 HMCSSaskatchewan in 1963 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  Canada | |
| Name | Saskatchewan |
| Namesake | Saskatchewan River |
| Ordered | 1957 |
| Builder | Victoria Machinery Depot,Victoria |
| Laid down | 29 October 1959 |
| Launched | 1 February 1961 |
| Commissioned | 16 February 1963 |
| Decommissioned | 28 March 1994 |
| Refit | 1985–86 (DELEX) |
| Identification | DDE 262 |
| Motto | "Ready and confident"[1] |
| Honours and awards | Atlantic 1943–44, Normandy 1944, Biscay 1944[1] |
| Fate | Sold in 1997 to theArtificial Reef Society of British Columbia Scuttled offNanaimo on 14 June 1997. |
| Badge | Vert, a bend wavy argent charged with a like bendlet gules, and over all a garb, or[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Mackenzie-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 2,880 t (2,830 long tons)full load |
| Length | 366 ft (111.6 m) |
| Beam | 42 ft (12.8 m) |
| Draught | 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 28 kn (51.9 km/h; 32.2 mph) |
| Complement | 228 regular, 170–210 training |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Electronic warfare & decoys |
|
| Armament |
|
HMCSSaskatchewan was aMackenzie-classdestroyer that served in theRoyal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later theCanadian Forces. She was the second Canadian naval unit to bear the nameHMCS Saskatchewan. The ship was named for theSaskatchewan River which runs fromSaskatchewan toManitoba in Canada.
Entering service in 1963, she was mainly used as atraining ship on the west coast. She was decommissioned in 1994 and sold for use as anartificial reef. She was sunk as such in June 1997 offBritish Columbia.
TheMackenzie class was an offshoot of theSt. Laurent-class design. Initially planned to be an improved version of the design, budget difficulties led to the Canadian government ordering a repeat of the previousRestigouche class,[2] with improved habitability and better pre-wetting, bridge and weatherdeck fittings to better deal with extreme cold.[3] The original intention was to give theMackenzie classvariable depth sonar during construction, but would have led to delays of up to a year in construction time, which the navy could not accept.[4]
TheMackenzie-class vessels measured 366 feet (112 m) inlength, with abeam of 42 feet (13 m) and adraught of 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m).[5][6] TheMackenziesdisplaced 2,880 tonnes (2,830 long tons) fully loaded and had a complement of 290.[5][note 1]
The class was powered by twoBabcock & Wilcox boilers connected to the two-shaft English-Electric gearedsteam turbines providing 30,000shaft horsepower (22,000 kW).[5] This gave the ships a maximum speed of 28knots (52 km/h; 32 mph).[6]
The most noticeable change for theMackenzies was the replacement of the forward3-inch (76 mm)/50 calibre Mk 22 guns of theSt. Laurent design[note 2] with a dualVickers 3-inch/70 calibre Mk 6 gun mount and the presence of a fire-control director atop the bridge superstructure. The bridge was raised one full deck higher than on previous classes in order to see over the new gun mount. The class did retain the rear dual 3-inch/50 calibre gun mount and foranti-submarine warfare, the class was provided with twoMk 10 Limbo mortars.[3] The ships were initially fitted withMark 43 torpedoes to supplement their anti-submarine capability, but were quickly upgraded to theMark 44 launched from a modified depth charge thrower. This was to give the destroyers the ability to combat submarines from a distance.[7]
TheMackenzie class were equipped with one SPS-12 air search radar, one SPS-10B surface search radar and one Sperry Mk.2 navigation radar.[3] For detection below the surface, the ships had one SQS-501 high frequency bottom profiler sonar, one SQS-503 hull mounted active search sonar,[3] one SQS-502 high frequency mortar control sonar and one SQS-11 hull mounted active search sonar.
The DEstroyer Life EXtension (DELEX) refit was born out of the need to extend the life of the steam-powered destroyer escorts of the Canadian Navy in the 1980s until the next generation of surface ship was built. Encompassing all the classes based on the initialSt. Laurent (the remainingSt. Laurent,Restigouche,Mackenzie, andAnnapolis-class vessels), the DELEX upgrades were meant to improve their ability to combat modernSoviet submarines,[8] and to allow them to continue to operate as part ofNATO task forces.[9]
The DELEX refit for theMackenzie class was the same for the ImprovedRestigouche-class vessels. This meant that the ships would receive the new tactical data system ADLIPS, new radars, new fire control and satellite navigation.[10] They exchanged the SQS-503 sonar for the newer SQS-505 model.[3]
They also received a triple mount for 12.75-inch (324 mm)torpedo tubes that would use the newMk 46 homing torpedo.[3][10] The Mark 46 torpedo had a range of 12,000 yards (11,000 m) at over 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph)[10][11] with a high-explosive warhead weighing 96.8 pounds (43.9 kg).[12]
Saskatchewan was ordered in 1957[2] and waslaid down on 29 October 1959 atVictoria Machinery Depot Ltd.,Victoria. The ship waslaunched on 1 February 1961.[13] The ship was supposed to be launched on 31 January, but poor weather forced the delay.[14] In September 1961 she was moved toYarrows Shipyard atEsquimalt, British Columbia for completion. She was commissioned into the RCN on 16 February 1963 with theclassification number DDE 262.[13]
Saskatchewan originally deployed to the east coast, operating out ofHalifax. In April 1963, while transiting to the Pacific,Saskatchewan was deployed off Haiti as part of an international force monitoring an insurrection against the sitting president,François Duvalier.[15] In October 1963, she transferred to the Pacific. On 8 September 1968, the ship ran aground in the Gulf of Georgia. The captain was later found guilty of negligence by a court-martial on the matter.[16] The destroyer returned to the east coast in February 1970, when she relievedHMCS Nipigon asflagship ofSTANAVFORLANT, the standing fleet ofNATO.[13]
In 1973,Saskatchewan returned to the west coast and remained there for the rest of her career, with both the RCN and later the Canadian Forces'sMaritime Forces Pacific, largely as a training ship.[13] In July 1982, the destroyer was sent to track the Soviet spy shipAavril Sarychev which had been monitoring the North American west coast.[17][18] She underwent the DELEX refit at the Burrard Yarrow Shipyard in Esquimalt from 27 May 1985 to 17 June 1986. In Fall 1986, she was among the Canadian warships sent to Australia to participate in the 75th anniversary celebrations of theRoyal Australian Navy. The ship remained a training ship as part of Training Group Pacific until she was paid off by on 1 April 1994.[13][19]
Saskatchewan's hulk was purchased by theArtificial Reef Society of British Columbia in 1997 and she was scuttled offNanaimo on 14 June 1997 as an artificial reef.[13]
49°12.96′N123°53.070′W / 49.21600°N 123.884500°W /49.21600; -123.884500
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