HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332)

HMCS Ville de Québec in September 2016
History
Canada
Name:	Ville de Québec
Namesake:	Quebec City, Quebec
Builder:	MIL Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon
Laid down:	16 December 1988
Launched:	16 May 1991
Commissioned:	11 July 1994
Homeport:	CFB Halifax
Motto:	Don de Dieu feray valoir (I will be worthy)
Nickname(s):	"VDQ"
Honours and awards:	Atlantic 1942–1944, Gulf of St. Lawrence 1942, Mediterranean 1943, English Channel 1944–1945
Status:	in active service, as of 2015[update]
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 nmi (17,600 km; 10,900 mi)
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 Ville de Québec (FFH 332) (commonly referred to as VDQ) is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy since 1993. Ville de Québec is the third vessel in her class which is the name for the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. The frigate is the second Royal Canadian Navy ship to be named Ville de Québec and is Canada's only fully bilingual warship. She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and is homeported at CFB Halifax. The vessel serves on MARLANT missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Atlantic Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. Her commanding officer is Commander (Capitaine de Fregate) Yves Germain.

The Halifax-class frigate design of which Ville de Québec 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 Ville de Québec 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.