HMCS ''Chaleur'' was a that served in the
Royal Canadian Navy for three and a half months in 1954 before being sold to the
French Navy to become ''La Dieppoise''. The ship was named for
Chaleur Bay
frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...
, located between Quebec and New Brunswick. Her name was given to her replacement, . As ''La Dieppoise'', the vessel served as a coastal patrol vessel in the France's Pacific Ocean territories. The ship was taken out of service in 1987. In January 1988, the vessel was sunk as an
artificial reef in the lagoon of
Nouméa.
Design
The Bay-class ships were designed and ordered as replacement for the
Second World War-era minesweepers that the Royal Canadian Navy operated at the time. Similar to the , they were constructed of wood planking and aluminum framing.
Displacing and at deep load, the minesweepers were long 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.
The Bay-class minesweepers were powered by two
GM 12-cylinder
diesel engines driving two
shafts creating . This gave the ships a maximum speed of . The ships were armed with one
Bofors 40 mm gun 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
...
and were equipped with
minesweeping gear.
Service history
''Chaleur'' was
laid down on 8 June 1951 by
Port Arthur Shipbuilding at
Port Arthur, Ontario with the
yard number 107 and
launched 21 June 1952.
The vessel was
commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 18 June 1954 with the hull identification number 144.
Following commissioning, ''Chaleur'' spent three months in service with the Royal Canadian Navy. The minesweeper was
paid off on 30 September 1954. She was transferred to France on 9 October 1954. The minesweeper was commissioned on 13 November 1954 and renamed ''La Dieppoise''. The vessel was based at
Brest, France and then
Diego Suarez Diego Suarez or ''Diego-Suarez'' may refer to:
* Antsiranana, a city in Madagascar formerly known as Diego-Suarez
* Diego Suarez (navigator) or Diogo Soares, 16th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer
* Diego Suárez (soldier) (1552–1623), Sp ...
in 1972.
She served as a minesweeper until 1973 when the minesweeping gear was removed and she transferred to the Pacific for duty as an overseas territories patrol vessel. The ship was transferred to
Nouméa on 29 June 1976, where ''La Dieppoise'' remained for the rest of her career.
She was paid off 9 July 1987 and stricken later that year. The last wooden minesweeper in French service, the ship was selected for use as an
artificial reef and recreational diving site with Nouméa's lagoon. Initially planned to be sunk on 12 January 1988, the event was postponed due to the arrival of
Cyclone Anne
Severe Tropical Cyclone Anne was one of the most intense tropical cyclones within the South Pacific basin during the 1980s. The cyclone was first noted on January 5, 1988 as a weak tropical depression to the northeast of Tuvalu, in conjunct ...
until 19 January. The vessel was towed out into the lagoon by the
tugboat ''Le Pivert'' and successfully sunk on 19 January.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaleur (MCB 144), HMCS
Bay-class minesweepers
Ships built in Thunder Bay
1952 ships
Cold War minesweepers of Canada
Bay-class minesweepers of the French Navy
Cold War minesweepers of France
Minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy