HMCS St. John's (FFH 340)

HMCS St. John's
History
Canada
Name: St. John's
Namesake: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Builder: Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John
Laid down: 24 August 1994
Launched: 26 August 1995
Commissioned: 24 June 1996[1]
Homeport: CFB Halifax
Motto: Avancez (Advance)
Honours and
awards:		 Arabian Sea [2]
Status: in active service, as of 2016
General characteristics
Class & 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: 245 (including air detachment)
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × CH-124 Sea King

HMCS St. John's is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Navy since her commissioning in 1996. She is the eleventh of twelve ships in her class which is based on the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. St. John's is named after the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, a port city associated with Canadian naval history and heritage, and is the first ship in the Royal Canadian Navy to bear the name.

She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and her homeport is in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Construction and career

She was laid down on 24 August 1994 at Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John, New Brunswick, and launched on 26 August 1995. She was officially commissioned into the Canadian Forces on 26 June 1996 in St. John's, and carries the hull classification symbol FFH 340.

St. John's serves on Canadian Armed Forces' missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Atlantic Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. St. John's has been deployed on missions throughout the Atlantic Ocean, to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations, to the north as far as Grise Fjord and to the Caribbean where she played a vital role in helping to stop the flow of illicit drugs to North America.

In July 2010, St. John's took part in the International Fleet Review at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Queen Elizabeth II inspected a Guard of Honour on board to mark the centennial of the Royal Canadian Navy, and as part of Canada Day celebrations.[3]

In August 2011, St. John's participated in the multinational six-week arctic sovereignty Operation Nanook. During the operation, the ship visited several northern communities and participated in search-and-rescue and disaster response exercises in company with HMCS Summerside and HMCS Moncton as well as American and Danish ships.[4][5]

St. John's deployed on Operation Caribbe from 3 October to 14 November 2011, Canada’s contribution to an ongoing U.S.-led, multinational effort to interdict drug trafficking in the international waters of the Caribbean Basin and eastern Pacific Ocean. During her deployment, she helped recover a drug cargo from a scuttled self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessel. The recovery effort included the deployment of the FBI laboratory’s technical dive team, which conducted dive operations on the scuttled SPSS from United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Cypress. More than 6,700 kg (14,800 lb) of cocaine was recovered from the vessel. The drugs, destined for distribution in North America, had an estimated street value of US$180 million.[6][7] During this deployment, the Joint Interagency Task Force South based out of Key West, Florida, coordinated the joint efforts in allowing the US Coast Guard to make 38 arrests, and seized a total of 10,902 kg (24,035 lb) of cocaine and 1,144 kg (2,522 lb) of marijuana, equating to more than US$223 million.[8]

In 2012 St. John's again participated in Operation Nanook as well as another Operation Caribbe.

In the summer of 2013 the crew of St. John's conducted a replacement in place of the crew of HMCS Toronto in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Toronto was in the middle of a deployment on Operation Artemis in support of CTF 150.[9] St. John's began her mid-life refit in June 2013.

In March 2015, St. John's completed her refit. Through the spring and summer her crew prepared to return to sea for Reduced Readiness Inspections (RRIs).

Deployment history

Community involvement

St. John's has a history of supporting local charities in Halifax as well as charities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The ship's company created the “Run the Rock”, a fundraising run across Newfoundland by a team of sailors. Since its inception in 1996, members of the ship’s company have raised over C$700,000 for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Newfoundland through this event. In the Run the Rock 2014 fundraiser, crew members raised over C$81,000, the most successful year in the event's history until 2015, when over C$100,000 was raised. [10]

Command team

Commanding officers

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ National Defence and the Canadian Forces (2012) Official Lineages, Volume 2: Ships
  2. ↑ "South-West Asia Theatre Honours". Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
  3. ↑ "The Queen tours Canada and celebrates the centenary of the Canadian Navy". The Daily Telegraph. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Ships to leave St. John’s on arctic sovereignty mission Friday". The Telegram. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Yates, Julian (19 September 2011). "Operation NANOOK 2011: interoperability among Arctic nations" (PDF). Trident (Maritime Forces Atlantic). Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Crews congratulated for role in multinational drug bust". Toronto Sun. 14 January 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  7. ↑ McRobb, Robby (18 January 2012). "HMCS St. John's supports counter-narcotic operation". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "HMCS St. John's Supports Counter-narcotic Operation". Canada News Centre. 14 January 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Jang, Clark (17 July 2013). "Crew of HMCS St. John’s departs Halifax to relieve crew of HMCS Toronto". Halifax Metro. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "HMCS STJOHNS - About the Ship". Royal Canadian Navy. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

External links

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