Continuing on with this project, slowly but surely! We're getting close to the end now.
Part Three: Mackenzie - class Destroyer Escorts
The initial design for what became known as the
Mackenzie - class was for an enlarged version of the
St. Laurent - class destroyer escorts. Designed in 1957, they were to be 1,000 tonnes (980 long tons) heavier, 50 feet (15 m) longer and have engines that were 20,000 horsepower (15,000 kW) stronger than those installed in the
St. Laurents. They would also have improved radar and sonar installed; surface-to-air missile systems such as the American Tartar system were also considered during this time period. Instead, budget issues forced a repeat of the previous
Restigouche - class, with changes intentionally minimized. Like their predecessors, they were named for Canadian rivers.
Four ships were ordered in 1957, and two more in 1958, although the the design of the final two ships of the class was modified in 1959 to incorporate the changes made to the
St. Laurent - class. These two ships then became a separate class, known as the
Annapolis - class. The remaining four
Mackenzies were essentially improved
Restigouches, with improved habitability and better pre-wetting, bridge and weatherdeck fittings to better deal with extreme cold. The aft deckhouse was closer to the original design of the
St. Laurent - class, with Mk IV torpedo throwers initially being fitted.
The lead ship of the class, HMCS
Mackenzie was ordered in 1957 and was laid down on 15 December 1958 at Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal. The ship was launched on 25 May 1961 and was commissioned into the RCN on 6 October 1962 with the classification number DDE 261
Although she was initially assigned to the Atlantic Fleet based at Halifax, Mackenzie was transferred to the Pacific on 2 March 1963. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet as a member of the Fourth Canadian Destroyer Squadron along with her three sister ships of the
Mackenzie - class, and spent the majority of her serving as a training ship with the RCN and later in the Canadian Forces under Maritime Forces Pacific as part of Training Group Pacific.
HMCS
Qu'Appelle, seen here, was unique in her class, in that the Vickers 3-inch/70 caliber main gun was unavailable when
Qu'Appelle was being constructed as only a limited number of the guns had been manufactured before production ceased, and instead the American 3-inch/50 caliber Mk 33 gun was installed in the forward mount.
As early as 1961 with the Brock Report, it was intended that all four
Mackenzies would receive a refit similar to the IRE refit applied to the
Restigouches, which would have seen them fitted with the ASROC weapons system. Unfortunately, budget cuts resulted in only four the
Restigouches being converted to ASROC carriers and none of the
Mackenzies receiving the conversion. By the early 1970s, the
Mackenzies had received a limited refit in lieu of the ASROC conversion, replacing the Mk IV torpedo throwers with Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes along with the American Mk 46 homing torpedo. The WLR-1C electronic countermeasures system was also fitted during this time period, mounted on pole masts on the aft part of the main superstructure.
In the early to mid-1980s, the
Mackenzies received DEstroyer Life EXtension (DELEX) refit, which was born out of the need to extend the life of the steam-powered destroyer escorts of the Canadian Navy until the next generation of surface ship was built. Encompassing all the classes based on the initial
St. Laurent (the remaining
St. Laurent, Restigouche, Mackenzie, and
Annapolis-class vessels), the DELEX upgrades were meant to improve their ability to combat modern Soviet submarines, and to allow them to continue to operate as part of NATO task forces. All of the ships in the class had their refits performed at Esquimalt, British Columbia.
The DELEX refit for the
Mackenzie - class was similar to that of the Improved
Restigouche-class vessels. This meant that the ships would receive the new tactical data system ADLIPS (Automatic Data Link Plotting System), new navigation radars, new fire control and satellite navigation. They exchanged the hull-mounted SQS-503 sonar for the newer SQS-505 model, although the
Mackenzies never received a variable depth sonar, limiting their capabilities. Modifications were also made to the SPS-12 air search radar.
All four
Mackenzie - class destroyer escorts were paid off between 1992 and 1994, having had relatively uneventful careers. Their lack of modern anti-submarine equipment such as variable-depth sonar, helicopters, or stand-off weapons like ASROC meant that they were largely relegated to the training role. They were replaced in service by the
Halifax - class frigates. HMCS
Mackenzie, HMCS
Saskatchewan, and HMCS
Yukon were all scuttled as artificial reefs, while HMS
Qu'Appelle was sold to a Chinese firm for scrapping in 1994.