Iroquois-class destroyer

HMCS Algonquin
Class overview
NameIroquois class
Builders
Operators Canadian Maritime Forces
Preceded byAnnapolis class
Succeeded byRiver class
Built1969–1973
In commission1972–2017
Planned4
Completed4
Lost1 (sunk as target)
Retired4
Scrapped3
General characteristics as built
TypeGuided missile destroyer (DDG) or Helicopter destroyer (DDH)
Displacement4,400 long tons (4,500 t) deep load
Length
  • 398 ft (121 m) (wl)
  • 426 ft (130 m) (oa)
Beam50 ft (15 m)
Draught14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi)
Complement280
Sensors &
processing systems
Armament
Aircraft carried2 × CH-124 Sea King helicopters
Aviation facilitiesHangar and landing area with beartrap
General characteristics after TRUMP modernization, where different
Displacement5,100 long tons (5,200 t) deep load
Draught14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion
  • COGOG, 2 shaft
  • 2 × Allison 570-KF cruise gas turbines (9.4 MW; 12,600 hp)
  • 2 × Pratt & Whitney FT4A2 boost gas turbines (37 MW; 50,000 hp)
Sensors &
processing systems
  • Signaal DA-08 (AN/SPQ-501) air & surface search radar
  • Signaal LW-08 (AN/SPQ-502) air search radar
  • 2 × Signaal WM-25 (AN/SPG-501) STIR
  • Signaal LIROD (Lightweight Radar & Optronic Director) fire control radar
  • SQS-510 hull sonar
  • SQS-510 VDS sonar
Armament

Iroquois-class destroyers (also known as the DDG 280 class or ambiguously as the Tribal class) were a class of four helicopter-carrying, guided missile destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy. The ships were named to honour the First Nations of Canada.

The Iroquois class are notable as the first all-gas turbine powered ships of this type. Launched in the 1970s, they were originally fitted out for anti-submarine warfare, using two CH-124 Sea King helicopters and other weapons, while their Mk III RIM-7 Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles were sufficient only for point defense. A major upgrade programme in the 1990s overhauled them for area-wide anti-aircraft warfare with the installation of a vertical launch system for Standard SM-2MR Block IIIA missiles.

Due to their extended service lives, the Iroquois-class destroyers were used in a variety of operational roles. They served as flagships for NATO's maritime force, deployed as part of United Nations and NATO forces in the Adriatic, Arabian and Caribbean seas and Atlantic and Indian oceans. The destroyers also performed coastal security patrols and search and rescue missions nearer to Canada.

One was sunk in a live-fire exercise in 2007, two more were decommissioned in 2015 and the last in 2017.