Article by
Darren Scannell
Photos by Darren Scannell and Jonathan Evans
The 12 ships of the HALIFAX class began building in the mid 80’s for the Canadian Navy under the program name CANADIAN PATROL FRIGATE or CPF and is also known as the CITY class because all the ships are named after major Canadian cities. The class was designed and created to replace all of the front line destroyer escorts that were designed in the 50’s and carried the Canadian Navy into the early 90’s. All 12 ships were delivered in the 90’s and currently form the backbone of the Canadian Navy. The ships are split between the east and west coast of Canada in the following manner,
These 7 ships are based at HMC Dockyard Halifax, Nova Scotia, under the command of MARITIME FORCES ATLANTIC:
FFH330 - HMCS HALIFAX
FFH332 - HMCS
VILLE DE QUEBEC
FFH333 - HMCS TORONTO
FFH336 - HMCS MONTREAL
FFH337 - HMCS
FREDERICTON
FFH339 - HMCS
CHARLOTTETOWN
FFH340 - HMCS ST. JOHN'S
These 5 ships are based at HMC Dockyard Esquimalt, British Columbia, under the command of MARITIME FORCES PACIFIC:
FFH331 - HMCS
VANCOUVER
FFH334 - HMCS REGINA
FFH335 - HMCS
CALGARY
FFH338 - HMCS WINNIPEG
FFH341 - HMCS OTTAWA
The odd split is representative of the greater responsibilities with NATO in the Atlantic.(and possibly the larger tax base in the east : )
The HALIFAX class are proving to be excellent ships to serve on. A lot of respect has been gained from other navies and ship builders during trials and exercises. The ships can accelerate from a stand still to 30 knots in 60 seconds and stop from 30 knots in less than 500 meters. The ride is very steady with hardly any roll. The radar/sonar suite they carry allow an operating theatre of roughly 100 nautical miles around the ship. The weapons allow defence from missiles/planes/ships and submarines. Also carried is a full set of electronic counter measures.
Stealth features are designed and built into the ships profile. The
ship's low radar cross section has been achieved by angled hull
sides and a lack of vertical surfaces or 90 deg corners. The ships
have a course corrected degaussing system installed. All ships are
thermally
insulated with additional insulation on exhaust and ducting. The funnel
has a cold air ventilation system with the gas turbine uptake fitted
with
a DRES (Defence Research Establishment Suffield) Ball and an open
grating
eductor. The computer technology for integrated machinery control,
communications
and combat systems is all Canadian designed.
The Sea King helicopters that are normally carried on deployment are rapidly nearing the end of their useful life and will need to be replaced in the near future. The designers were aware of this and therefore designed the hangar to accommodate the largest naval helicopter available at the time. Studies are ongoing to determine the next helicopter to be purchased for the Navy role. The Agusta Cormorant has been purchased for the SAR role replacing the aging Labradors and the naval version, the Merlin, is a strong contender to replace the Sea Kings.
When in port, each ship is usually stripped of all live ammunition and maintenance is carried out on board. Some of the photos below have been taken at the dockyard and show areas of the ships that have items removed for repair or servicing. I have tried to include views that are unique to the ship class and kept the common items that are well documented in other places, to a minimum.
Dimensions:
Length: 440'
Beam: 53'8"
Draft: 15'1"
Crew: 185-225
Weapons:
8 Harpoon Block 1C SSM’s in 2 Quad launchers
16 Sea Sparrow Mk 48 SAM’s in 2 external 8-cell vertical launchers
1 Bofors 57mm/70 Mk 2 rapid fire gun, 220 rpm
1 GE/GDC 20mm Vulcan Phalanx Mk15 Mod 1 CIWS
6 50cal machine guns
24 Honeywell Mk 46 Mod 5 Torpedoes with 2, 324mm Mk 32 Mod 9 twin tube
launchers
Propulsion - CODOG with:
2 GE LM2500 gas turbines
1 SEMT-Pielstick 20 PA6V 280 diesel
2 variable pitch propellers
Single centerline rudder
over 7,000 mile range (diesel)
Electronics:
2 Signaal VM25 STIR’s
1 Raytheon AN/SPS-49(V)5 C/D band surveillance radar
1 Ericsson Sea Giraffe HC 150 G/H band surveillance radar
CDC AN/SQS-510 hull mounted sonar
SQR-19 CANTASS towed array sonar
Canews SLQ-501 and radar jammer SLQ-505
SLQ-25 Nixie towed acoustic decoy
4 Marconi Shield Mark 2, 6 barreled Chaff/Infra
Red decoy launchers
Helicopter:
1CH-124 Sea King.
