Throughout its history, the Royal Canadian Navy has deployed British-designed and built ships, from the
HMCS Rainbow, which entered Canadian service in 1910 to
HMCS Bonaventure and even today, with our less-than-stellar
Victoria-class submarines. However, Canada really began to come into its own during the Cold War, relying less on the UK for military procurement. The first Canadian-designed warship was the
St.Laurent-class destroyer escort. Seven were commissioned between 1955-57,
HMCS St.Laurent,
HMCS Skeena,
HMCS Ottawa,
HMCS Fraser,
HMCS Assiniboine,
HMCS Saguenay and
HMCS Margaree. Though based on the British
Whitby-class frigate, the
St.Laurent-class incorporated some distinctly Canadian features, notably the rounded deck edge to prevent ice buildup on the foredeck. The
St.Laurent-class ships also included several design features for dealing with nuclear, chemical and biological attack, including sealed crew quarters and a pre-wetting system to wash away contaminants. The later
Restigouche-,
Mackenzie- and
Annapolis-class destroyer escorts were modified versions of the
St.Laurent-class design. The seven
St.Laurent-class ships underwent DDH conversion in 1963-66, allowing them to take advantage of the newly-developed 'beartrap' helicopter retrieval technology and all were equipped with a CHSS-2 Sea King helicopter. The last
St.Laurent-class destroyer escort,
HMCS Fraser, was decommissioned in 1994.
-Rognar-
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