HMCS Haida (G63)

Technical specifications
Ship type :	destroyer
Displacement :	1,927  ts standard 2,800 ts maximum
Length:	114.90 m
Width:	11.40 m
Draft :	3.40 m
Drive :	3 Admirality 3-drum steam boilers 2 Parsons steam turbines with single gear 44,000 PS (32,340 kW )
Fuel supply:	524 t of heating oil
Speed :	36 kn (66.7 km / h )
Range :	5,700 nm at 15 kn
Crew :	259 (14 officers, 245 men)
Armament:	6 × 120 mm guns Mk XII (3 * 2) 2 × 102 mm guns Mk XVI (1 * 2) Mk. 16 4 × 40 mm anti-aircraft guns (2 pounders) (1 * 4) 6 × 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun 4 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (1 * 4) 60 depth charges

HMCS Haida (G63) is a (second) Tribal class destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the only of 27 ships of its class built for the Australian , British and Canadian navies that still exist today. On November 23, 1984, the HMCS Haida was declared a National Historic Site of Canada .

history

The ship was laid down on September 29, 1941 at Vickers Armstrong's High Walker Yard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne under hull number 41, launched on August 25, 1942, and put into service on August 30, 1943.

The Haida belonged to the first construction lot that was commissioned by the RCN in 1940–1941. The building contract was based on the Royal Navy's good experience with this class of destroyer in the early years of World War II . Unlike the British ships, they were built with modified ventilation and heating systems in order to take into account the conditions of winter service in the North Atlantic. After the lead ship of the Canadian tribal class, the HMCS Iroquois (G89) , did not meet the requirements, the design for the Haida was revised.

After her commissioning on August 30, 1943, she was assigned to the British Home Fleet in Scapa Flow in October 1943 . For the rest of the year she drove escort missions for northern sea convoys (including JW 55B and RA 66 ) between Spitsbergen and Murmansk .

On January 10, 1944, she was assigned to the 10th destroyer flotilla in Plymouth and took part in patrols in the Bay of Biscay . On this occasion, the Haida was attacked and damaged by the German torpedo boat T 29 on the night of April 15 . Nevertheless, the T 29 was sunk.

On June 24, 1944, she sank the German submarine U 971 in the English Channel north of Brest together with the British destroyer HMS Eskimo (F75) and a Liberator bomber from the Czech Air Force .

After various successful missions she returned to Halifax on June 10, 1945 to be converted for operations in the tropics. Due to the Japanese surrender , the conversion was not completed.

On March 20, 1946, the Haida was mothballed in the course of the decommissioning of the Canadian World War II fleet.

With the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, the Haida was reactivated. It was converted into an escort destroyer , with the armament and communications equipment being renewed in July 1950. On March 15, 1952 she was put into service again with the designation DDE 215 (DD was the identifier for destroyers with the addition E for conversion). She left Halifax on September 27, heading for Sasebo , Japan , where she arrived on November 12 after crossing the Panama Canal .

On October 11, 1963, the Haida was finally decommissioned. The Haida has been a museum ship at the Hamilton pier since August 1965 and is now looked after by Parks Canada .

Web links

Commons : HMCS Haida  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ HMCS Haida National Historic Site of Canada. In: Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved May 24, 2018 . 
2. ↑ http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/H-Ships/haida1943.html

Coordinates: 43 ° 16'31 "  N , 79 ° 51'19.2"  W.