HMCS TERRA NOVA (259)

HMCS TERRA NOVA

The History of HMCS TERRA NOVA

HMCS Terra Nova (DDE 259), a Restigouche-class destroyer escor, was the only ship of that name in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Built by Victoria Machinery Depot in Victoria, British Columbia, she was laid down on 14 November 1952, launched on 21 June 1955, and commissioned on 6 June 1959. Named for the Terra Nova River in Newfoundland, her badge also referenced the earlier civilian sealing and expedition ship Terra Nova, famous from Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic voyages, by featuring a penguin.

Shortly after commissioning she sailed east for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and a NATO warship review at Toronto in August 1959. In July 1961 she carried the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland on visits to southwest ports. She took part in NATO exercises and, in March 1965, joined the search for a missing RCAF Canadair CP-107 Argus aircraft near Puerto Rico.

In May 1965 she entered Halifax Shipyards as the first of her class to begin conversion to Improved Restigouche Escort (IRE) standard. Fitted with an ASROC launcher and new sonar (which she tested extensively), she completed the work around 1968. She transferred to the west coast and returned to duties at Esquimalt on 4 May 1971, conducting sovereignty patrols and exercises in the Pacific. From January to June 1973 she deployed off Vietnam with HMCS Kootenay under Westploy '73 / Operation Gallant, standing ready to evacuate Canadian personnel of the International Commission of Control and Supervision after the Paris Peace Accords.

She received a Destroyer Life Extension (DELEX) mid-life refit at Esquimalt between 21 November 1983 and 9 November 1984. Transferred back to the east coast, she arrived in Halifax on 12 December 1989.

In 1990 she was selected for the Persian Gulf because of her electronic countermeasures suite. Her ASROC was removed and she was fitted with two quadruple Harpoon missile launchers, a Phalanx close-in weapon system, two single 40 mm Bofors guns, and shoulder-launched Blowpipe and Javelin missiles. With HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Preserver she left Halifax on 24 August 1990 and returned on 7 April 1991, earning the battle honour Gulf and Kuwait 1991.

In February 1994, on a drug interdiction patrol, she boarded the cargo ship Pacifico and seized 5.9 tonnes of cocaine. Later that year, during UN blockade duty off Haiti, she rescued boatloads of refugees on two occasions.

On 11 July 1997 she was placed in a state of extended readiness and was paid off on 1 July 1998. After decommissioning she appeared as a U.S. destroyer in the film K-19: The Widowmaker. In 2009 she was sold for scrap with sister ship Gatineau, towed to Pictou, Nova Scotia, and dismantled. She sank at her moorings during the process and was later raised, and the process to scrap her was completed.

HMCS TERRA NOVA Statistical Data

Pendant: 259
Type: Destroyer Escort
Class: Restigouche
Displacement: 2,366 / 2,390 (post refit) tonnes
Length: 366 / 372 (post refit) ft
Width: 42 ft
Draught: 13.5 / 14.1 (post refit) ft
Speed: 28 kts
Compliment: 12 Officers and 237 Crew
Arms: 4 - 3" (2 x II), 2 Limbo, Homing Torpedoes. After IRE refit: 2-3" (1 x II), 1 Limbo, 1 ASROC, Homing Torpedoes.
Builder: Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd., Victoria, BC
Keel Laid: 14-Nov-52
Date Launched: 21-Jun-55
Date Commissioned: 06-Jun-59
Paid off: 11-Jul-97

Remarks

Modified as Improved Restigouche Class 1967-1968. DELEX refit in 1985.

Photos

HMCS Terra Nova (DDE 259) underway at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during exercise RIMPAC 86, 1 June 1986.

HMCS Terra Nova, Restigouche Class Destroyer.

Keywords: HMCS TERRA NOVA, Royal Canadian Navy Ship, Destroyer Escort, Restigouche Class