HMCS Montréal (FFH 336)

For other ships with the same name, see HMCS Montreal.
HMCS Montréal
History
Canada
Name: Montréal
Namesake: Montréal, Quebec
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Builder: Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John
Laid down: 8 February 1991
Launched: 28 February 1992
Commissioned: 21 July 1994[1]
Refit: HCM/FELEX July 2012 - July 2013
Homeport: CFB Halifax
Identification: FFH 336
Motto: Ton Bras Sait Porter L'Épée (We Stand On Guard For Thee)
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic 1944-45,[1] Arabian Sea 2002-03[2]
Fate: Active in service
Badge: A coronet of fleur-de-lis and maple leaves superimposed upon a stylized mountain which borders a river.
General characteristics
Class and type: Halifax-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 3,995 tonnes (light)
  • 4,795 tonnes (operational)
  • 5,032 tonnes (deep load)
Length: 134.2 m (440 ft)
Beam: 16.5 m (54 ft)
Draught: 7.1 m (23 ft)
Propulsion:
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 9,500 nmi (17,600 km; 10,900 mi)
Complement: 225 (including air detachment)
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × CH-148 Cyclone

HMCS Montréal is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces since 1993.

Montréal is the seventh ship in her class which is based on the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. She is the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Montreal.

Montréal was laid down on 8 February 1991 by Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd. at Saint John and launched on 28 February 1992. She was officially commissioned into the Canadian Forces on 21 July 1994 by Francine St-Pierre and carries the hull classification symbol 336. On 5 July 2012, Montréal was turned over to Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax Shipyards, to start an 18-month mid-life upgrading and modernization (HCM/FELEX). Montréal was the fifth frigate to complete the mid-life modernization and achieved normal readiness status in March 2015 after completing a rigorous alongside and at sea trial programme.

She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and is homeported at CFB Halifax. The vessel is designated as a Bilingual Language Unit in the Royal Canadian Navy.[3]

Service

Mission

Montréal serves on MARLANT missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Atlantic Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. The ship has also been deployed on missions throughout the Atlantic and to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations. The vessel has also participated in several NATO missions, patrolling the Atlantic Ocean as part of Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) and its successor Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1).

Montréal has conducted sovereignty patrols in the Canadian Arctic as well as assisted in drug interdiction operations in the Caribbean Sea. Post-HCM, Montréal participated in a large international NATO exercise called Joint Warrior off the coast of Scotland as well as integrated in an international coalition task group to participate in a Ballistic Missile Defence Exercise as part of the At Sea Demonstration 2015 under the auspices of the Maritime Theatre Missle Defence Forum.

Service history

In January 1995 Montréal joined the NATO mission in the Adriatic Sea blockading the former Yugoslavia. Twice she acted as the flagship of the force before returning to Canada on 19 July 2005. In 1997 as part of an experiment to reduce noise, the warship had 12 500 anechoic tiles added to her hull. The experiment was not successful.[3]

As part of a NATO fleet in 1998, Montréal sailed to Saint Petersburg, Russia as part of celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy. The vessel represented Canada in the Millennium International Fleet Review in New York City.[3]

In July 2000, the American merchant ship GTS Katie refused to bring its Canadian military cargo into port, claiming unpaid fees. On 30 July, the Canadian Forces sent HMCS Athabaskan to maintain contact with the rogue ship and deployed Montréal the following day. As part of Operation Megaphone, a detachment of personnel was sent over by Sea King to board Katie. The crew of the ship offered no resistance and the ship was escorted into port.[4] The captain of the ship later claimed that the ship had been attacked and the boarding had been "dangerous".[4][5] National Defence Minister later rebuffed those charges claiming the boarding had been necessary.[6]

In September 2002, Montréal sailed to take part in Operation Apollo,[7][8] Canada's contribution to the American War in Afghanistan. She remained in theatre until April 2003. The warship had remained longer than usual in theatre due to a crash of a CH-124 Sea King aboard her replacement, HMCS Iroquois.[9]

In January 2005, Montréal deployed as part of a NATO rapid reaction force.[9] On 8 February 2005 Leading Seaman Robert Leblanc was lost overboard and subsequently pronounced dead.[10]

The warship participated in Operation Nanook in 2010.[11]

Montréal engaged in acceptance trials for the new CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter. Several modifications had to be made for the trials to the ship, including adding night-vision friendly green filters to the flight deck landing lights and reinforcing the flight deck due to the Cyclone being heavier than the CH-124 Sea King.[12] Montréal successfully completed the tests which included routine flying operations as well as responding to some critical situations.

On 3 July 2011, as part of their national Canadian tour, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embarked on the vessel which conveyed them from Montréal to Quebec City.[13]

In August 2011, Montréal sailed up the St. Lawrence Seaway into Lake Ontario as part of Great Lakes Deployment 11 where she visited multiple cities including Toronto, Hamilton, Montréal, and Trois-Rivières.[14]

Montréal re-joined the fleet after completing the Halifax Class Modernization refit on 26 September 2013.[15] Subsequently, Montréal conducted sea trials for her new combat and weapons systems.[16] Montréal achieved Restricted Readiness on 9 May 2014. After further Sea Acceptance Trials and Work Ups, Montréal assumed Normal Readiness on 9 March 2015, being the fifth post-refit frigate to achieve this milestone.

In Fall 2015, Montréal deployed for a large NATO naval exercise, Joint Warrior. On completion of this exercise, Montréal participated in "At Sea Demonstration 2015" (ASD 2015), a multinational exercise that took place off the Hebrides Islands of Scotland in October 2015. The exercise was conducted under the Maritime Theater Missile Defence Forum (MTMD), an international group that aims to improve maritime integrated air and missile defence capabilities within a coalition context.[17] While on exercise during a port visit in Faslane, Scotland, Montréal hosted an official royal visit by His Royal Highness Prince Charles who was recently appointed as Commodore in Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy's Atlantic Fleet. Montréal returned to Halifax on 27 November 2015.[18]

The ship participated in sea trials with the CH-148 Cyclone helicopters off the coast of Nova Scotia in March 2016.[19] In April it was announced that Montréal and sister ship Fredericton would be the test ships for the Royal Canadian Navy's planned reduced crew size trials.[20]

Commanding officers

Command team

Commanding Officer: Commander Kristjan W.A. Monaghan
Executive Officer: LCdr N. Setchell
Coxswain: CPO1 T. Lizotte[21]

Lineage - HMCS Montréal

First of Name

Shore establishment
Naval Reserve Division, Montreal, Quebec
Commissioned as a tender to HMCS Hochelaga II 1 November 1941
Recommissioned as an independent shore establishment 1 September 1942
Paid off 26 October 1943 and redesignated HMCS Donnacona[1]

Second of Name

HMCS Montreal (K319)
Frigate, River Class
Commissioned 12 November 1943
Paid off 15 October 1945[1]

Third of Name

This is the current ship with the name Montréal

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Volume 2: Extant Commissioned Ships - HMCS Montreal" (PDF). Official Lineages. National Defence and the Canadian Forces.
  2. ↑ "South-West Asia Theatre Honours". Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
  3. 1 2 3 Macpherson and Barrie, p.293
  4. 1 2 "G-T-S Katie standoff ends". CBC. 3 August 2000. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Canadian navy boards ship carrying military supplies". The Independent. 4 August 2000. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "HMCS Athabaskan Carries Out Boarding Of GTS Katie". National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Government of Canada. 3 August 2000. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "HMCS Montréal Departs To Join Operation Apollo". National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Government of Canada. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "HMCS Montreal prepares for anti-terrorism mission". CBC. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Navy frigate leaves for NATO exercise". CBC. 13 January 2005. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Canadian sailor missing in Baltic Sea". CBC. 9 February 2005. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Op Nanook Underway To Demonstrate Arctic Sovereignty". The Windsor Square. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Lesley Craig (29 March 2010). "Cyclone hits Shearwater". www.lookoutnewspaper.com. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  13. ↑ "Canada royal tour: Frigate sails to Quebec City". BBC News. 3 July 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  14. ↑ "Freedom of the City for HMCS Montréal" (PDF). Trident News. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "HMCS Montreal Done FELEX". Halifax Shipping News. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "HMCS Montreal on Trials". Halifax Shipping News. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ "HMCS Montréal returns to Halifax following NATO exercises". CBC News. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  19. ↑ Pugliese, David (4 March 2016). "Cyclones conduct testing with HMCS Montreal". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  20. ↑ Brewster, Murray (1 April 2016). "HMCS Montréal part of navy trial to experiment with reducing crews". CBC News. Canadian Press. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Command Teams". Royal Canadian Navy. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.

References

External links

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