MACKENZIE Class

(DDE) destroyer escort


MACKENZIE Class
Characteristics:
Period:
Original (as DDE)
 DELEX
Displacement:
2,880 tons full load
Dimensions:
111.56 x 12.80 x 4.27 meters (366 x 42 x 14 feet)
Propulsion:
2 shafts;
2 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers;
2 English Electric geared turbines, 30,000 shp, 28 knots
Crew:
228 regular, 170- 210 training
Aviation:
none
Hangar:
none
Radar:
SPS-12 air search
SPS-10B surface search
Sperry Mk.2 navigation
Marconi SPS 502 air search
Raytheon SPS 10D surface search
Sperry Mk.127 E navigation
Sonar:
SQS-501 high frequency bottom profiler
SQS-502 high frequency mortar control
SQS-503 hull mounted active search
SQS-11 hull mounted active search
Fire Control:
Mk.69 gunnery control system with SPG-48 director forward
GUNAR (Mk.64 GFCS with on-mount SPG-48 director) aft
EW: 
DAU (replaced by SRD 501) high frequency direction finder
WLR 1C radar analyzer
UPD 501 radar detector
Counter-
measures:

None
Armament:
Guns:
1 3"/70 Mk.6 Vickers twin mount forward (264 had 3"/50 twin)
1 3"/50 Mk.33 FMC twin mount aft
1 3"/70 Mk.6 Vickers twin mount forward (264 had 3"/50 twin)
1 3"/50 Mk.33 FMC twin mount aft
ASW:
2 Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars
2 single Mk.2 "K-gun" launchers with homing torpedoes
2 Mk NC 10 Limbo ASW mortars (removed circa 1991)
2 triple Mk.32 12.75 inch torpedo tubes firing Mk.46 torpedoes.
Other:
103mm Bofors illumination rocket launchers

Notes:

The six ships of the MACKENZIE and ANNAPOLIS classes were originally supposed to have been part of the MACKENZIE class, but the last two were built to the ST. LAURENT DDH design. These ships spent most of their time on the West Coast,  and never saw any major conversions other than DELEX. All four ships were primarily used in the training role.

The MACKENZIE class was superficially similar to the previous RESTIGOUCHE class ships. The RESTIGOUCHE class was a natural follow-on to the original ST. LAURENT class, and indeed only had a few minor improvements. The most noticeable were the replacement of the forward 3"/50 with a 3"/70, and the presence of a fire control director atop the bridge superstructure. In order to see over the new gun mount, the bridge was raised one full deck higher than on the previous ships.

The Vickers 3"/70 Mk.6 was developed by the Royal Navy and fitted to their TIGER class cruisers. The RCN was the only other customer. It was designed to fire up to 120 rounds per minute per barrel (although this was limited in service to 90 to reduce barrel wear), and the mazazine for this gun was referred to as the "bottling plant" for its handling of ammunition. It took several years to work out the bugs in this weapon, however. This mounting was not available when QU'APPELLE was built, and she therefore received a 3"/50 gun mounting forward instead.

After being paid off, MACKENZIE was used in an episode of "The X-Files" before being scuttled as an artificial reef off Sidney, BC. SASKATCHEWAN was sunk off Nanaimo on June 14/97. YUKON was sunk off San Diego as an artificial reef during 2000.

Ships:
 
Name
Pendant
Commissioned
DELEX
Paid Off
MACKENZIE
261
6/10/62
16/1/87
3/8/93
SASKATCHEWAN
262
16/2/63
17/6/86
28/3/94
YUKON
263
25/5/63
16/1/85
3/12/93
QU'APPELLE
264
14/9/63
13/1/84
31/7/92

Photos:

 (click on thumbnail for bigger image)

MACKENZIE
Notes:
1. HMCS MACKENZIE in the ice. DND photo.
2. MACKENZIE. DND photo, Courtesy of Dave Shirlaw.
3. MACKENZIE kicks up spray while pushing through a wave in the Pacific. Members of the bridge crew can just be made out on the port bridge wing facing aft to avoid the spray. Courtesy of Corvus Publishing Group./Canada's Navy.
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SASKATCHEWAN
Notes:
1. HMCS SASKATCHEWAN. DND photo, Courtesy of Dave Shirlaw.
2. SASKATCHEWAN alongside in Portsmouth, outside of SKEENA and PROTECTEUR. M.D. Thomas photo.
3. SASKATCHEWAN alongside in Portsmouth, outside of SKEENA and PROTECTEUR. M.D. Thomas photo.
4. SASKATCHEWAN entering port. Rob Blair photo.
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SASKATCHEWAN
SASKATCHEWAN
SASKATCHEWAN
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YUKON
Notes:
1. A publicity shot of HMCS YUKON leaving San Diego in about 1978, while on her way down to South America. DND photo. DND photo, Courtesy of J. Michael Gibson
2. YUKON in the harbour at Sydney, Australia, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. DND photo, Courtesy Pat Walton.
3. YUKON pulls alongside HMCS PROVIDER for a RAS. Note that the forward gun mounting has been turned to face aft to prevent damage from oncoming seas. Pat Walton photo.
4. An early photo of YUKON. DND photo, courtesy of RCNA Peregrine.
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YUKON
YUKON Yukon
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QU'APPELLE
Notes:
1. HMCS QU'APPELLE. Notice that the forward gun is a 3"/50 rather than the 3"/70 seen on the rest of the class in this position. DND photo, Courtesy of Dave Shirlaw.
2. QU'APPELLE leaving Esquimalt. DND photo, Courtesy of Dave Shirlaw.
3. QU'APPELLE. DND photo, Courtesy of Dave Shirlaw.
4. QU'APPELLE also showing that the training cruises didn't always have it easy! Courtesy of Corvus Publishing Group./Canada's Navy.
5. QU'APPELLE taken from either HMAS VAMPIRE or JERVIS BAY during an exercise in the early 1980s. Photo © Dale Cronly.
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Sources:

Barrie, Ron and Macpherson, Ken. (1996). Cadillac of Destroyers: HMCS ST. LAURENT and Her Successors. Vanwell Publishing Ltd. St. Catherines, Ont.

Steed, Roger G. (1999). Canadian Warships Since 1956. Vanwell Publishing Ltd. St. Catherines, ON.

Jane's Fighting Ships, Various Editions 

Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, Various Editions  

Mike Potter's ST. LAURENT class destroyer tables.

ASDIC, RADAR, and IFF Systems Aboard HMCS HAIDA web site by Jerry Proc.
 

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