In September 1969, ''Gatineau'' began her IRE conversion. While ''Kootenay'' was being repaired following the explosion, she began her IRE conversion. ''Restigouche'' began her IRE conversion in 1970. Of the three ships that did not undergo the conversion, ''Chaudière'' was reduced a training ship in 1970. ''St. Croix'' and ''Columbia'' were paid off on 15 February and 18 February 1974 respectively and placed in reserve. ''St. Croix'' had her propellers and guns removed and was turned into a fleet school from 1984 until 1990. ''Columbia'' was fixed so that her engines could run at dockside while being unable to move. ''Chaudière'' was paid off on 23 May 1974 and used for spare parts for the remaining ships. All three were discarded in the early 1990s, with ''Chaudière'' and ''Columbia'' become artificial reefs while ''St. Croix'' was broken up.

''Gatineau'' was the first to undergo her DELEX refit, beginning in September 1981. In November 1981, after cracks were discovered in the superheater heads of , all of Canada's steam-driven destroyers were inspected. Of the vessels in the class, ''Kootenay'' and ''Terra Nova'' were found to have the same problem. They were repaired within six months. ''Terra Nova'' underwent her DELEX refit beginning in November 1983, followed by ''Restigouche'' beginning in December 1984, ''Kootenay'' in 1984. In June 1989, ''Kootenay'' collided with the merchant vessel ''Nord Pol'' which severely damaged her bow. Her bow was removed and replaced with the bow of ''Chaudière''.

In 1990, ''Kootenay'' was among the Canadian task group that visited the Soviet Union for the first time since World War II. That same year ''Terra Nova'' was modified for service in the Gulf War. Her intended replacement in the Persian Gulf, ''Restigouche'', also received the modifications, however was instead redirected to STANAVFORLANT. However, in 1992, the ship was deployed to the Red Sea as part of a multinational force. In 1993, ''Gatineau'' was among the Canadian vessels assigned to enforce United Nations sanctions on Haiti. In 1994, ''Kootenay'' was sent to enforce the sanctions on Haiti. In 1995, ''Gatineau'' took part in the NATO naval exercise Strong Resolve and in April that year, supported the Canadian Coast Guard in the Turbot War.

''Restigouche'' was paid off on 31 August 1994. She was sunk off Acapulco, Mexico in June 2001. ''Kootenay'' was paid off on 18 December 1996 and was also sold for use as an artificial reef off Mexico. ''Gatineau'' and ''Terra Nova'' were paid off on 1 July 1998 and were sold for scrapping in October 2009.

Ships in class

References

Notes

Citations

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External links

Photo of HMCS ''Kootenay'' (pre IRE)

''Restigouche''-class DDE (escort destroyer) – Hazegray.org

{{Restigouche class destroyer

Destroyer classes