HMCS Fraser in 1983 |
| Class overview |
|---|
| Name | St. Laurent class |
| Builders | |
| Operators | Canadian Forces |
| Preceded by | C class |
| Succeeded by | Restigouche class |
| In commission | 1955 – 1994 |
| Planned | 14 |
| Completed | 7 |
| Retired | 7 |
| General characteristics |
|---|
| Type | Destroyer escort |
| Displacement |
- As DDE:
- 2263 tons (normal), 2800 tons (deep load)
- As DDH:
- 2260 tons (normal), 3051 tons (deep load)
|
| Length | 366 ft (111.6 m) |
| Beam | 42 ft (12.8 m) |
| Draught |
- 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 DDE: 249
- As DDH: 213 plus 20 aircrew
|
Sensors &
processing systems |
- As DDE:
- 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)
- As DDH:
- 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 DDE:
- 1 × DAU HF/DF (high frequency direction finder)
- As DDH:
- 1 × WLR 1C radar warning
- 1 × UPD 501 radar detection
- 1 × SRD 501 HF/DF
|
| Armament |
- As DDE:
- 2 × 3 in (76 mm) Mk.33 FMC twin mounts guns
- 2 × 40 mm "Boffin" single mount guns
- 2 × Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars
- 2 × single Mk.2 "K-gun" launchers with homing torpedoes
- As DDH:
- 1 × 3 in/50 Mk.33 FMC twin mount gun
- 1 × Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortar
- 2 × triple Mk.32 12.75-inch launchers firing Mk.44 or Mk.46 Mod 5 torpedoes
|
| Aircraft carried | |
| Aviation facilities |
- As DDH:
- 1 × midships helicopter deck with Beartrap and hangar
|
The St. Laurent-class destroyer was a class of destroyer escorts 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 analogous to the British Type 12 Whitby-class frigate, intended for the same ASW mission and using the same machinery but used a dramatically different hull form and predominantly American equipment rather 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 reclassed as destroyer helicopter escorts (DDH).
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