HMCS Buckingham (FFE 314)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Canada
|
|
| Name: | Buckingham |
| Namesake: | Buckingham, Quebec |
| Ordered: | 1 February 1943 |
| Builder: | Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd., Lauzon |
| Yard number: | 558 |
| Laid down: | 11 November 1943 |
| Launched: | 28 April 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 2 November 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 16 November 1945 |
| Identification: | pennant number: K 685 |
| Recommissioned: | 25 June 1954 |
| Reclassified: | Prestonian-class frigate 1954 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 March 1965 |
| Identification: | pennant number: FFE 314 |
| Honours and awards: |
Atlantic 1945 |
| Fate: | sold, scrapped 1966 |
| Badge: | Gules, a swan, wings displayed argent gorged with coronet of Canada, or |
| 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: |
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HMCS Buckingham was a River-class frigate that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War and as a Prestonian-class frigate from 1954–1965. She was named for Buckingham, Quebec. She is considered a significant part of Canadian naval history as used for some early trials of helicopter landings on smaller escort vessels. This led to the development of the future helicopter carrying destroyers.
Buckingham was ordered 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943–1944 River-class building program. She was laid down as Royal Mount on 11 November 1943 by Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd. at Lauzon and launched 28 April 1944. Her name was changed to Buckingham and she was commissioned on 2 November 1944 at Quebec City.
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. 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 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