HMCS Halifax (FFH 330)

HMCS Halifax en route to Haiti in January 2010 as part of Operation Hestia
History
Canada
Name:	Halifax
Namesake:	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Builder:	Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John
Laid down:	19 March 1987
Launched:	30 April 1988
Commissioned:	29 June 1992
Refit:	HCM/FELEX September 2010 – September 2011
Homeport:	CFB Halifax
Motto:	Sior gaisgiel (ever brave/bravery endures)
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1942–45, Arabian Sea
Fate:	in active service
Badge:	Argent a kingfisher holding a trident in bend points upward Or.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Halifax-class frigate
Displacement:	3,995 tonnes (light) 4,795 tonnes (operational) 5,032 tonnes (deep load)
Length:	134.2 m (440 ft)
Beam:	16.5 m (54 ft)
Draught:	7.1 m (23 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × LM2500 Gas turbines 1 × SEMT Pielstick Diesel engine
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range:	9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km)
Complement:	225 (including air detachment)
Armament:	24 × Honeywell Mk 46 torpedoes 16 × Evolved Sea-Sparrow SAM 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon SSM 1 × 57 mm Bofors Mk2 gun 1 × 20 mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS 6 × .50 caliber machine guns
Aircraft carried:	1 × CH-124 Sea King

HMCS Halifax (FFH 330) is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces since 1992. Halifax is the lead ship in her class which is the name for the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. She is the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Halifax. She carries the hull classification symbol FFH 330.

She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and is homeported at CFB Halifax in her namesake city, Halifax, Nova Scotia, a name that was also borne by HMCS Halifax (K237), a Flower-class corvette during the Second World War as well as the very first warship built in Halifax, HMS Halifax (1768).

The Halifax-class frigate design of which Halifax belongs, was ordered by the Canadian Forces in 1977 as a replacement for the aging St. Laurent, Restigouche, Mackenzie, and Annapolis classes of destroyer escorts , which were all tasked with anti-submarine warfare. In July 1983, the federal government approved the budget for the design and construction of the first batch of six new frigates of which Halifax was a part, out of twelve that were eventually built. To reflect the changing long term strategy of the Navy during the 1980s and 1990s, the Halifax-class frigates was designed as a general purpose warship with particular focus on anti-submarine capabilities.