HMCS Fort Erie: Difference between revisions

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}

|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}}

|Ship name= ''Fort Erie''

|Ship ordered= June 1942

|Ship builder=[[Davie Shipbuilding]], [[Lauzon, Quebec|Lauzon]]

|Ship recommissioned=

|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: K670

|Ship notes=

|Ship badge=

}}

{{Infobox ship career

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|Ship recommissioned= 17 April 1956

|Ship decommissioned=26 March 1965

|Ship maiden voyage=

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=

|Ship renamed=

|Ship reclassified={{sclass|Prestonian|frigate|1}}

|Ship refit=

|Ship struck=

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship homeport=

|Ship identification=pennant number: FFE 312

|Ship motto=

|Ship nickname=

|Ship honours=

|Ship honors=

|Ship captured=

|Ship fate= Sold for scrap, broken up La Spezia, Italy 1966

|Ship notes=Colours:Red and Black<ref name=a1>Arbuckle, p.37</ref>

|Ship badge=Argent, out of a mural crown sable, a demi cat rampant guardant gules armed azure, collared and chained or, holding erect a trident azure, the base end resting on the mural crown.<ref name=a1/>

|Ship class={{sclass2|River|frigate}}

|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1445|LT|t ST|lk=in}}

*{{convert|2110|LT|t ST|abbr=on}} (deep load)

|Ship length=*{{convert|283|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} [[Length between perpendiculars|p/p]]

*{{convert|301.25|ft|m|2|abbr=on}}[[Length overall|o/a]]

|Ship propulsion=2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, [[steam engine|reciprocating vertical triple expansion]], {{convert|5500|ihp|abbr=on}}

|Ship speed=*{{convert|20|kn|km/h|1}}

*{{convert|20.5|kn|km/h|1}} (turbine ships)

|Ship armament=*2 × [[QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun|QF&nbsp;{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]]/45 Mk. XVI on twin mount [[British ordnance terms#HA/LA|HA/LA]] Mk.XIX

*1 × [[QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|QF&nbsp;12&nbsp;pdr ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}})]] 12&nbsp;cwt /40 Mk. Vonmounting HA/LA Mk.IX (not all ships)

*8 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] QF Oerlikon A/A on twin mounts Mk.V

*1 × [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] 24 spigot A/S projector

*up to 150 [[depth charge]]s

'''HMCS ''Fort Erie''''' was a {{sclass2|River|frigate}} that served in the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] during the [[Second World War]] and as a {{sclass|Prestonian|frigate|1}} from 1956-1965. She was named for [[Fort Erie, Ontario]].

''Fort Erie'' was ordered in June 1942 as part of the 1943-1944 building program.<ref name=Macpherson>{{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|isbn=0-00216-856-1}}</ref><ref name=uboat>{{cite web | url = http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/207.html | work = Uboat.net | title = HMCS ''Fort Erie'' (K 670) |access-date = 22 March 2014}}</ref> She was laid down as ''La Tuque'' on 3 November 1943 by [[G T Davie|G T Davie Shipbuilding Ltd.]] at [[Lauzon, Quebec|Lauzon]] and launched 27 May 1944.<ref name=uboat/><ref name=Lenton>{{cite book|last=Lenton |first=H.T. |last2=Colledge |first2=J.J. |title=British and Dominion Warships of World War II |publisher=Doubleday and Company Inc. |year=1968 |place=New York |page=230}}</ref> Her name was changed and she was commissioned as ''Fort Erie'' at [[Quebec City]] on 27 October 1944 with the pennant K670.<ref name=Macpherson/>

==Background==

{{main|River-class frigate}}

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 after towns and cities though they kept the same designation.<ref name=WarMuseum>{{cite web|url=https://www.friends-amis.org/index.php/en/document-repository/english/fact-sheets/44-canadian-river-class-frigate-1/file |title=Fact Sheet No. 21 - Canadian River Class Frigates |access-date=3 April 2014}}</ref> The name "frigate" was suggested by Vice-Admiral [[Percy Nelles]] of the Royal Canadian Navy and was adopted later that year.<ref name=Macpherson2>{{cite book|title=Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943-1974 |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |year=1989 |place=Lewiston, New York |pages=6–7, 15 |isbn=0920277225}}</ref>

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 {{convert|7200|nmi|km}} at 12 knots.<ref name=Macpherson2/> 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.<ref name=WarMuseum/> 15 Canadian frigates were initially fitted with a single 4-inch gun forward but with the exception of {{HMCS|Valleyfield|K329|6}}, they were all eventually upgraded to the double mount.<ref name=Macpherson2/> For underwater targets, the River-class frigate was equipped with a [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] anti-submarine mortar and depth charge rails aft and four side-mounted throwers.<ref name=WarMuseum/>

River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo sonar transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved radar and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes.<ref name=WarMuseum/>

Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941.<ref name=WarMuseum/><ref name=Macpherson2/> The design was too big for the shipyards on the [[Great Lakes]] so all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the west coast or along the [[St. Lawrence River]].<ref name=Macpherson2/> In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the [[United States Navy]].<ref name=WarMuseum/>

==Service history==

After working up in [[Bermuda]], ''Fort Erie'' was assigned to escort group EG 28 which operated out of [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], a support group that would aid any convoy under attack. She remained with that unit for the entire war. On 2 June 1945, ''Fort Erie'' began a tropicalization refit in preparation for service in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. However, in August 1945, that was cancelled and she was [[Ship commissioning#Ship decommissioning|paid off]] into the reserve 22 November, and laid up at [[Shelburne, Nova Scotia]].<ref name=Macpherson/>

In 1946, she was sold to Marine Industries Ltd.<ref name=Macpherson/> ''Fort Erie'' was among the River-class frigates reacquired by the RCN when the need for more anti-submarine forces were required for combating the increased [[Soviet]] submarine threat.<ref name=German>{{cite book |last=German |first=Tony |title=The Sea is at Our Gates: A History of the Canadian Navy |publisher=McClelland & Stewart Limited |year=1990 |place=Toronto |page=[https://archive.org/details/seaisatourgatesh00germ/page/233 233] |isbn=0771032692 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/seaisatourgatesh00germ/page/233 }}</ref> She underwent conversion to a ''Prestonian''-class frigate from 1953-1955 and was recommissioned with pennant 312 on 17 April 1956. As a member of the [[Seventh Canadian Escort Squadron]], she served primarily as a [[training ship]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Seventh Escort Squadron |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |date=November 1960 |volume=13 |number=1 |pages=25}}</ref> In March 1961, ''Fort Erie'' was among the ships that took part in a combined naval exercise with the [[United States Navy]] off [[Nova Scotia]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A/S Exercise Off Nova Scotia |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |date=April 1961 |volume=13 |number=6 |pages=2}}</ref> The ship was [[paid off]] on 26 March 1965 and was sold for scrap and [[Ship breaking|broken up]] at [[La Spezia]], [[Italy]], in 1966.<ref name=Macpherson/><ref name=Lenton/>

===Notes===

{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===

* {{cite book |last=Arbuckle |first=J. Graeme |date=1987 |title=Badges of the Canadian Navy |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |isbn=0-920852-49-1}}

* {{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|isbn=0-00216-856-1}}

[[Category:Ships built in Lévis]]