St. Laurent-class Destroyer Escort

The St. Laurent-class destroyer escort was a class of surface combatant that served the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s.

This was the first major class of warship designed and built in Canada. They were similar to the British Type 12 Whitby-class frigate, but used more American equipment than British. There were seven ships of the class commissioned between 1955 and 1957.

They were originally intended as destroyer escorts (DDE) but were later refitted and reclassified as destroyer helicopter escorts (DDH). At first, it was planned that there would be fourteen ships of the class, however, changing design specifications due to the rapidly changing Cold War naval environment, as well as Canada's wartime priorities during the Korean War, saw only the first 7 completed by 1957. The remaining 7 vessels were built as the follow-on Restigouche-class to incorporate advancements in naval warship design in the preceding years.

Original Configuration

 * Type: Destroyer Escort (Hull designation symbol DDE, later DDH)
 * Service Period: 1955-1994
 * Characteristics:
 * Length: 371 feet (113.08 meters)
 * Beam: 42 feet (12.8 meters)
 * Draught: 13 feet (3.96 meters)
 * Displacement: 2,263 tons (normal), 2,800 tons (deep load)
 * Crew: 249
 * Propulsion: 2-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines, 3 Babcock and Wilcox boilers 30,000 shp
 * Range: 4,750 nautical miles (8,800 kilometers) at 14 knots (25.93 km/h)
 * Speed: 28.5 knots (52.78 km/h)
 * Sensor Suite:
 * 1 x AN/SPS-12 air search radar
 * 1 x AN/SPS-10B surface search radar
 * 1 x Sperry Mk.2 navigation radar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-10 or -11 hull mounted active search and attack sonar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-501 (Type 162) high frequency bottom profiling sonar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-502 (Type 170) high frequency Limbo mortar control sonar
 * 1 x AN/UQC-1B "Gertrude" underwater telephone
 * 1 x GUNAR (Mk.64 GFCS with 2 on-mount SPG-48 directors)
 * Countermeasures:
 * 1 x DAU HF/DF (high frequency direction finder)
 * Armament:
 * 2 x 3"/50 Mk.33 FMC twin mounts guns
 * 2 x 40mm "Boffin" single mount guns
 * 2 x Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars
 * 2 x single Mk.2 "K-gun" launchers with homing torpedoes

Final Configuration

 * Type: Helicopter Destroyer (Hull designation symbol DDH)
 * Service Period: 1955-1994
 * Characteristics:
 * Length: 371 feet (113.08 meters)
 * Beam: 42 feet (12.8 meters)
 * Draught: 14 feet (4.27 meters)
 * Displacement: 2260 tons (normal), 3051 tons (deep load)
 * Crew: 233
 * Propulsion: 2-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines, 3 Babcock and Wilcox boilers 30,000 shp
 * Range: 4,750 nautical miles (8,800 kilometers) at 14 knots (25.93 km/h)
 * Speed: 28.5 knots (52.78 km/h)
 * Sensor Suite:
 * 1 x AN/SPS-12 air search radar
 * 1 x AN/SPS-10B surface search radar
 * 1 x Sperry Mk.2 navigation radar
 * 1 x AN/URN 20 TACAN radar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-10 or -11 hull mounted active search and attack sonar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-501 (Type 162) high frequency bottom profiling sonar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-502 (Type 170) high frequency Limbo mortar control sonar
 * 1 x AN/SQS-504 VDS, medium frequency active search (except 233 after 1986)
 * 1 x AN/UQC-1B "Gertrude" underwater telephone
 * 1 x GUNAR (Mk.64 GFCS with 1 on-mount SPG-48 director)
 * Countermeasures:
 * 1 x AN/WLR 1C radar warning
 * 1 x AN/UPD 501 radar detection
 * 1 x AN/SRD 501 HF/DF
 * Armament:
 * 1 x 3"/50 Mk.33 FMC twin mount gun
 * 1 x Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortar
 * 2 x triple Mk.32 12.75 inch launchers firing Mk.44 or Mk.46 Mod 5 torpedoes
 * Aircraft Carried: 1 x Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King ASW helicopter
 * Aviation Facilities: 1 x midships helicopter deck with Beartrap and hangar

Unit Run

 * HMCS St. Laurent (DDE-205/DDH-205)
 * HMCS Saguenay (DDE-206/DDH-206)
 * HMCS Skeena (DDE-207/DDH-207)
 * HMCS Ottawa (DDE-229/DDH-229)
 * HMCS Margaree (DDE-230/DDH-230)
 * HMCS Fraser (DDE-233/DDH-233)
 * HMCS Assiniboine (DDE-234/DDH-234)