HMCS Fort Erie

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History
Canada
NameFort Erie
NamesakeFort Erie, Ontario
OrderedJune 1942
Builder
Lauzon
Laid down3 November 1943
Launched27 May 1944
Commissioned27 October 1944
Decommissioned22 November 1945
IdentificationPennant number: K670
Recommissioned17 April 1956
Decommissioned26 March 1965
ReclassifiedPrestonian-class frigate
Identificationpennant number: FFE 312
FateSold for scrap, broken up La Spezia, Italy 1966
NotesColours:Red and Black[1]
BadgeArgent, out of a mural crown sable, a demi cat rampant guardant gules armed azure, collared and chained or, holding erect a trident azure, the base end resting on the mural crown.[1]
General characteristics
Class and typeRiver-class frigate
Displacement
  • 1,445 long tons (1,468 t; 1,618 short tons)
  • 2,110 long tons (2,140 t; 2,360 short tons) (deep load)
Length
  • 283 ft (86.26 m) p/p
  • 301.25 ft (91.82 m)o/a
Beam36.5 ft (11.13 m)
Draught9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load)
Propulsion2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Speed
  • 20 knots (37.0 km/h)
  • 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h) (turbine ships)
Range646 long tons (656 t; 724 short tons) oil fuel; 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km) at 15 knots (27.8 km/h)
Complement157
Armament

HMCS Fort Erie was a

Second World War and as a Prestonian-class frigate from 1956-1965. She was named for Fort Erie, Ontario
.

Fort Erie was ordered in June 1942 as part of the 1943-1944 building program.

Lauzon and launched 27 May 1944.[3][4] Her name was changed and she was commissioned as Fort Erie at Quebec City on 27 October 1944 with the pennant K670.[2]

Background

Main article: River-class frigate

The River-class frigate was designed by William Reed of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees. Originally called a "twin-screw corvette", its purpose was to improve on the convoy escort classes in service with the

Percy Nelles of the Royal Canadian Navy and was adopted later that year.[6]

Improvements over the corvette design included improved accommodation which was markedly better. The twin engines gave only three more knots of speed but extended the range of the ship to nearly double that of a corvette at 7,200 nautical miles (13,300 km) at 12 knots.

U-boats including a twin 4-inch mount forward and 12-pounder aft.[5] 15 Canadian frigates were initially fitted with a single 4-inch gun forward but with the exception of HMCS Valleyfield, they were all eventually upgraded to the double mount.[6] For underwater targets, the River-class frigate was equipped with a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar and depth charge rails aft and four side-mounted throwers.[5]

River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo sonar transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved radar and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes.[5]

Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941.[5][6] The design was too big for the shipyards on the Great Lakes so all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the west coast or along the St. Lawrence River.[6] In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the United States Navy.[5]

Service history

After working up in Bermuda, Fort Erie was assigned to escort group EG 28 which operated out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a support group that would aid any convoy under attack. She remained with that unit for the entire war. On 2 June 1945, Fort Erie began a tropicalization refit in preparation for service in the Pacific Ocean. However, in August 1945, that was cancelled and she was paid off into the reserve 22 November, and laid up at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.[2]

In 1946, she was sold to Marine Industries Ltd.

paid off on 26 March 1965 and was sold for scrap and broken up at La Spezia, Italy, in 1966.[2][4]

See also

  • List of ships of the Canadian Navy

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Arbuckle, p.37
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-00216-856-1
    .
  3. ^ a b "HMCS Fort Erie (K 670)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  4. ^ a b Lenton, H.T.; Colledge, J.J. (1968). British and Dominion Warships of World War II. New York: Doubleday and Company Inc. p. 230.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Fact Sheet No. 21 - Canadian River Class Frigates". Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  6. ^
    ISBN 0920277225
    .
  7. ISBN 0771032692
    .
  8. ^ "Seventh Escort Squadron". The Crowsnest. Vol. 13, no. 1. Queen's Printer. November 1960. p. 25.
  9. ^ "A/S Exercise Off Nova Scotia". The Crowsnest. Vol. 13, no. 6. Queen's Printer. April 1961. p. 2.

Sources

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