HMCS MACKENZIE (261)

HMCS MACKENZIE

HMCS MACKENZIE

The History of HMCS MACKENZIE

HMCS Mackenzie (DDE 261) was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces.

She was the lead ship of her class and is the first Canadian naval unit to carry this name.

Mackenzie was laid down on 15 December 1958 at Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal and launched on 25 May 1961. She was commissioned into the RCN on 6 October 1962.

She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and served largely as a training ship with the RCN and later in the CF under Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC). She underwent the Destroyer Life Extension Project (DELEX) in 1985.

She was decommissioned from Maritime Command on 3 August 1993.

Mackenzie's hulk was purchased by the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia in March 1995. She was stripped in spring/summer 1995 of environmental contaminants and scuttled on 16 September 1995 near Isle-de-Lis and Gooch Island, in the Georgia Strait off Sidney, British Columbia. She rests on clay and rock with a 20 degree list to port.

HMCS MACKENZIE Statistical Data

  • Pendant: 261
  • Type: Destroyer Escort
  • Class: Mackenzie
  • Displacement: 2,380 tonnes
  • Length: 366 ft
  • Width: 42 ft
  • Draught: 13.5 ft
  • Speed: 28 kts
  • Compliment: 12 Officers and 233 Crew
  • Arms: 4 - 3" (2 x II), 2 Limbo, Homing Torpedoes.
  • Builder: Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal. Que.
  • Keel Laid: 15-Dec-58
  • Date Launched: 25-May-61
  • Date Commissioned: 06-Oct-62
  • Paid off: 03-Aug-93

Remarks

Major refit (DELEX) in 1985.

Additional Information

Sunk as an artificial reef September 16, 1995 off Gooch Island, near Sidney, B.C. (Position: 48 40.094 N, 123 17.170 W)

More Images

HMCS MACKENZIE in the Esquimalt Harbour approaches.

HMCS MACKENZIE in the Esquimalt Harbour approaches.

HMCS MACKENZIE (left) conducts a jack-stay personnel transfer with Canadian Improved Restigouche Class Destroyer.

HMCS MACKENZIE (left) conducts a jack-stay personnel transfer with Canadian Improved Restigouche Class Destroyer.

Keywords: HMCS MACKENZIE, Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer Escort, Mackenzie Class