Annapolis class destroyer escorts - One step back, one step forward

de_Radio_Demon · August 9, 2023, 10:19pm

Would you like to see the Annapolis class added to the game?

Yes
Maybe
Unsure
No

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What versions of the class would you like to see in-game?

As built
DELEX modernization
Unsure
I said no to the first question

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Annapolis class destroyer escorts - One step back, one step forward

Background & History

The Annapolis class destroyer escort were a class of 2 destroyer escorts built starting in the 1960’s, these 2 ships were the last class of ships which followed the line of development set by the St. Laurent destroyer escorts, these ships were a modified version of the Mackenzie class destroyer escorts as the 2 ships of this class were suppose to be the 5th and 6th ship of the class but at this point the St. Laurent class was being planned for conversion to allow the usage of a helicopter with the addition of a helicopter and hanger since it was found that more modern submarines were becoming faster than the original design which prompted this conversion to make up for this weakness, the Annapolis class was built alongside the older ships to a modified design which resembled more towards the St. Laurent class than the Mackenzie class. It should be mentioned that the Mackenzie class was originally supposed to be an improved version of the Restigouche class which was an improved version of the St. Laurent class with the design originally supposed to be larger and faster however due to budget constraints the Mackenzie ended up being repeats of the Restigouche class with minimal improvements and even then during their construction cost began to rise, but like the St. Laurent class current events at the time would cause some of the ships to be canceled and reordered to an improved or modified design, this resulted in the Annapolis class.

Unlike the last 2 classes, the Annapolis class used an armament at first which would reflect part of what the conversion the St. Laurent would see them armed with, this meant they had a main armament of 1 twin 3-inch/50 Mark 33 FMC twin gun mounts rather than a 3-inch/70 gun turret the last 2 classes used, they also were armed with 1 triple Limbo antisubmarine mortar, the ships had as well a small torpedo armament 1 Mk.4 thrower which used homing torpedoes however in service the anti submarine mortar would be later removed and the Mark 4 thrower replaced with 6 12.75 inch (324mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes in 2 triple mounts.

In service the class did not receive a significant amount of modernizations, the only major one was the DELEX modernization which affected all 4 classes of ships (i.e. St. Laurent, Restigouche, Mackenzie, and Annapolis class) as this extended their service lives until at least the late 1980’s while they waited for their replacement, this modernization allowed for them to still be effective at dealing with modern Soviet submarines, the class itself however would remain in service until the late 1990’s before both ships were pulled from service, both of being sunk as article reefs with one being sunk in 2003 and the other in 2015.