General Purpose Frigate (Canada)
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | General Purpose Frigate |
| Operators: |
 Royal Canadian Navy
|
| Preceded by: | Prestonian class |
| Succeeded by: | Halifax class |
| Planned: | 8 |
| Cancelled: | 8 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Frigate |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | ~423 ft (128.9 m) oa |
| Beam: | ~50 ft (15.2 m) |
| Draught: | ~14 ft 6 in (4.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft geared steam turbines, 36,000 shp (27,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Armament: |
|
The General Purpose Frigate, or GPF, was a procurement project for the Royal Canadian Navy during the Cold War. The class was also known as the Tribal-class frigate. Intended as a replacement for the Second World War-era destroyers in service at the time, the frigate design was developed for the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker government in the late 1950s as part of the general fleet renewal program. The GPF program was cancelled under the Liberal Pearson government as part of their plan to reshape the Canadian Armed Forces. Following the cancellation, a modified version of the design was used for the Iroquois-class destroyers.
The Brock Report was released in 1961 and identified the need for a ship capable of replacing the Tribal-class destroyers, especially their ability to provide naval gunfire support, along with being capable of carrying a helicopter. The need for further dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) surface platforms was questioned due to the planned addition of submarines. A new design was needed to maintain Canada's surface capability. However, the ships would retain some ASW capability.
At the same time NATO had developed a new defence plan, implemented in 1954, that called on Canada to have a force capable of fielding 43 ships. Among the plan's suggestions was the need for Canadian ships to be forward deployed, capable of operating in regions under the threat of Soviet air attack. In response, Canadian naval planners sought to aim for a balanced fleet. This would require an air-defence element, one that was being lost with the jettisoning of the F2H Banshee aircraft.
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Wikipedia