HMCS Columbia (DDE 260)
{{Short description|Restigouche-class destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy}}
{{other ships|HMCS Columbia}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:HMCS Columbia (DDE 260) at Rotterdam on 10 May 1965.jpg |Ship caption=HMCS Columbia at Rotterdam, 10 May 1965 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} {{shipboxflag|Canada|naval}} |Ship name=Columbia |Ship namesake=Columbia River |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Burrard Dry Dock, North Vancouver |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=11 June 1952 |Ship launched=1 November 1956 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=7 November 1959 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=18 February 1974 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport=CFB Esquimalt |Ship identification=DDE 260 |Ship motto=Floreat Columbia ubique ("May Columbia flourish everywhere")Arbuckle, p. 27 |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Belgian Coast, 1914–15, Atlantic 1940–44 |Ship fate=Sunk as artificial reef off British Columbia in 1996. |Ship notes= |Ship badge=Gules, a bend wavy argent charged with two like cotises azure, and over all in the center a dogwood flower proper }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Restigouche|destroyer}} |Ship displacement={{convert|2800|t|abbr=on}} (deep load) |Ship length={{convert|366|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|42|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|14|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*2-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines
|Ship speed={{convert|28|kn}} |Ship range={{convert|4750|nmi}} at {{convert|14|kn}} |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=214 |Ship sensors=*1 × SPS-12 air search radar
|Ship EW= 1 × DAU HF/DF (high frequency direction finder) |Ship armament=*1 × 3-inch/70 Mk.6 Vickers twin mount forward
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
HMCS Columbia was a {{sclass|Restigouche|destroyer}} that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1974. Columbia was the seventh and final ship in her class and is the second Canadian naval unit to carry the name {{HMCS|Columbia}}. Following her service, she was kept at Esquimalt in an altered condition, no longer capable of sailing. During the summer of 1974 she along with her sister ship HMCS Chaudiere served as the base of operations for the Esquimalt Sea Cadet Camp while being docked at the DND jetty in Colwood. This location was across the harbour from the main site of CFB Esquimalt. Columbia was sold for use as an artificial reef and sunk off the coast of British Columbia in 1996.
Design and description
Based on the preceding {{sclass|St. Laurent|destroyer|0}} design, the Restigouches had the same hull and propulsion, but different weaponry.Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 45 Initially the St. Laurent class had been planned to be 14 ships. However the order was halved, and the following seven were redesigned to take into improvements made on the St. Laurents. As time passed, their design diverged further from that of the St. Laurents.Milner, p. 248
The ships had a displacement of {{convert|2000|t|LT}}, {{convert|2500|t|LT|abbr=on}} at deep load. They were designed to be {{convert|366|ft|m|order=flip}} long with a beam of {{convert|42|ft|m|order=flip}} and a draught of {{convert|13|ft|2|in|m|order=flip}}. The Restigouches had a complement of 214.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 251
The Restigouches were by powered by two English Electric geared steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft, using steam provided by two Babcock & Wilcox boilers. They generated {{convert|30000|shp|kW|order=flip|lk=on}} giving the vessels a maximum speed of {{convert|28|kn|lk=in}}.
The Restigouches were equipped with SPS-10, SPS-12, Sperry Mk 2 and SPG-48 radar along with SQS-501 and SQS-503 sonar.Gardiner and Chumbly, p. 46
=Armament=
The Restigouches diverged from the St. Laurents in their weaponry. The Restigouches were equipped with two twin mounts of Vickers {{convert|3|in|mm|adj=on|0}}/70 calibre Mk 6 dual-purpose guns forward and maintained a single twin mount of 3-inch/50 calibre Mk 22 guns aft used in the preceding class.Calibre denotes the length of the barrel. In this case, 50 calibre means that the gun barrel is 50 times as long as its bore diameter A Mk 69 fire control director was added to control the new guns.Boutiller, p. 323 They were also armed with two Limbo Mk 10 mortars and two single Bofors 40 mm guns. However the 40 mm guns were dropped in the final design.
From 1958 the destroyers were also equipped with Mk 43 homing torpedoes in an effort to increase the effective range of the armament. The Mk 43 torpedo had a range of {{convert|4500|yd|m|order=flip}} at {{convert|15|kn}}. They were launched by a modified depth charge thrower.Milner, p. 225
Service history
Columbia was laid down on 11 June 1953 at Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Named for the Columbia River that flows from British Columbia into the United States, Columbia was launched on 1 November 1956. She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 7 November 1959 with the classification DDE 260.Macpherson and Barrie (2002), p. 252
Columbia transferred to the east coast and in 1960 and was assigned to the Fifth Canadian Escort Squadron. In August, the ship recovered two crew members of a Tracker aircraft that had crashed at sea {{convert|180|nmi}} south of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The aircraft had been training with Columbia and sister ship {{HMCS|Chaudière|DDE 235|2}}.{{cite magazine |title=Columbia Saves Two Flyers |magazine=The Crowsnest |date=September 1960 |volume=12 |number=11 |publisher=Queen's Printer|pages=9}} She was present for Nigeria's Independence ceremonies at Lagos on 1 November.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19601228&id=ldgxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i-QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4770,2493219 |title=RCN Fleet Stronger Than Ever |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=28 December 1960 |pages=13 |accessdate=19 January 2016}} In March 1961, the destroyer escort was among the ships that took part in a combined naval exercise with the United States Navy off Nova Scotia.{{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}}
During the reorganization of the fleet following the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces and the creation of Maritime Command, Columbia was transferred back to the Pacific as part of the Second Canadian Escort Squadron.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2455&dat=19680606&id=h6YyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3uwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2906,1771658 |title=Canada's fleet has 31 ships |work=The Saturday Citizen |pages=19 |date=7 June 1968 |accessdate=17 January 2016}} The ship sailed for Esquimalt in March 1967 with two other vessels being transferred; {{HMCS|Crescent|R16|2}} and {{HMCS|Algonquin|R17|2}}.Barrie and Macpherson (1996), p. 39
Columbia was paid off on 18 February 1974. Placed in reserve, the ship was fitted so that she could run her engines at dockside for use as a training ship. The ship was sold to the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia and sunk as an artificial reef near Campbell River, British Columbia in June 1996.
References
=Notes=
{{reflist|group=note}}
=Citations=
{{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=Barrie |first=Ron |last2=Macpherson |first2=Ken |date=1996 |title=Cadillac of Destroyers: HMCS St. Laurent and Her Successors |publisher=Vanwell Publishing Limited |location=St. Catharines, Ontario |isbn=1-55125-036-5}}
- {{cite book |editor-last=Boutiller |editor-first=James A. |date=1982 |title=RCN in Retrospect, 1910–1968 |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |location=Vancouver |isbn=0-7748-0196-4}}
- {{cite book |editor-last=Gardiner |editor-first=Robert |editor-last2=Chumbley |editor-first2=Stephen |editor-last3=Budzbon |editor-first3=Przemysław |date=1995 |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=1-55750-132-7}}
- {{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Barrie |first2=Ron |date=2002 |title=The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002 |edition=Third |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |location=St. Catharines, Ontario |isbn=1-55125-072-1}}
- {{cite book |last=Milner |first=Marc |date=2010 |title=Canada's Navy: The First Century |edition=Second |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-8020-9604-3}}
External links
- [http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/postwar/restigou/ Canadian Navy of Yesterday & Today: Restigouche-class destroyer escort]
{{Restigouche class destroyer}}
{{coord|50|8|N|125|20|W|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columbia, HMCS}}
Category:Restigouche-class destroyers
Category:Cold War destroyers of Canada