HMCS Nootka (R96)
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HMCS ''Nootka'' was a that served in the
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
(RCN) from 1946 to 1964. Constructed too late to take part in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the ship saw service in the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. She received the unit name ''Nootka'' while still under construction in
Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
after the RCN renamed the to in 1943. ''Nootka'' was the second Canadian Tribal to be constructed in Canada and the second Canadian warship to
circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magellan Exped ...
the world. The ship was sold for scrap and
broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...
at
Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
, Scotland in 1965.


Design

The were ordered by the Canadian Naval Staff's intent to build a stronger, permanent force. The Tribals were designed to fight heavily armed destroyers of other navies, such as the Japanese . Canada chose the design based on its armament, with the size and power of the Tribal class allowing them to act more like small
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
s than as fleet destroyers. The Naval Staff intended to order the construction of a
flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...
of Tribals, with two under construction every year. However, due to war demands, British yards could not accommodate such a request. Therefore, it was decided that Canadian shipyards would construct the second batch of Tribals. They were ordered with modified ventilation and heating systems for
North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
winter service. Design modifications were made after deficiencies were noted in , the lead ship of the Canadian Tribals. Canadian Tribals were a foot longer than their British counterparts and carried an auxiliary boiler for heating and additional power requirements. During construction delays soon began due to a shortage of skilled labour and engineering personnel. Furthermore, on the first batch, and ''Nootka'', there was a shortage of high-quality steel in Canada required in the construction of destroyers. The steel was imported from the United States. By the time the second batch of Canadian-built Tribals, and the second , began construction, Canada was capable of providing the steel.


Description


Initial design

The ship was long between perpendiculars and long overall with a beam of and a draught of . As built, the destroyer had a
standard displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
of and at deep load. ''Nootka'' had a
complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...
of 14 officers and 245 ratings. The destroyer was propelled by two
shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection ...
driven by two Parsons single-reduction geared turbines powered by steam created by three Admiralty-type three-drum boilers. Each boiler was housed in a separate compartment and were rated at . This created and gave the ship a maximum speed of . The destroyers could carry of fuel oil. Tribals had poor freeboard and were considered "wet" ships. They had a range of at . As built, ''Nootka'' was fitted with six quick firing Mk XII guns placed in three twin turrets, designated 'A', 'B' and 'Y' from bow to stern.Mark XII = Mark 12. Britain used
Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...
s to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after the Second World War.
The turrets were placed on 40° mountings with open-backed shields. The ship also had one twin turret of QF Mk XVI guns in the 'X' position. The mounts were powered by turbo generators and turbo-hydraulic units. For secondary
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
armament, ''Nootka'' was fitted with twin Mk 5 40 mm Bofors guns situated side by side. The vessel was also fitted with four
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s in one quad mounting, situated behind the second
funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...
for Mk IX torpedoes. Along the stern of the ships were racks for
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...
s positioned along the centreline, holding six depth charges at a time and space for nine reloads. A depth charge thrower was set high on each side of the
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
ahead of the tripod
main mast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light, ...
. The ship was equipped Type 291
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
for air search, Type 293 radar for target indication and Type 285 for 4.7-inch gun control and a DCT controller, utilizing a
Fuze Keeping Clock The Fuze Keeping Clock (FKC) was a simplified version of the Royal Navy's High Angle Control System analogue fire control computer. It first appeared as the FKC MkII in destroyers of the 1938 ,''Tribal Class Destroyers'', Hodges, p. 27 while lat ...
, for the 4-inch guns (working with the Type 285 radar). The radar was carried on a
lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russia ...
and the HF/DF was situated on a pole aft.


Refit and alterations

In 1949, ''Nootka'' underwent a conversion to a
destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...
(DDE). The DDE conversion was composed of removing the existing 4.7-inch armament and replacing the 'A' and 'X' mounts with twin 4-inch mounts to give the ship uniform armament. The 'Y' mount was replaced by two triple-barrelled Mark IV
Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...
anti-submarine mortars. In 1951, the ship underwent another alteration, replacing the 4-inch gun in 'X' mount with a twin /50 caliber gun mount. The secondary armament was also upgraded, with four single 40 mm Bofors guns also installed. The 4-inch guns, all Mk XVI, were controlled by the US Mark 63 fire control system, replacing the DCT controller and the vessels were fitted with SPS-6C air search and
Sperry Sperry may refer to: Places In the United States: * Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County * Sperry, Missouri *Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County * Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana * Sperry Glaci ...
surface search radar. ''Nootka''s final sensor layout was the SPS-6C, SPS-10, Type 293 and Type 262 radars and Type 170 and Type 174
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
s. A short, aluminum lattice mast was installed and the funnels were capped.


Construction and career

''Nootka'' was ordered as part of the 1942–43 building programme by the RCN in June 1941. The second Tribal to be constructed in Canada, the ship's
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
was
laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...
on 20 May 1942 at
Halifax Shipyards The Halifax Shipyard Limited is a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1889, it is today a wholly owned subsidiary of Irving Shipbuilding, Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and is that company's l ...
in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Construction of the ship was slowed by a shortage of skilled labour and engineering personnel. By the end of 1943, ''Nootka''s construction was several months behind schedule. This delayed the construction of the fourth Canadian-built Tribal as there were only two slips at Halifax capable of building the destroyers. Further delays were caused by the contractor for the ships' boilers ad engines, John Inglis Company. The contractor had been overwhelmed by the complexity of the design and the engines for the first Canadian Tribal, ''Micmac'' arrived only one full year after the ship's launch. ''Nootka'' was christened by Miss R. Gallant, a shipyard employee and named for the
Nuu-chah-nulth The Nuu-chah-nulth ( ; ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tri ...
people, formerly called the "Nootka", an aboriginal people of the Canadian Pacific Coast. The destroyer was launched on 26 April 1944 and commissioned into the RCN on 7 August 1946, performing
sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...
s off of Halifax. After commissioning, ''Nootka'' served as a
training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...
for the Atlantic Fleet. She was one of the ships assigned to take part in Operation Scuttled, the training exercise designed to sink , a German
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
that had surrendered to the RCN at the end of the Second World War. However, before ''Nootka'' and her fellow ships could find the range on the submarine, the aircraft of the Naval Air Arm successfully attacked the vessel and sank her. In September 1948, she joined the
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
and
sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...
on a training cruise to the Ungava Peninsula in Quebec. There the two destroyers left the aircraft carrier and toured the north, visiting
Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...
, becoming the first RCN warships to penetrate
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
. She remained as a training vessel until her conversion to a destroyer escort after being
paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...
on 15 August 1949. During the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, Canada rotated its destroyers in and out of the theatre. ''Nootka'' departed from Halifax on 25 November 1950 and transited the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
for the first of two tours of duty. On her first tour, she relieved , taking her place as one of the three Canadian destroyers assigned to the region. On 25 January, she was sent for
shore bombardment Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of severa ...
duties in the Inchon area in January and was fired upon by Communist guns. For the first three months of 1951, the three Canadian destroyers in theatre spent the majority of their time screening aircraft carriers and performing inshore patrols. On 16 March 1950 she became the Senior Officer's Ship for the Canadian force in the theatre, replacing ''Cayuga''. In early April 1951, ''Nootka'' was assigned to the west coast blockade patrol. On 13–14 May, ''Nootka'' captured two
junks A junk () is a type of Chinese sailing ship characterized by a central rudder, an overhanging flat transom, watertight bulkheads, and a flat-bottomed design. They are also characteristically built using iron nails and clamps. The term applie ...
, five
sampan A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed wooden boat found in East, Southeast, and South Asia. It is possibly of Chinese or Austronesian origin. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on in ...
s and 28 prisoners after encountering a Chinese fishing fleet off the west coast. Later in May, the destroyer transferred to the east coast, performing bombardment, aircraft carrier screening and patrol missions. ''Nootka'' sailed for home on 20 July, replaced by ''Cayuga''. Her second tour in Korean waters took place from 12 February 1952 until 9 February 1952. ''Nootka'' was assigned to the Island Campaign on the west coast, supporting guerrillas and
Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
troops in the islands around Chodo. The ship took part in the Island Campaign in the Haeju region in March. For the majority of 1952, ''Nootka'' supported the Island campaign off the west coast. During one inshore patrol around the islands on 26 September, ''Nootka'' sank a North Korean minelaying junk, rescuing its crew of five. She returned to Halifax on 17 December 1952 via the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, having become the second Canadian warship to
circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magellan Exped ...
the globe and the first destroyer to do so by the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
. ''Nootka'' underwent further conversion and modernization in 1953–1954 and resumed training duties with the Atlantic Fleet. In January 1958, ''Nootka'' collided with while operating in the Atlantic with the First Canadian Escort Squadron. She participated in the massive RCN deployment for the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
in 1962; ''Nootka'' was assigned a patrol area off the northern tip of
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
during the crisis. In summer 1963, ''Nootka'' joined ''Haida'' for a tour of the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
. Her last deployment was for a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
exercise in
Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...
in fall 1963 where she sustained hull damage while docking in strong winds. She was temporarily patched and returned to Halifax and was decommissioned at Halifax on 6 February 1964. She was
scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...
at Faslane, Scotland in 1965.


Notes


Citations


References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nootka (R96) Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal Canadian Navy World War II destroyers of Canada Cold War destroyers of Canada Ships built in Nova Scotia 1944 ships Korean War destroyers of Canada