Iroquois-class destroyers
The Iroquois-class destroyers are a class of four helicopter-carrying, guided
missile destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy. Launched in the 1970s, they were
originally fitted out for anti-submarine warfare, but a major upgrade programme
in the 1990s overhauled them for area-wide anti-aircraft defence. HMCS Huron was paid off and later sunk in
a live-fire exercise, leaving three ships in the class.
The replacement for the Iroquois class is now known to Canadian
naval observers as the Single Class Surface Combatant Project and this project
has been included in the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, announced
in October 2011. The new vessels will replace both the Iroquois-class and the Halifax-class
beginning in the late 2010s. Under the NSPS, the federal government has awarded
the combat vessel package to Irving Shipbuilding and includes construction of
15 warships.
Hmcs Iroquois is seen below arriving at Leith
on Thursday 11th April to participate in Joint Warrior 13-1.
