HMCS CHAUDIERE (2nd) (235)
HMCS CHAUDIERE (2nd)
The History of HMCS CHAUDIERE (2nd)
HMCS Chaudiere (DDE 235), the second vessel to bear the name, was a Restigouche-class destroyer escort that served the Royal Canadian Navy from 1959 to 1974.
Named for the Chaudiere River in Quebec and bearing the motto La fortune sourit aux braves ("Fortune smiles on the brave"), she was the last of her class. She was laid down on 30 July 1953 at Halifax Shipyards Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, launched on 13 November 1957, and commissioned on 14 November 1959 in Halifax (with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker as guest of honour). During construction she suffered a fire that caused about $200,000 in damage; a visiting engineer also died in a fall in October 1958.
Typical of the class, she displaced roughly 2,400 tonnes, measured about 111.6 m in length with a beam of 12.8 m, and could reach 28 knots. Armament included twin 3-inch gun mounts, Limbo anti-submarine mortars, and homing torpedoes, supported by contemporary radar and sonar systems. She inherited the battle honours Atlantic 1944, Normandy 1944, and Biscay 1944 from the first Chaudiere (the former HMS Hero).
After commissioning she joined the Fifth Canadian Escort Squadron. She took part in combined exercises with the U.S. Navy off Nova Scotia (1961), shock testing off Florida (1962), and the NATO exercise "Magic Lantern" off Gibraltar (1964). Following the 1968 unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, she transferred to the west coast, departing Halifax on 2 October 1967 to join the Second Canadian Escort Squadron at Esquimalt. Plans to convert her to Improved Restigouche (IRE) standard were cancelled for budgetary reasons; by 1970 her complement had been reduced and she operated mainly as a training ship. In the summer of 1974 she and sister ship HMCS Columbia served as a floating base for the Esquimalt Sea Cadet Camp while docked at Colwood.
Paid off on 23 May 1974, she became a source of spare parts for her surviving sisters. In 1989 her bow was removed and fitted to HMCS Kootenay after that ship's bow was damaged in a collision with a merchant vessel. In September 1991 the hulk was sold for $1 to the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia. On 5 December 1992 she was deliberately sunk in Sechelt Inlet, British Columbia (near Kunechin Point), becoming an artificial reef and popular dive site. She rests on her side in roughly 15-40 m of water and is now heavily colonized by marine life.
In her relatively short active career she performed routine Cold War escort and training duties rather than combat operations, but her later reuse, first as a parts donor and then as a thriving underwater habitat, extended her service in an unexpected way.
HMCS CHAUDIERE (2nd) Statistical Data
- Pendant: 235
- Type: Destroyer Escort
- Class: Restigouche
- Displacement: 2,366 tonnes
- Length: 366 ft
- Width: 42 ft
- Draught: 13.5 ft
- Speed: 28 kts
- Compliment: 12 Officers and 237 Crew
- Arms: 4 - 3" (2 x II), 2 Limbo, Homing Torpedoes
- Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax, NS
- Keel Laid: 30-Jul-53
- Date Launched: 13-Nov-57
- Date Commissioned: 14-Nov-59
- Paid off: 23-May-74
Remarks
Sunk as an artificial reef December 5, 1992 off Kunechin Point.
Photos
HMCS CHAUDIERE
HMCS Chaudiere (DDE 235) (City of Vancouver Archives Photo)
Keywords: HMCS CHAUDIERE (2nd), Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer Escort, Restigouche Class