The Annapolis class destroyer escort was a class of ships that saw service with the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

 and Canadian Forces

Canadian Forces

The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...

 from the 1960s-1990s.

The RCN had intended to place a six ship order under the Mackenzie-class

Mackenzie class destroyer

The Mackenzie-class destroyer was a class of warship used by the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces from the 1960s-1990s. Six such ships were envisioned, of which four were completed to this specification...

 of destroyer escorts; however, the last two vessels were built to the St. Laurent-class DDH

St. Laurent class destroyer

The St. Laurent class destroyer was a class of destroyers that served the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s....

 design and were classed under the new Annapolis-class designation. Both ships spent the majority of their career split between Canada's Pacific and Atlantic coasts with the Annapolis being at Esquimalt

CFB Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters....

 and Nipigon at Halifax

CFB Halifax

Canadian Forces Base Halifax is Canada's east coast navy base and home port to the Atlantic fleet, known as Maritime Forces Atlantic....

.

The two Annapolis-class destroyers were built late enough to incorporate the helicopter hangar retrofitted to the St. Laurent-class. HMCS Nipigon underwent a DELEX (DEstroyer Life EXtension) refit in 1982 to upgrade combat, radar and weapons systems and HMCS Annapolis followed in 1984. Nipigon remained in the fleet until 1998 as a trials ship for the ETASS Mod 5 towed sonar system which was a precursor to the CANTASS (Canadian Towed Array Sonar System) that is currently fitted on the Halifax-class

Halifax class frigate

The Halifax-class frigate is a class of multi-role patrol frigates that have served the Royal Canadian Navy since 1992...

 of frigates. Except for the replenishment ships HMCS Protecteur and Preserver, Nipigon was the last steam-powered warship to serve in the Canadian Forces

Canadian Forces

The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...

.

These ships were among the first to take a new approach to helicopter operations from small warships. Unlike the British, who fitted a small helicopter (Westland Wasp

Westland Wasp

The Westland Wasp was a British small first-generation, gas-turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and was based on the earlier piston-engined Saunders-Roe Skeeter...

) on their frigates with only a minimum of redesign, the RCN decided to use the far more capable and sophisticated CH-124 Sea King

CH-124 Sea King

The Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King is a twin-engined anti-submarine warfare helicopter designed for shipboard use. The Canadian variant is based on the US Navy's SH-3 and has been continuously in service with the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces since 1963.-Design and development:The advent of...

. The disadvantage of this approach is the fact that a considerable amount of surface area on the mothership has to be sacrificed to accommodate the helicopter. On the other hand, the helicopter itself is far more capable and can operate even in poor weather conditions: a considerable advantage in the polar region.

Ships

Ship	Original Pennant Number	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	DELEX Refit	Paid Off	Fate
	DDH 265	Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax City of Halifax Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...	2 September 1961	27 April 1963	19 December 1964	15 September 1986	15 November 1996	Sold to the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia is a registered non-profit organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They began operations in 1989, with the G.B. Church project, and have since sunk 7 ships and 1 Boeing 737...  in 2008.
	DDH 266	Marine Industries Ltd. Marine Industries Limited Marine Industries Limited was a Canadian ship building company, in Sorel, Quebec, with a shipyard located on the Richelieu river about 1 km from the St. Lawrence River. It employed up to 10,000 people during the post WWII boom.... , Sorel	5 August 1960	10 December 1961	30 May 1964	22 August 1984	7 July 1998	Scuttled off Rimouski, QC Rimouski, Quebec Rimouski is a Canadian city in the central part of Bas-Saint-Laurent region in eastern Quebec. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Rimouski River, north-east of Quebec City.... in 2003.