HMCS Porte de la Reine

HMCS Porte de la Reine was a Porte-class gate vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy.

History
Canada
NamePorte de la Reine
BuilderVictoria Machinery Depot, Victoria
Laid down4 March 1951
Launched23 July 1952
Commissioned7 December 1952
Decommissioned19 December 1996
IdentificationPennant number: YNG 184
FateRetired
General characteristics
Class and typePorte-class gate vessel
Displacement498 tons
Length125.5 ft (38.3 m)
Beam26.3 ft (8.0 m)
Draught13 ft (4.0 m)
Speed11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement23 (later increased to 45 for training purposes)
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Mechanical minesweeping equipment (later removed)
  • Boom defence equipment
Armament1 × 40mm Bofors single mount (later removed)

Construction and career edit

Porte de la Reine was built by Victoria Machinery Depot, Victoria, being laid down on 4 March 1951 and launched on 23 July 1952. She was commissioned on 7 December 1952 and like her sister ships, took the name of one of the gates in the fortifications of Quebec or Louisbourg.

Though the class were designed to operate the gates in anti-submarine booms, there was little need for this during the Cold War and Porte de la Reine was placed in reserve in 1957. The class was reactivated in the mid-1960s and used as training vessels for personnel of the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve. Porte de la Reine was based at Esquimalt, British Columbia until being paid off on 19 December 1996 and disposed of.

A notice in the Skagit Valley Herald on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 announced a "Notification of Intent to Obtain Custody". The Washington State Department of Natural Resources intends to "take custody of 2 derelict vessels anchored near Shannon Point in Anacortes, Skagit County, Washington." These vessels are Porte de la Reine and Porte Québec

References edit

  • "HMCS Porte de Reine". readyayeready.com. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  • "Ship's badge, HMCS Porte de la Reine". warmuseum.ca. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  • "Gate Vessels - Radio Fit". Radio Communications and Signals Intelligence in the Royal Canadian Navy. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  • Boutilier, James A. (1982). The RCN in Retrospect, 1910-1968. UBC Press. p. 316.