Iroquois-class destroyer
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HMCS Algonquin
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Iroquois class |
| Builders: | |
| Operators: |
 Royal Canadian Navy
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| Preceded by: | Annapolis class |
| Succeeded by: | Single Class Surface Combatant |
| Built: | 1969–1973 |
| In commission: | 29 July 1972 – 10 March 2017 |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Retired: | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided missile destroyer |
| Displacement: | 5,100 long tons (5,200 t) deep load |
| Length: | 129 m (423.2 ft) |
| Beam: | 15 m (49.2 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.42 m (14.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
| Range: | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) |
| Complement: | 280 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 × CH-124 Sea King helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: | Hangar and landing area |
Iroquois-class destroyers, also known as Tribal class, was a class of four helicopter-carrying, guided missile destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy. Launched in the 1970s, they were originally fitted out for anti-submarine warfare, but a major upgrade programme in the 1990s overhauled them for area-wide anti-aircraft warfare. One was sunk in a live-fire exercise in 2007, two more were decommissioned in 2015 and the last in 2017. The ships were named to honour the First Nations of Canada.
Due to their extended service lives, the Iroquois-class destroyers were used in a variety of roles. They served as flagships for NATO's maritime force, deployed as part of United Nations and NATO forces in the Adriatic, Arabian and Caribbean Seas and Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The destroyers also performed coastal security patrols and search and rescue missions nearer to Canada.
With the disbandment of Banshee fighter aircraft squadrons and the retirement of the Second World War-vintage destroyers in the early 1960s, the Royal Canadian Navy no longer had air cover nor fire support capabilities. The Royal Canadian Navy sought to fulfill both these capabilities with the General Purpose Frigate (GPF) design. However, due to rising costs and an ambitious Defence Minister, Paul Hellyer, who had his own ideas as to where the Royal Canadian Navy should spend its money, the GPF program was cancelled on 24 October 1963.
After the cancellation of the GPF program, the Royal Canadian Navy continued to design a vessel able to fulfill the lost capabilities. Several designs were drawn up, one of which was an improved version of the GPF with a better missile system, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) rocket and large calibre gun. In September 1964, Hellyer ordered an ASW design. The Royal Canadian Navy submitted a design that matched what Hellyer required that used steam turbines instead of gas and had a planned cost of $35 million, similar to the most recent ships constructed based on the St. Laurent class.
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