HMCS Orkney
 HMCS Orkney
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Canada | |
| Name | Orkney |
| Namesake | Orkney, Saskatchewan |
| Ordered | June 1942 |
| Builder | Esquimalt |
| Laid down | 19 May 1943 |
| Launched | 18 September 1943 |
| Commissioned | 18 April 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 22 January 1946 |
| Identification | Pennant number:K448 |
| Honours and awards | Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944,[1] North Sea 1945[2] |
| Fate | Sold, became Israeli immigrant ship Violetta 1947 |
 Israel | |
| Name | Mivtakh |
| Namesake | "Reliance" |
| Acquired | 1952 |
| Commissioned | 1952 |
| Decommissioned | 1958 |
| Identification | Pennant number:K-28 |
| Fate | Sold 1959 to Ceylon |
 Ceylon | |
| Name | Mahasena |
| Namesake | Mahasena of Anuradhapura |
| Acquired | 1958 |
| Commissioned | 1959 |
| Decommissioned | 1964 |
| Fate | Sold 1964, broken up in Singapore |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | River-class frigate |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 36.5 ft (11.13 m) |
| Draught | 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load) |
| Propulsion | 2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW) |
| Speed |
|
| Range | 646 long tons (656 t; 724 short tons) oil fuel; 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km) at 15 knots (27.8 km/h) |
| Complement | 157 |
| Armament |
|
HMCS Orkney was a
Orkney was ordered in June 1942 as part of the 1942–1943 River-class program.
Background
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
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.
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]
War service
After working up in
Postwar service
In 1947, Orkney was sold for commercial use as an Israeli immigration ship. She was renamed Violetta and was used as such until she was taken over by the
Ceylon purchased Mivtakh in 1958 but required that the Israeli Navy send personnel with her to teach the Sri Lanka Navy how to use her.[7] She was commissioned in 1959 under her new name Mahasena. She served until 1964, performing goodwill tours around Southeast Asia, when she was sold and broken up at Singapore.[3]
References
Notes
- ^ "The Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence" (PDF). Veterans Affairs Canada. p. 29. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
- ^ a b c "HMCS Orkney (K 448)". uboat.net. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "Fact Sheet No. 21 – Canadian River Class Frigates". Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0920277225.
- ^ a b "Israel Hands over Frigate to Ceylon Navy at Ceremony in Gulf of Aden". JTA Archive. 8 September 1959. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
References
- Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John. The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Collins: Toronto, 1981. ISBN 0-00216-856-1
