HMCS IROQUOIS: Paying Off Ceremony, May 1, 2015

All right, so I lied - IROQUOIS gets one more post out of me for the time being. I had to leave work early to pick up the car at the shop today, so I decided to make a detour and take in IROQUOIS' paying off ceremony, albeit from the Casino so I didn't exactly have a prime location. 

HMCS IROQUOIS at about 1300.

I arrived just before 1300, as guests were still arriving on this somewhat grey, overcast afternoon. Sea King #419 was circling over the Narrows, occasionally making it as far south as FMF Cape Scott or so before turning and heading back north. The crew was manning the starboard rail from the foc'st'le to the quarterdeck, and many more attended on the Jetty. I couldn't see the Jetty behind the ship, only the people gathered forward of the bow, as well as some gathered on the bridge of the MCDV and on CHARLOTTETOWN. 

The crew manning the starboard rail, with Sea King #419 circling over the Narrows.

Not too long after 1300, speeches started, of which I could only make out parts (sometimes and variously drowned out by the wind, CCG and RCAF helicopters, as well as the "Yaaahoos" (appropriate in more than one way) of the passengers of the 2-3 Harbour Hoppers that entered the water as we stood and watched the ceremony). 

The first four crew members on the foc'st'le pass the paying off pennant aft.

After the speeches, the paying off pennant was unfurled at the head of the foc'st'le, and passed hand to hand down the side of the ship, up to the 76mm gun platform, up to the bridge, and so on aft to the quarterdeck. I'm assuming it went inside the hangar, but I couldn't see that bit. After dropping back down to main deck level after the bridge superstructure, it was handed off to the Jetty. By the time the last of the pennant was unfurled on the foc'st'le, it was visible on the helicopter deck, and it took some time to complete. I would have loved to be standing at the head of the foc'st'le to get the shot of the lead crew member unfurling the pennant, with the pennant stretching off into the distance and up to the bridge; unfortunately, I did not notice any photographer in that position to get that photo. Pity.

The pennant was passed from the foc'st'le up to the 76mm gun platform, and then up to the bridge wing.

Sea King #419 performing a flypast. The pennant hadn't yet made it to the helo deck.

During the passing of the pennant, Sea King #419 performed a flypast running south along HMC Dockyard, and later returned to hover for several minutes over one of the defence barrier mooring points, roughly 200m away from the stern of the ship. 

Sea King #419 slowing to a hover aft of IROQUOIS.

It could be considered somewhat ironic that the oldest warship in the Navy (some claim she was the oldest commissioned destroyer in the world), was paid off to a flypast from a helicopter eight or nine years older than the ship herself.

Sea King #419 hovering over one of the defence barrier mooring points.

Photoshop somewhat botched this panorama (the Sea King looks a bit squished), but you get the idea.

Once the passing along of the pennant was complete, the Naval Jack (bow) and Naval Ensign (stern) were simultaneously lowered, and HMCS IROQUOIS became ex-HMCS IROQUOIS, or just IROQUOIS, and no longer a ship of the Royal Canadian Navy. 

The Navy Jack, just prior to being lowered for the last time.

Lowering the Jack for the last time.

The crew then disembarked for the final time, and marked up the Jetty to applause, "Hip Hip Hooray", and band music. 

Crew descend from the gun platform prior to disembarking.

The jackstaff empty, the Stadacona Band marches up the jetty, as did the crew.

IROQUOIS will now be stripped of any and all equipment that the RCN decides will be retained (some of which is required to keep HMCS ATHABASKAN running), and will probably either be scrapped or sunk in the coming years. 

Farewell to IROQUOIS, after 43 years of faithful service to the Royal Canadian Navy, and Canada.

HMCS IROQUOIS: Exterior Tour

To finish up the tour of IROQUOIS, I will walk through some of her exterior features and equipment. When the IROQUOIS class received the TRUMP refit in the 1990s, they were optimized for Air Warfare, but retained the Undersea Warfare capability originally fitted, and had limited Surface Warfare capability. Some of the photos here go back to the 1990s, and may have been taken on ATHABASKAN. My understanding of these systems is very basic, so my descriptions will not be very detailed. Which is probably just as well.

Undersea Warfare:

Designed as anti-submarine destroyers, IROQUOIS and her sisters were fitted with the latest in Canadian sonar equipment, originally the Computing Devices Canada (CDC) SQS-505 hull-mounted and variable depth sonars. These were later upgraded to the SQS-510 model. A number of years ago, I wrote an outline on RCN sonar systems here. 

SQS-510 Hull Outfit C3 sonar dome, removed for maintenance. The fairing itself is seen at bottom left, and is facing backwards.

Unlike the huge low-frequency bow-mounted sonar domes favoured by the US Navy and others, the RCN currently uses medium-frequency sonars in a smaller faired dome, situated just forward of the bridge. In previous classes, the sonar dome was originally designed to be retracted into the hull to reduce the ship's draft when entering port, but they were later fixed in the down position. I believe IROQUOIS was designed with the dome in a fixed position. This means that special care must be taken when dry docking these ships, to the extent that the graving dock at the Halifax Shipyard has wells cut into the bottom to accommodate the sonar dome and the propellers of these ships.

IROQUOIS also carried a second SQS-505/510 in a Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) system fitted at the stern.

SQS-510 towfish and launching gear. Note the faired cable that would lower the towfish to depth.

The VDS launching gear was installed in a cut-out in the transom. The operator worked behind the windows on the port side of the well, and the two ports on the starboard side are for the Nixie torpedo decoy.

The launching derrick would lift the towfish off its cradle, and pivot out over the stern to lower the towfish into the water. The towfish would be lowered to an appropriate depth via a faired cable, and would provide better detection abilities than the hull-mounted sonar as it would be not be affected by hull noise, and could be lowered below thermal layers that might mask the presence of a submarine.

Towfish being launched. Image courtesy of Corvus Publishing Group.

VDS was a Canadian Development in the 1950s, and was adopted by several other navies before being supplanted by towed array sonar systems such as the SQR-19 / CANTASS towed array sonar fitted to the HALIFAX class. The VDS was removed from the IROQUOIS class sometime in the first decade after 2000. 

VDS towfish cradle after removal of the VDS.

Once a submarine had been detected by sonar, Mk.46 lightweight torpedoes could be deployed against it from either the ship itself or a Sea King helicopter. 

Starboard Mk.32 triple torpedo launcher.

Unlike the fixed double Mk.32 launchers that fire at 45 degrees out the forward corners of the helicopter hangar on HALIFAX class frigates, the triple Mk.32 launcher on the destroyers was trainable and had to be directed out over the side. It is shown here in the stored position. Compressed air would be used to force the torpedo out of the tube and into the water, from where it would deploy its own motor and hunt for a target. 

Air droppable Mk.46 lightweight torpedo. A parachute is fitted in the cowling over the propeller nozzle.

The Mk.46 torpedo could also be carried by a Sea King helicopter, and air dropped with the help of a parachute that would detach when the torpedo hit the surface. These lightweight torpedoes are much smaller than the heavyweight ones carried by submarines.

Air Warfare:

Originally fitted for point-defence against aerial threats, the IROQUOIS class was refitted under TRUMP with area air defence systems that could extend an umbrella of protection to other ships operating in a task group, or to defend a convoy. First, all the radars were upgraded as part of that refit. (I have also written a summary of radars and fire control system used by the RCN over the years).

The main mast is bristling with sensors and other antennas.

Antennas for all of the primary air warfare sensors can be seen in the photo above. Looking from bottom to top, there is the port WM-25 Separate Target Illumination Radar (STIR), the LW-08 (AN/SPQ-502) long range air search radar, two navigation radars, and then the DA-08 (AN/SPQ 501) air/surface search radar antenna on the top of the main lattice mast. 

Port WM 25 STIR, with LW-08 in the background.

IROQUOIS carries two STIRs, port and starboard over the bridge. These would track and designate or "paint" targets for the ship's weapons systems, after being detected by the ship's other air defence radars. All the radars are gimbal-mounted to allow them to maintain a level disposition while at sea.

LW-08 long range air search radar

The LW-08 and DA-08 are the primary air defence radars, the former optimized for the long range detection of aerial targets, and the latter mounted higher on the main mast to provide better over-the-horizon aerial and surface detection. I believe the bar piggy-backed on top of each antenna dish is an Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) device. 

DA 08 air/surface search radar.

The primary air defence weapon is the Standard SM-2MR missile, deployed via a 29-cell Mk.41 vertical launch system (VLS). 

Mk.41 VLS.

Each cell of the 29-cell launcher can fit one SM-2 missile, or four RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) in a quad-pack. Although the ESSM has now been added to the HALIFAX class ships in their Mk.48 VLS, I do not know if the IROQUOIS class has ever carried them. The launcher actually has room for 32 cells, but three cells are taken up by a strike-down crane (third row in, on the right of the photo above). This crane is apparently never used, and has been removed from later launchers in favour of three additional cells. In way of comparison, a USN BURKE class destroyer carries up to 3 of these launchers.

As an aside, the only vertical launched Sea Sparrow missiles that I am aware of ever being deployed from an IROQUOIS class ship was the 1981 testing of the Mk.48 VLS from HMCS HURON. I have seen a photo somewhere, as I recall showing two Mk.48 cells fixed to the side of the old Sea Sparrow launcher used by these ships pre-TRUMP.

Secondary air warfare defence is provided by both the OTO Melara 76mm gun, and the 20mm Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS). (Another version of this acronym that I have seen reads "Christ, It Won't Shoot"). 

Phalanx CIWS.

The Phalanx is a self-contained unit combining a 20mm gatling gun with a radar system, and is easily bolted onto ships that weren't necessarily designed to carry them. They are intended as a last ditch weapon to try and stop missiles ("leakers") missed by the primary missile system. The RCN retrofitted its Phalanx systems to the Block 1B standard, complete with the camera mounted on the side of the radome to help provide anti-surface capability.

IROQUOIS also carries four Plessey Shield flare and chaff launchers just aft of the bridge, and was also retrofitted with the Australian Nulka active missile decoy system.

Nulka launcher on the quarterdeck of ATHABASKAN in 2010.

Port Nulka launcher aft of the bridge of ATHABASKAN in 2010.

IROQUOIS can carry up to four Nulka launch cannisters, two port and starboard behind the bridge, and two side-by-side on the quarterdeck just aft of the helicopter deck. Nulka launches as a rocket from the cannister, but then can hover away from the ship and attempt to draw incoming missiles away from the ship. I was under the impression that the RCN did not buy enough units to fully equip all ships of the class, and would trade them off between the ships (on the East Coast at least).

Surface warfare:

Lacking dedicated anti-surface missiles like Harpoon (although I believe the SM-2 missile can be used against a surface target in a pinch), IROQUOIS relies primarily upon her 76mm gun and Phalanx CIWS (supplemented by .50 calibre machine guns for small surface craft). A summary of other gun systems used by the RCN over the years can be found here.

OTO Melara 76mm Super Rapid gun.

The Super Rapid version of the gun can fire 120 rounds per minute, and is improved over previous mountings to help counter anti-ship missiles as well as surface targets. The gun has a dedicated fire control system in the Lightweight Radar/Optronic Director (LIROD).

LIROD.

The LIROD is mounted between, and slightly forward of, the two STIRs.

This concludes, at least for now, my photo tours of IROQUOIS. I finish writing this just in time on April 25, 2015, less than one week before IROQUOIS pays off on May 1, after which 43 years of being "Relentless in Chase" will come to an end. 

HMCS IROQUOIS: Miscellaneous Interior Shots

To finish up the interior of HMCS IROQUOIS, this post will cover the helicopter hangar. 

The Royal Canadian Navy pioneered the operation of large helicopters from frigates and destroyers in the 1960s with the refit of the ST. LAURENT class to include a hangar and flight deck for the then-new CH-124 Sea King, followed by the commissioning of the purpose-built follow on ships ANNAPOLIS and NIPIGON. IROQUOIS and her sisters went one better, by incorporating a dual hangar to carry not one, but two, Sea Kings. 

Starboard hangar looking aft, with hangar door in the background.

The three tracks on the deck in the photo above are for the Helicopter Hauldown and Rapid Securing Device (HHRSD, otherwise known as the "Beartrap"). Wikipedia has a great entry on this piece of Canadian technology, so I won't go into great detail, other than to say that this device travels in these tracks and traverses the Sea King back and forth from the landing deck to the hangar. The two objects at the bottom right of the image are the refueling bells, used to accept the refueling hose from a tanker while Replenishing At Sea (RAS). Normally they are mounted at main deck level outside, between the forward superstructure and the hangar, but had been removed prior to my tour. Firefighting gear is laid out to the left, along the starboard side.

Looking forward and to port in the starboard hangar.

Easily the largest open area on the ship, the hangar wouldn't have been quite so roomy with a couple of Sea Kings embarked. In later years, only one Sea King was ever carried at one time (to the best of my knowledge), and in this photo the exercise equipment that is squatting in the port hangar can be seen. The divider between the two hangars up forward is actually trunking from the generators in the Auxiliary Machinery Room (AMR) leading up to the funnel. I believe the ammunition magazine for the Phalanx CIWS is also up there somewhere. In ALGONQUIN, it was the hangar wall to the left of the image that was shredded by the bow of HMCS PROTECTEUR as if it was a can opener, necessitating an estimated $13M in repairs (which were not carried out, leading to her premature retirement from service). 

76mm gun ammunition hoist.

For one final miscellaneous interior photo, above is the view into the compartment that houses the ammunition hoist for the 76mm gun. The hoist itself is self-contained within the green cylinder, unlike the previous generation of guns, where the hoist cylinder was much bigger and could be easily entered by the crew. 

That is the last of the interior photos that I will be sharing (for now at least) of HMCS IROQUOIS, and I will move to some exterior photos and then probably a tour of HMCS PRESERVER in subsequent posts. My thanks to the Navy and the crew of IROQUOIS that made these posts possible prior to her being paid off.

HMCS IROQUOIS: Bridge Tour

If the bridge of a ship is considered its brain, then warships could be considered somewhat schizophrenic: IROQUOIS has both a bridge, from where the ship is directed during normal operations, and also an Ops room, from where the ship is fought and all the combat sensors and weapons are directed. In IROQUOIS, I didn't manage to photograph the latter compartment (though I did on TORONTO, to be featured in a future posting), but I did manage to tour the bridge.

Having never served in the Navy, my descriptions of the bridge will be somewhat limited. Any feedback I receive will be added in due course.

View from the bridge, overlooking the 76mm gun and foc'st'le.

The bridge is located high on the forward end of the main superstructure, and overlooks both the 76mm gun and the 29-cell Mk.41 vertical launch system on the foc'st'le (hidden behind the gun shield in the photo above). It provides good visibility looking forward, port and starboard, and limited visibility aft (blocked by the funnel and hangar). 

CO's chair looking to port.

The CO sits up front on the port side, with a SHINCOM (Ship Integrated Communications) panel to the CO's right. The flat panel TV in front of the CO's chair will have been a relatively recent addition. 

CO's chair looking port and aft.

Immediately behind the CO's chair is a communications station that accommodates three SHINCOM panels. 

Bridge communications station.

The three SHINCOM panels are located side-by-side running port to starboard, and appear to be operated by two personnel based on the number of chairs present. There is some sort of sonar control box mounted near the top left of the image - I am told this is for the underwater telephone for communicating with submerged submarines (presumably the AN/WQC-2 "Gertrude" or a more modern version).

Aft again from the communications station is a chair for a flag officer, on those occasions when one is embarked. 

Flag officer's chair looking forward and to starboard.

I'm not sure what allowances were present in the original IROQUOIS class configuration, but the final TRUMPed configuration is intended to accommodate a flag officer and task group command staff, and the bridge has a chair for the flag officer. The flag officer's chair received its own SHINCOM panel to the left of the chair. The bridge communications station can be seen to the left (forward of which is the CO's chair), and the helm station can be seen in the centre background of the image.

Bridge helm station looking to starboard.

Bridge helm station: helm is on the left, throttle station on the right.

I have covered the ship's helm and steering in a previous post, so I won't cover it in detail here. However, I will comment on the photo immediately above - in that previous post, I had indicated I didn't have a better photo of the helm and throttle stations, but then I found this photo, so I will have to update the previous post. The throttle station on the bridge is one of four in the ship, and provides direct throttle control for the two main and two cruise gas turbines in the engine room. The screen at this station will provide some of the machinery control system (MCS) readouts available in the MCR. 

Forward bridge, starboard side, looking to port.

On the starboard side of the bridge there is a radar display (not sure which radar it is associated with, though I assume the navigation sets), and above there is a status panel for a variety of things such as: man overboard, fire, gyros, and the variable depth sonar (VDS) which was removed from all ships of this class several years ago.

Raytheon radar display and SHINCOM panel (to the left).

Above is a close-up of the Raytheon radar display. I assume this is for one of the navigation radars, or perhaps can display output from more than one of the ship's radars. 

Looking to port from the starboard side.

Aft of the radar display is a chart table.

On the bridge centreline is a station for coordinating helicopter operations. 

Between the Raytheon radar display and the CO's chair is a station for coordinating helicopter launch and recovery operations. The dials at the top right indicate wind speed and direction, the box with the red display provides ship's speed, and the grey box in the middle between the windows has switches with labels such as "Launch", "Recover", "helo AIRBOURNE", and "helo ONBOARD". To the left of that is a smaller box for controlling the window wipers. I wonder if this was the original location of the helm and throttle stations before the TRUMP refit. 

AN/SPA-25F PP remote indicator (radar display).

Almost immediately aft of the helo operations station in the previous photo is this radar display. The AN/SPA-25F is a Range-Azimuth Indicator has a 10-inch screen "...designed for any standard Navy search radar system..." and can accept inputs from up to seven radar installations. To the left of the display unit is a selector switch for the LW-08 (long range air search), DA-08 (air/surface search), and Mk.127E (Sperry navigation set, of which there are two) radars. The glare shield on the display is optional, and may allow its use during night operations, or perhaps is required during the bright of day.

On the back bulkhead on the centreline is this desk. The SHINCOM panel is labelled "BOSNMATE". 

When they first arrived on the scene in the early 1970s, the bridge on the IROQUOIS class must have seemed like heaven compared to the bridges of the previous class of destroyers. Instead of a cramped bridge with only voice communication with the wheelhouse several decks below, and communication with the engine room via telegraph, these ships came on the scene with not only direct helm and throttle control, but also room for multiple radar displays and other items. While large well-equipped warship bridges are very common these days, this would have been fairly rare in the early 1970s, especially for the previous steam powered generation of destroyers in various navies. 

Looking forward and to starboard across the bridge.

Although the layout has changed, the large bridge and general concepts were also carried over to the HALIFAX class frigates 20 years later. 

HMCS IROQUOIS: Machinery Control Room

Having shown photos of many of the primary machinery systems throughout the ship over the last few weeks, I will finally cover the Machinery Control Room (MCR) that I have mentioned frequently in those posts. Located above the engine room (or Main Machinery Room - MMR), the MCR is the nerve centre that controls all primary mechanical and electrical systems on board the ship. 

Among other things, the MCR houses 3 multi-function display (MFD) and control positions, the main electrical switchboard and electrical control panel, auxiliary helm position, and HQ1 which is the primary damage control headquarters. 

It should be noted that, though I have received help from more informed individuals, some of the details I provide below will be educated (and possibly non-educated) guesses as to the purpose of the various positions and pieces of equipment, so corrections and comments are welcome. Errors are my own.

Looking forward at the three multi-function display and control positions.

I presume the three multi-function stations can be configured to control various functions of the ship, everything from water, fuel, and ventilation systems to fire pumps and mains, low and high pressure air systems, and equipment alarms. The forward position (3 MFDs) is the Machinery Control Console (MCC) where the MCC Operator sits, the middle position is called the Supervisor's Console (SC), and the after MFD is the Maintainer's Panel (MP) which is dedicated to maintenance functions (it was setup to monitor the low and high pressure air systems on board ship during my tour). The forward positions (MCC and SC) include propulsion controls, while the MP does not.

In total, there are four positions in the ship that provide propulsion control: the Bridge Console (BC) adjacent to the helm station, the MCC and SC positions in the MCR, and the Local Operator's Panel (LOP) located in the engine room between the two main turbines (see my previous post on the ship's propulsion systems).

The SHINCOM (Ship Integrated Communications) panel to the bottom left of the photo is labelled as for the main switchboard operator, the electrician of the watch. This is part of the SHINCOM 2100 system developed by Canadian firm DRS Technologies in cooperation with the RCN, and has been used by several other Navies including the US Navy. SHINCOM panels can be found throughout the ship, and there are at least three in this photo (including the MCC and SC panels seen in the background of the photo if you know where to look). In the IROQUOIS class, there is a ship's telephone system that is used for most communication within the ship, and SHINCOM is used for specialized tasks only. SHINCOM was introduced during the TRUMP refit.

MCR Operator (left) and MCR Supervisor (right) positions at the forward end of the MCR.

In the photo above, the SC MFD is currently displaying the status of  the fire pumps and mains.

MCC Operator position.

In the photo above, the left MFD is set to an alarms overview, with the middle and right MFDs currently blank. The main and cruise propulsion turbines would typically be started and controlled from this position, though I was told that the LOP in the engine room is typically manned as a backup when the engines are started. 

The Electrician of the Watch's position.

The Electrician of the Watch sits in front of the Electrical Control Panel, from where the ship's power is regulated: from shore (if alongside) and the four generators (three Solar Saturn gas turbine generators (#1 through #3), and one diesel generator (#4)). To the right is the main electrical switchboard (400 Hz and 26V DC panels), and to the far back right of the photo is the MCC Operator position.

Electrical Control Panel.

The electrical control panel provides control over the four generators on board the ship, as well as the synchronizing of the phasing of the power from each generator. The panel to the left of the photo houses the breakers for the aft electrical buses. 

The starboard & aft end of the MCR space is called HQ1, which is the damage control (DC) headquarters. This is where all damage control measures within the ship would be directed from in the event of accidental or combat damage, although there are also some redundant DC spaces within the ship.

Damage Control looking starboard and aft.

The three panels along the back wall, from left to right, are the Smoke Evac panel, the Liquid Level Management System (LLMS), and the Fire Detection, Suppression, and Control (FDSAC) panel. The latter is an automated alarm panel, where warning light buttons are superimposed on deck plans of the ship. If an alarm sensor (e.g. a smoke sensor) goes off somewhere in the ship, the associated button will light up and presumably make an audible alarm. The button can be pressed to silence the alarm. The LLMS is an inventory of various fuel (diesel for the turbines and JP5 for the helicopters) and domestic water tanks aboard ship, with gauges for each tank, and it is divided up into port/starboard and fore/aft tankage.

Damage control looking port and aft.

In the photo above, the FDSAC is now at the left of the image, and a dry erase board with ship deck plans is in the centre. The auxiliary helm station, which I did not get photos of, can be seen peaking out from behind the bulkhead to the right of the image. This helm station is similar in appearance to the one on the bridge, but "...with way less buttons...".

The MCR was a new concept to Canadian warships, as I believe no such space existed on the previous generation of destroyers. All machinery controls in the ST. LAURENT derived ships were located in close proximity to the equipment they were associated with, and indeed, those controls remain on IROQUOIS to a certain extent to provide redundancy in the event that the MCR is incapacitated or cut off. Indeed, the necessity for redundancy in these controls was reinforced during the HMCS KOOTENAY gearbox explosion of 1969, where the ship continued to race along at full power because the crew was unable to immediately cut of the flow of steam to the main engines as there was no remote method of doing so, and the engine room itself was engulfed in smoke and flame.

When originally built in the early 1970s, the machinery controls provided in the MCR were state of the art. Obsolete by the time of the TRUMP refits of the early 1990s, most of the equipment in this space was replaced with new digital equipment such as the MFD positions (though I suspect the Electrical Control Panel and Main Switchboard are more or less original, at least in appearance). As the ship's are paid off (with only ATHABASKAN left in active service at the time this post is written), the equipment is once again obsolete. In an interesting comparison to the HALIFAX class frigates, which are currently undergoing their own mid-life refits, their once state of the art MCR equipment is similarly being removed and replaced with the latest and greatest, which should get them through the next 20 years. I will cover HMCS TORONTO's original MCR room in a later blog post.