The Restigouche -class destroyer was a class of seven destroyer escorts that served the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from the lates to the lates. All seven vessels in the class were named after rivers in Canada.
The Royal Canadian Navy began planning the St. Laurent -class destroyer in the late s and originally intended to procure fourteen vessels. Delays in design and construction saw the number of vessels for the St. Laurent class halved to seven. The seven remaining vessels were redesigned as the Restigouche class, taking into account design improvements found during construction of the St. Laurent s. The seven ships of the class were commissioned between and Based on the preceding St.
Laurent -class design, the Restigouche s had the same hull and propulsion, but different weaponry. Laurent class had been planned to be 14 ships. However the order was halved, and the following seven were redesigned to incorporate improvements made on the St. As time passed, their design diverged further from that of the St. The ships had a displacement of 2, tonnes 2, long tons , 2, t 2, long tons at deep load. They were designed to be metres ft long with a beam of 13 metres 42 ft and a draught of 4.
The Restigouche s diverged from the St. Laurent s in their weaponry. The guns weighed 1, kilograms 2, lb , had 1, rounds stored and could fire 90 rounds per minute. The gun could fire a projectile that weighed Each gun weighed kilograms 1, lb. The gun fired a projectile that weighed The Limbo was a British -designed three-barrel mortar capable of launching a projectile shell between β metres β1, yd.
Placed on stabilized mountings, the projectiles always entered the water at the same angle. The total weight of the shell was kilograms lb. The destroyers were also equipped beginning in with Mk 43 homing torpedoes in an effort to increase the distance between the ships and their targets. They were pitched over the side by a modified depth charge thrower.
