HMCS St. Laurent (DDH 205)

For other ships with the same name, see HMCS St. Laurent.

HMCS St. Laurent (as DDH) in the Irish Sea, 1966
History
Canada
NameSt. Laurent
NamesakeSt. Lawrence River
BuilderCanadian Vickers, Montreal
Cost$ 15,000,000[1][note 1]
Laid down24 November 1950
Launched30 November 1951
Commissioned29 October 1955
Decommissioned14 June 1974
Reclassified4 October 1963 (as DDH)
IdentificationPennant number: 205
Motto"Ever on guard"[2]
Honours and
awards		Atlantic 1939–45, Normandy 1944[2]
FateSunk off Cape Hatteras en route to breakers in Texas.
BadgeBendy wavy of eight or and azure, a white whale embowed head to dexter base, tail to center chief proper, and charged on the shoulder with a grid gules.[2]
General characteristics
TypeSt. Laurent-class destroyer escort
Displacement
  • As DDE:
  • 2263 tons (normal), 2800 tons (deep load)
  • As DDH:
  • 2260 tons (normal), 3051 tons (deep load)[3]
Length366 ft (111.6 m)
Beam42 ft (12.8 m)
Draught
  • As DDE: 13 ft (4.0 m)[4]
  • As DDH:14 ft (4.3 m)[3]
Propulsion2-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines, 3 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 22,000 kW (30,000 shp)
Speed28.5 knots (52.8 km/h)[4]
Range4,570 nautical miles (8,463.6 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement
  • As DDE: 249
  • As DDH: 213 plus 20 aircrew
Sensors and
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"/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

HMCS St. Laurent was a St. Laurent-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1955–1974. She was the lead ship of her class, the first modern warship designed and built in Canada.[5]

St. Laurent was laid down on 24 November 1950 by Canadian Vickers at Montreal. She was launched on 30 November the following year and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 29 October 1955 and initially carried the pennant number DDE 205 as a destroyer escort.[5] Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent was present at her commissioning.[6] She was reported to have cost $15,000,000 to build.[1] She underwent conversion to a destroyer helicopter escort (DDH) in the early 1960s and was officially re-classed with pennant DDH 205 on 4 October 1963.

  1. ^ a b "Guided Missiles on Escort?". Ottawa Citizen. 18 October 1955. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Arbuckle, p. 110
  3. ^ a b Sharpe, p. 84
  4. ^ a b Blackman, 1964
  5. ^ a b Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 244
  6. ^ "Prime Minister at Commissioning". The Crowsnest. Vol. 8, no. 1. Ottawa: Queen's Printer. November 1955. p. 2.


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