- Yes
- Maybe
- Unsure
- No
- As Built (HMCS Margaree and HMCS Fraser; Without 40mm guns)
- As built (Not including HMCS Margaree and HMCS Fraser)
- Destroyer helicopter escort conversion (Early; still with Limbo launchers)
- Destroyer helicopter escort conversion (Late; no Limbo launchers)
- Unsure
- I said no to the first question
Background & History
The St. Laurent class destroyer escorts were a class of 7 destroyer escorts built and designed by Canada, in fact they would be important for that due to the fact that they were in fact the first major domestically designed and built class of warship built in Canada, the class itself marked a beginning in a change in the Canadian naval development as from here on out they would take their own path on designing their own ships. That all being said due to it being the first to accomplish this it still showed the ties they had with British designs, and indeed is very similar and comparable to the British Type 12 frigates, however only the machinery was truly the same as the hulls were in fact different and the ships would in fact mainly use American equipment, the class itself also managed to have influence on a number of other classes of ships which would follow it such as the Restigouche, Mackenzie, and Annapolis class destroyer escorts, all of which hold relation to the St. Laurent class.
The St. Laurent classes origins go as far back as 1949 when Canada joined the newly formed north Atlantic treaty organization or NATO, upon joining the alliance Canada was given the responsibility of anti submarine warfare and sea control of the western part of the northern Atlantic, this meant that the ships they had would need to be suited operate closer to in home waters and would have to deal with a colder environment which heavily influenced the design of the ships. In order to fill the force of anti submarine warfare the Canadian navy would take 2 paths, the conversion of older destroyers into destroyer escorts and the construction of newer destroyer escorts, the former option took the Tribal class destroyers and the few wartime emergency destroyer the Canadian acquired up to this point, the conversions themselves varied as the Tribal class destroyers were less modified as they had a entirely new armament however the only ASW weapons they included were mortars, the wartime emergency destroyers however were fully converted as they were rebuilt to the standard of the Type 15 frigate as was the fate of their British equivalents. Despite the conversions which would occur most of the ships which would fill these new ASW roles would be new ships, and this time it was decided to make an independent design from Britain with the design process starting also in 1949. The design would end up being very similar to the British Type 12 frigates which would be built around a similar time yet the only thing they directly had in common was a power plant, however the reason the design looked so similar since they the were designed with similar design requirements yet their were a number off aspects which the Type 12 class did not have, the most prominent of which was the equipment they used as most of it was American as well as Canadian equipment rather than British equipment, they also had rounded deck edges as they were given this to prevent the buildup of ice on deck due to the colder northern environments which characterized their operational environment, they also came with NBC protection as their designed to allow them to be operational even in areas affected by nuclear and biological conditions as they crew spaces were located in the ships citadel, they even were designed with a pre wetting system which could be used to wash contaminants, it should also be noted that these ships were liked for their living conditions as they were referred to sometimes as “Cadillacs” due to their more luxurious living conditions as they were the first Canadian ships from the start to include individual bunks for the entire crew rather than hammocks, the other feature these ships had going for them which was very significant was that the St. Laurent class had a separate operations room separate from the bridge meaning the commanding officer was not needed on the bridge for combat operations which was a unique feature at the time as it did not feature on other ships at the time.
The class itself was ordered with 14 ships total at first, with the first ship laid down in 1950 the plan was to have all in service no later than 1955 however by 1952 with half of them laid down the other 7 were canceled however not entirely, instead they were reordered to a improved specifications with such features as replacing the forward gun mount with a British one and the redesign of the bridge, this would result the in the Restigouche class. The reason the other 7 ships were ordered to a new modified design due to the rapidly changing environment of the Cold War and a shift in priorities due to the Korean War, this also meant that the class while the first ship did enter service in 1955 the rest of them were put into service between 1956 to 1957, despite the other 7 ships being modified to the improved design the 7 ships of these class remained at first unmodified however the class would once again be affected by Cold War development as already by the 1950’s the idea to modify them to make them more effective ASW ships as the speed of submarines began to increase so much that modern submarines were starting to become faster than them and as such in the 1960’s they were converted to allow for them to be capable of operating a helicopter to make up the gap in capability which saw the removal of most of their weapons for the installation of a helicopter and hanger at the rear of the ship, this problem also affected the Restigouche class however due to budget restraints the Restigouche class would revise a less extensive modernization, around the same time as this new change in submarines was recognized the next class was starting to be laid down around the same time which was the Mackenzie class which was to consist of 6 ships with these ships implementing improvement over the Restigouche class, but once more 2 were canceled and reorder to a new design which was modified which was to be based off the general specifications of the conversion of the St. Laurent with the installment of a helicopter and its hanger however despite the installation of better ASW weapons to the first 2 classes to improve their ability dealing with the more modern submarines the Mackenzie class was the only one to remain unmodified to the point where they would revise either a helicopter or ASROC. In service the class would be affected in the 1970’s by budget cuts to Canadian armed forces however the class only was affected to the point that the lead ship was decommissioned in the 1970’s, however the rest were kept in service until the 1990’s, thanks to in part of a life extension modernization known as the DELEX modernization which extended their service lives of the steam powered vessels until at least the late 1980’s while waiting for their replacements as this modernization allowed for them to deal with the modern Soviet submarines at the time, a similar modernization would also occur for the other classes which developed off this class.
In terms of their original armament their main armament consisted of 4 American 3 inch/50 (76mm) Mark 22 guns in 2 twin Mk33 FMC gun turrets, additionally most of them were armed with 2 single 40mm Boffin gun mounts which were a Canadian Bofors gun mount however Margaree and Fraser did not have these installed, the ships anti submarine garment however consisted of 2 triple Mk-10 NC Limbo ASW Mortars located at the rear, they also came with the provisions of 2 Mk.2 “K-gun” launchers which could use homing torpedoes however in service these were never used, with the modernization and conversion of the ships in the 1960’s they saw the removal of 1 of the 3 inch gun turrets as well as the 40mm Boffins, 1 of the triple Limbo mortars, and both of the parts which would have allowed for the provisions of torpedos on the ships, though they did have 6 12.75 inch (324mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes in triple mounts which would use either Mark 44 torpedo tubes and Mark 46 Mod 5 torpedos, later in their careers they last Limbo launcher would be removed.
Specifications
Displacement:
As built
2263 tons (normal)
2800 tons (full load)
Destroyer helicopter escort conversion
2260 tons (normal)
3051 tons (full load)
Length: 366 ft (111.6 m)
Beam: 42 ft (12.8 m)
Draft:
As DDE: 13 ft (4.0 m)
As DDH:14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion: 2-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 22,000 kW (30,000 shp)
Speed: 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h)
Range: 4,570 nautical miles (8,463.6 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement:
As built: 249
Destroyer helicopter escort conversion: 213 + 20 aircrew
Sensors and processing systems:
As built
1 × SPS-12 air search radar
1 × SPS-10B surface search radar
1 × Sperry Mk.2 navigation radar
1 × SQS-10 or −11 hull mounted active search and attack sonar
1 × SQS-501 (Type 162) high frequency bottom profiling sonar
1 × SQS-502 (Type 170) high frequency Limbo mortar control sonar
1 × UQC-1B “Gertrude” underwater telephone
1 × GUNAR (Mk.64 GFCS with 2 on-mount SPG-48 directors)
Destroyer helicopter escort conversion
1 × SPS-12 air search radar
1 × SPS-10B surface search radar
1 × Sperry Mk.2 navigation radar
1 × URN 20 TACAN radar
1 × SQS-10 or −11 hull mounted active search and attack sonar
1 × SQS-501 (Type 162) high frequency bottom profiling sonar
1 × SQS-502 (Type 170) high frequency Limbo mortar control sonar
1 × SQS-504 VDS, medium frequency active search (except 233 after 1986)
1 × UQC-1B “Gertrude” underwater telephone
1 × GUNAR (Mk.64 GFCS with 1 on-mount SPG-48 director)
Electronic warfare & decoys:
As built
1 × DAU HF/DF (high frequency direction finder)
Destroyer helicopter escort conversion
1 × WLR 1C radar warning
1 × UPD 501 radar detection
1 × SRD 501 HF/DF
Armament:
As built
Main armament:
4 × 3 inch/50 (76mm) Mark 22 guns; Mk.33 FMC mount (2 x 2)
AA armament:
2 × 40mm Boffin AA gun mounts (2 x 1) *Not on HMCS Margaree and HMCS Fraser
Anti submarine weaponry:
2 × Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars (2 x 3)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × single Mk.2 “K-gun” launchers with homing torpedoes (Not used in service though were full capable of doing this)
Destroyer helicopter escort conversion
Main armament:
2 × 3 inch/50 (76mm) Mark 22 guns; Mk.33 FMC mount (1 x 2)
Anti submarine weaponry:
1 × Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars (1 x 3) *Removed on Fraser in 1986 and the rest in 1991
Torpedo tubes:
6 x 12.75 inch (324mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes; Mark 44 or MArk 46 mod 5 torpedos (2 x 3)
More images
Spoiler
Sources
Spoiler
St. Laurent-class destroyer - Wikipedia
Image Sources