HMCS Antigonish (K661)
HMCS Antigonish as River-class frigate
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| History | |
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 Canada
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| Name: | Antigonish |
| Namesake: | Antigonish, Nova Scotia |
| Ordered: | 1 February 1943 |
| Builder: | Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt |
| Laid down: | 2 October 1943 |
| Launched: | 10 February 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 4 July 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 May 1946 |
| Identification: | pennant number: K661 |
| Recommissioned: | 12 October 1957 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 November 1966 |
| Reclassified: | Prestonian-class frigate |
| Identification: | pennant number: FFE 301 |
| Motto: | Be worthy |
| Honours and awards: |
Atlantic 1945; Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944 |
| Fate: | Broken up in Japan, 1968 |
| Notes: | Colours: Gold and black |
| Badge: | Blazon Argent, a bear rampant sable, langued gules, grasping and breaking with its forepaws a beech bough proper. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | River-class frigate |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | |
| Beam: | 36.5 ft (11.13 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW) |
| Speed: |
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| 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: |
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HMCS Antigonish was a River-class frigate that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1944–1946 and as a Prestonian-class frigate from 1957–1966. She is named for Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Her photo is featured on the cover of the 1994 album Frigate by the band April Wine.
Antigonish was ordered 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943–44 River-class building programme. She was laid down by Yarrows Ltd. at Esquimalt on 2 October 1943 and launched 10 February 1944. She was commissioned at Esquimalt into the RCN on 4 July 1944 with the pennant K661.
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 Royal Navy at the time, including the Flower-class corvette. The first orders were placed by the Royal Navy in 1940 and the vessels were named for rivers in the United Kingdom, giving name to the class. In Canada they were named for towns and cities though they kept the same designation. The name "frigate" was suggested by Vice-Admiral Percy Nelles of the Royal Canadian Navy and was adopted later that year.
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 (22 km/h). Among other lessons applied to the design was an armament package better designed to combat U-boats including a twin 4-inch mount forward and 12-pounder aft. 15 Canadian frigates were initially fitted with a single 4-inch gun forward but with the exception of the HMCS Valleyfield, they were all eventually upgraded to the double mount. 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.
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Wikipedia