HMCS Inch Arran (K667)
HMCS Inch Arran (K667)
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| History | |
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 Canada
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| Name: | Inch Arran |
| Namesake: | Inch Arran Point, Dalhousie, New Brunswick |
| Ordered: | 1 February 1943 |
| Builder: | Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec |
| Laid down: | 25 October 1943 |
| Launched: | 6 June 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 18 November 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 November 1945 |
| Identification: | pennant number: K667 |
| Recommissioned: | 23 August 1954 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 June 1965 |
| Reclassified: | Prestonian-class frigate |
| Identification: | pennant number: FFE 308 |
| Fate: | Sold, broken up 1970 |
| Badge: | On a field barry wavy of eighteen pieces argent and azure, a roundel or displaying a saltire gules charged in the center with a lymphad with four oars sable, sail argent, flags or |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | River-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1445 tons |
| Length: | 301.5 ft (91.90 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 36.6 ft (11.16 m) |
| Draught: |
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| Installed power: | 5,500 hp (4,100 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Admiralty boilers |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37.0 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,200 nautical miles (13,334 km) at 11 knots (20.4 km/h) |
| Complement: | 8 officers and 133 crew |
| Armament: |
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HMCS Inch Arran was a River-class frigate that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War and again from 1954 to 1965, when she was converted into a Prestonian-class frigate. She was named after Inch Arran Point in Dalhousie, New Brunswick, Canada. This was due to the inability of two Allied warships to bear the same name. The RCN would then use landmarks or significant areas that were associated with the community instead.
Inch Arran was ordered 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943–44 River-class building program. She was laid down on 25 October 1943 by Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd. at Lauzon, Quebec, and launched on 6 June 1944. She was commissioned on 18 November 1944 at Quebec City with the pennant number K667.
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. Fifteen 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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