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Canadian ship articles II Sources

Vancouver-class design

The Vancouver-class design was born out of a need for a follow-up class of ships to the St. Laurent and Restigouche classes. Beginning in 1953, the Royal Canadian Navy formed an engineering team tasked with developing a new design. This design was intended to be a less expensive escort vessel than the Restigouche class in production at the time. It was designed to slower, smaller and less capable than the St. Laurents and the Restigouches. The design was designated the Vancouver class.

The design got as far as the propulsion choice. The plans called for the installation of a steam turbine driving a single shaft of the same design as what was installed in the Royal Navy Blackwood-class frigate. The design was cancelled in 1955 in favour of a repeat of the Restigouche class.

Ship heraldry

• HMCS Beaver
  • Badge: Or, four bars wavy light blue, a beaver sejant sable
  • Honours: Louisburg 1758, Athalante 1804, Heligoland 1914, Atlantic 1942
• HMCS Blue Heron
  • Badge: Sable, a blue heron in its vigilance proper, standing in a base of heraldic water, barry wavy of six argent and azure
• HMCS Bluethroat
  • Badge: Azure, between flanches or, a bezant charged with a Bluethroated bird volant proper, and issuing saltirewise from the bezant four trident heads argent
• HMCS Caribou
  • Badge: Azure, a fully attired caribou calling, erased at the shoulder, proper
• HMCS Chignecto
  • Badge: Gules, a pile azure fimbriated argent charged with a sprig of bulrush or.
• HMCS Cordova
  • Badge: Or, a pile barry wavy argent and azure, charged with a lion rampant gules, armed of the field and pierced through the middle by an arrow
• HMCS Cougar
  • Badge: Argent, four bars wavy azure, a cougar's head erased or, langued gules
• HMCS Cowichan
  • Badge: On a field barry wavy argent and azure, a pale argent on which a chief's ceremonial mask traditional of the "Cowichan" type of the Salish, vert
  • Honours: Atlantic 1941–45, Normandy 1944
• HMCS Elk
  • Badge: Azure, an elk's head erased argent, ensigned between the attires with a coronet of Canada, or
• HMCS Fundy
  • Badge: Gules, a pile azure, fimbriated argent charged with a maple leaf between two fleurs-de-lis, all conjoined on the one stem, or
  • Motto: Verimus altum ("We sweep the deep")
  • Honours: Atlantic 1939–45
• HMCS Gaspe
  • Badge: On a field barry wavy of ten argent and azure, a pile gules, proceeding from the dexter side, upon wich a mullet argent pointing to the dexter chief, with "commas" of the same issuing from the points of the mullet, and between them a fleur-de-lis, or
  • Honours: Atlantic 1939–45
• HMCS James Bay
  • Badge: Argent, a pile azure, in the base of which a lymphad with banner of the first, sail unfurled charged with a cross gules and surmounting the mast a sun in splendour or charged with two lines in cross sable
  • Motto: "The true north strong and free"
• HMCS Labrador
  • Badge: Argent, a pale indented azure, upon which an arm erect couped below the elbow or, and supporting with the thumb and fingers an étoile of six points argent, charged with a maple leaf gules
• HMCS Llewellyn
  • Badge: Azure, a wolf hound sejant and facing the dexter, charged on the shoulder with a maple leaf gules, the dexter fore-paw resting on the ring of foul, wooden-stocked anchor, or
  • Honours: Heligoland 1914
• HMCS Lloyd George
  • Badge: Or, a demi-dragon erased gules, having a chain around the neck and pendant therefrom a portcullis, all or
• HMCS Mallard
  • Badge: Gules, a Mallard duck proper, upon a base of heraldic water argent and azure
  • Honours: North Sea, 1941-43
• HMCS Moose
  • Badge: Or, a moose passant sable, on a base barry wavy, azure and argent
• HMCS Porte Dauphine
  • Badge: Gules, a castle embattled argent, masoned sable, over which an escutcheon or bearing a dolphin embowed azure, teeth, forefins and gill gules
• HMCS Porte de la Reine
  • Badge: Azure seme-de-lis or, a castle embattled argent, masoned sable, over which a lozenge argent displaying the eagle of Poland gules
• HMCS Porte Quebec
  • Badge: Sable, a castle embattled argent, masoned sable, over which a third tower with three turrets of the same and upon this tower an escutcheon azure bearing a dove standing argent
• HMCS Porte Saint Jean
  • Badge: Azure, a castle embattled argent, masoned sable, portcullis or, above which the symbol of St. John the Evangelist – an eagle, wings displayed, inverted, a nimbus around the head and supporting a closed book with the sinister foot, all gold.
• HMCS Porte Saint-Louis
  • Badge: Azure, a castle embattled argent masoned sable over which a fleur-de-lis or
• HMCS Quinte
  • Badge: Vert, a Tudor rose, barbed and seeded or, upon a pentagonal cross pattee the arms being formed by five letters "E" each letter facing and converging towards the fess point argent
  • Honours: Atlantic 1941–42
• HMCS Raccoon
  • Badge: Gules, the mask of a Raccoon, proper
• HMCS Resolute
  • Badge: Gules, a pile barry wavy of ten argent and azure, charged with a warrior in tilting armour mounted on a sea-horse sable, trappings gules, and holding with the dexter hand a lance at the rest from which flies a pennant argent bearing a maple leaf gules
• HMCS Revelstoke
  • Badge: Azure, a demi-bull erased rampant argent, charged on the shoulder with a mullet ermine
• HMCS St. Anthony
  • Badge: Sable, seme of Indian arrow heads, points to base and flamant, all proper
• HMCS St. Charles
  • Badge: Azure, upon two Indian tomahawks in saltire argent a chevron couped or, above which in the center chief mullet of the second
• HMCS St. John
  • Badge: Vert, rising out of fire in base proper, a partridge or
• HMCS Thunder
  • Badge: Gules, a pile vert edged or, charged with a representation of the head of Thor, God of thunderstorms, affrontée, wearing a Nordic open crown composed of a circlet with eight arches all plain and meeting together in a point at the pinnacle, his beard formed into nine radiating coils each tapering to a point with a small spearhead at the end
  • Honours: Atlantic 1941–44, Normandy 1944, English Channel 1944–45
• HMCS Trinity
  • Badge: Gules, an equilateral triangle, apex to the chief argent charged with a pitcher plant proper, and having on each side of the triangle arranged counter clockwise, a lion passant guardant or, langued gules
• HMCS Ungava
  • Badge: Parted in fess azure and argent, in the fess honour point a roundel of the first surrounded sable, in the base of which barry wavy of six argent and azure from which issues a demi polar bear proper.
  • Honours: Atlantic 1941–45
• HMCS Whitethroat
  • Badge: Argent, between the flanches gules, a torteau charged with a Whitethroat bird volant proper, and issuing saltirewise from the torteau four trident heads sable
  • Honours: Atlantic 1945
• HMCS Wolf
  • Badge: Argent, a wolf's head erased sable, langued gules

Cape-class maintenance ship

Cape Breton was constructed at Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver in 1944. She was taken over by the Royal Navy and modified into a maintenance ship. She served in this capacity until 1953 when she was taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy. She was used as a floating classroom and barracks ship at Halifax until 1958, when she underwent underwent a significant refit at HMC Dockyard at Esquimalt. Her classroom spaces were converted into engineering and electrical workshops. She was also fitted with a helicopter landing platform. Cape Breton was commissioned into service with the Royal Canadian Navy on 16 November 1959. The ship was acquired in order to provide repair facilities and limited logistical support for Canadian naval ships on the west coast. Cape Breton began her first operational cruise on 1 February 1960.

Cape Scott logged 19,253 kilometres (11,963 mi) in her first year of commissioning, supporting the fleet in the Caribbean Sea and off Newfoundland and Labrador.

Naval Large Tugs (NLT)

Four tugboats were ordered by the Canadian government for use at Canada's major naval bases, Halifax and Esquimalt. Ocean Industries won the bid to manage the project and chose the design by Robert Allan Ltd. in July 2019. The tugboats will be IMO Tier III vessels based on the Ramparts 2400 design. They will have a length overall of 24.4 metres (80 ft 1 in), a moulded beam of 11.25 metres (36 ft 11 in) and a draught of 5.10 metres (16 ft 9 in). They will have a bollard pull of 60 tonnes (66 tons), a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) and a crew of six. The vessels will be powered by two MAN 12V175D-MM diesel generator sets. The tugs will be propelled by Schottel SRP 430 FP rudderpropellers, 1,860 kilowatts (2,490 hp) each, with fixed pitch propellers measuring 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) in diameter. The azimuth thrusters will be driven by the diesel generating sets.

St. Laurent-class destroyers

In 1959, four St. Laurent-class destroyers were transferred to the west coast from the east coast in exchange for three older destroyers. This was done in an effort to streamline the shore support organization by organizing fleets by destroyer classes.

Iroquois-class destroyers

Design

With the disbandment of Banshee fighter aircraft squadrons and the retirement of the Second World War-vintage destroyers in the early 1960s, the Royal Canadian Navy no longer had air cover nor fire support capabilities. The Royal Canadian Navy sought to fulfill both this capabilities with the General Purpose Frigate (GPF) design. However, due to rising costs and an ambitious Defence Minister, Paul Hellyer, who had his own ideas as to where the Royal Canadian Navy should spend its money, the GPF program was cancelled on 24 October 1963.

After the cancellation of the GPF program, the Royal Canadian Navy continued to design a vessel able to fulfill the lost capabilities. Several designs were drawn up, one of which was an improved version of the GPF with a better missile system, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) rocket and large calibre gun. In September 1964, Hellyer ordered an ASW design. The Royal Canadian Navy submitted a design that matched what Hellyer required that used steam turbines instead of gas and had a planned cost of $35 million, similar to the most recent ships constructed based on the St. Laurent class.

On 22 December 1964, Hellyer announced the planned construction of four new helicopter-carrying destroyer escorts as part of a larger package of procurement for the navy. Though the Royal Canadian Navy had submitted an ASW design, it took a further four years to settle on a final one. This was due in large part to the need for the accommodation of large helicopters, variable depth sonar and the requirement to spread the industrial benefits around the country. In the end the design improved over the GPF in several ways. Instead of the twin semi-automatic 5-inch (127 mm) gun mount, the new design had a single fully automatic 5-inch gun. The GPF was intended to be armed with the RIM-24 Tartar missile system. The new design ended up with the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile system which was capable of taking on both missiles and aircraft. Personnel for the new class was to come from the discarded aircraft carrier Bonaventure which had been taken out of service after the government reduced forced levels.

In 1968, contracts were awarded to Davie Shipbuilding at Lauzon, Quebec and Marine Industries at Sorel, Quebec. However, the final drawings were not finished when all four ships were laid down in 1969. The entire program ended up costing $252 million. In 1970, the program was almost cancelled despite the fact that the ships were in production. This was due to the poor management of the program costs by the departments that governed the project. This eventually led to a significant reshuffling of senior positions at National Defence Headquarters. Commissioned in 1972–3, the ships perpetuated the names of Second World War-era Tribal-class destroyers, which led to the new class being referred to as the Tribal class.

Description

The Iroquois class were ordered in 1968 as a revised design of the GPF. Designed with enclosed citadel, bridge and machinery spaces, the sources disagree about the general description of the Iroquois class. Gardiner and Chumbly state that as designed the ships had a displacement of 3,551 long tons (3,608 t) and 4,700 long tons (4,800 t) fully loaded. The destroyers were 423 feet (129 m) long overall and 398 feet (121 m) long at the waterline with a beam of 50 feet (15 m) and a draught of 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m). They had a complement of 258 and 30 aircrew attached to the ship's company.

Macpherson and Barrie claim that the class displaced 4,500 long tons (4,600 t), was 426 feet (130 m) long overall with a beam of 50 feet (15 m) and a draught of 15 feet (4.6 m). They state the vessels had a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and had a complement of 244.

The Iroquois class used a two shaft COGOG system that was powered by two Pratt & Whitney FT4A2 gas turbines creating 50,000 shaft horsepower (37,000 kW) and two Pratt & Whitney FT12AH3 cruising gas turbines creating 7,400 shp (5,500 kW). This gave the destroyers a maximum speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) and a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

The Iroquois class was also designed with the ability to carry two CH-124 Sea King helicopters to be used primarily for ASW. These two helicopters enhanced their ASW capability and the Iroquois class were considered excellent ASW ships due to it. The Iroquois class had a landing platform with a double hauldown and Beartrap hauldown device.

Armament

The Iroquois class was originally equipped with one OTO Melara 5-inch/54 calibre gun that was capable of firing 40 rounds per minute. For anti-air defense the ship was armed with one Mk III RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile system. The Iroquois class had two Sea Sparrow launchers installed, each with four missile cells which allowed the ship to launch eight missiles at a time for point defense. The ships carried a total of 32 missiles. The launchers were located at the forward end of the superstructure and retracted into the deckhouse. The missile system was guided by the Hollandse Signaal Mk 22 Weapon Control System. The system was criticised for the time it took to deploy from the housing, which took several minutes in order to warm-up the guidance system. Reloading took nearly ten minutes and because the fire control was Dutch, the fire control system and the US missile system never worked effectively. The missile was also ineffective against sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, such as the Exocet. The Iroquois class was also equipped with one Mk 10 Limbo anti-submarine mortar for ASW purposes along with two triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes in a trainable mounts. The Mk 32 tubes were used to fire Mark 46 torpedoes.

Systems and sensors

The class was equipped with the Hollandse Signaal Mk 22 Weapon Control System for its missiles, and a tactical air navigation system (TACAN). The CCS 280 by Litton, which was a compressed version of the Automatic Data Link Plotting System (ADLIPS) electronic tactical system, was also installed aboard the class. Iroquois-class destroyers were equipped with an LW-03 long range warning radar antenna and SPS-501 long range warning radar. They were also equipped with SPQ 2D surface search and navigation radar and M 22 fire control radar. The destroyers had SQS 501 bottom target classification sonar and a hull-mounted SQS 505 sonar inside a 14 feet (4.3 m) dome. The also had the 18-foot (5.5 m) SQS-505 towed variable depth sonar.

TRUMP refit

In the 1980s, with the planned arrival of the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project , the Canadian Forces intended to convert the Iroquois class from purely ASW ships to anti-air warfare (AAW) vessels as a core element of the modernisation of the fleet. Named the Tribal Refit and Update Modernisation Program (TRUMP), the design contract was awarded to Litton Systems Canada Ltd. and required a total reconstruction of the superstructure, new propulsion, weaponry and electronics. In addition to their conversion to AAW vessels, the Canadian Forces sought to improve their command, control and communications capabilities in order to make them task group leaders.

The shipyard contracts were handed out to Quebec shipyards by the Cabinet as a way to placate the Quebec caucus following the decision to award the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project to a New Brunswick shipyard. The total cost of the program was $1.5 billion.

During the Gulf War, before Algonquin had been able to undergo her TRUMP refit, she was given a Mk 15 Phalanx close-in weapons system (CIWS) on her quarterdeck as part of the upgrades given to ships deploying to the Persian Gulf.

Alterations to initial design

The displacement of the ships increased to 5,100 long tons (5,200 t) at deep load after all the changes. The propulsion was overhauled also, with two GM Allison 570KF cruising turbines being installed in place of the Pratt & Whitney models. The funnels were reconstructed replacing the twin outward-angled funnels with one large square funnel. This required the two uptakes being brought together and encased in a forced-air cooling system. This was done to reduce the infrared signature.

As part of the TRUMP refit, the entire armament was overhauled. The OTO Melara 5-inch gun was removed and replaced by a 29-cell Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS) for the SM-2 Block 2 surface-to-air missile. The Mk 41 VLS system was placed in the forecastle deck and required its reconstruction. In 'B' position an OTO Melara 76 mm (3 in) Super Rapid gun was installed. A Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS was placed abaft the remodelled funnel. The ships also received new radar and sonar, with new shield decoy launchers, the SLQ-504 Canadian Electronic Warfare System (CANEWS) and ULQ-6 electronic countermeasures.

HMCS Quebec

HMCS Quebec (C66) HMS Uganda (66)

Uganda sailed as part of the support force for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, from Alexandria along with three cruisers and six destroyers. Uganda was part of Support Force East during the Operation Husky landings. Within the British bridgehead, Uganda, with the cruisers Orion and Mauritius and the monitor Erebus supported the British Eighth Army. On 10 August, again in support of the Eighth Army, Uganda and the Dutch gunboat Flores bombard positions north of Reposto. On 12 August, Uganda, the monitor Roberts and the Dutch gunboats Scarab and Soemba shell the east coast of Sicily.

Uganda participated in Operation Avalanche as part of the Northern Attack Force, which landed the British X Corps. The cruiser was a member of the support and escort group for the force. The landings are successful, however the Germans counterattack and create a serious situation on the beachhead. Uganda is among the ships forced to lie inshore to provide direct naval gunfire support. The fleet then suffers air attacks using FX 1200 radio-controlled and Hs 293 glider bombs. Uganda was hit and seriously damaged.

During 11–13 April 1945, Uganda, as part of Task Force 57 in the Pacific, attack airfields and installations in northern Formosa. In May 1945, Task Force 57 sails from Leyte to attack Sakishima Gunto for nearly the entire month. Uganda is among the ships ordered to bombard the island group. The task force suffers from kamikaze attacks, forcing two of the aircraft carriers to retire and damaging another.

Uganda took part in Operation Inmate, a carrier raid on Japanese installations at Truk. Sailing on 12 June from Manus Island, the cruiser was among the ships detailed to bombard the island of Dublon. The force returned to Manus Island on 17 June. In July, Uganda, now as part of Task Force 37, sails to join up with the Americans performing carrier air strikes on the Tokyo area, arriving on 16 July. On 27 July, Uganda is relieved by HMS Argonaut.

HMCS Saguenay

Background

In the late 1920s, the King government authorized the construction of two A-class destroyers. They were to be the first major warships constructed specifically for Canada and their design was to incorporate elements that made them more suitable for the Canadian climate.

Design

"Canadianisation" involved increased measures for stability to counter accumulations of ice topside, additional strengthening of the hull to combat floating ice and crew amenities such as shower-baths, ice cupboards, steam heating and better ventilation. During a refit in 1938, ASDIC was installed.

Service history

After the declaration of war, the convoy system was put in place for the transport of goods to an from the United Kingdom. Saguenay and St. Laurent escorted the first HX convoy, HX 1 when it sailed from Halifax on 16 September 1939. After reaching the point at sea where surface raiders and submarines would have a harder time discovering the convoy which was roughly 400 nautical miles (740 km) of the coast of Newfoundland, the two destroyers returned to Halifax. On 19 September, Saguenay and Skeena joined the escort of the fast convoy HXF 1. While Saguenay was escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, the Canadian Cabinet ordered the Royal Canadian Navy to cooperate fully with the Royal Navy and placed RCN forces at the disposal of the British. Within a week of the decision, Saguenay was sent to Jamaica to assist Royal Navy forces in the Caribbean Sea. The destroyer remained in the Caribbean until November, when the ship was relieved by the newly acquired Assiniboine.

From September to early 1940, Canadian destroyers were assigned to one of three duties; escorting HX convoys, escorting the faster HXF convoys and escorting the larger warships returning from the convoy cycle. In October 1940, Saguenay was sent to the UK to replace the newly-acquired Margaree which was to return to Canada to complete her refit. On 18 November, Saguenay as part of the escort of the convoy WS 4B, which due to the speed of the convoy, escaped contact with six submarines unscathed. On 20 November, the destroyer was redirected to the escort of the convoy SC 11, a slow convoy, and successfully joined on 22 November. The convoy came under concerted attack by the enemy, with four merchant vessels torpedoed. As the escort moved to respond to the attacks, Saguenay was ordered to remain on the starboard quarter of the convoy to screen against new attacks. However, while trying to maintain station, Saguenay lost contact with the convoy. The destroyer never rejoined the convoy and made her way independently.

On 30 November/1 December, Saguenay along with the British destroyers Highlander and Rochester were escorting HG 47. Once again, in the darkness, Saguenay lost contact with the convoy. This time, Saguenay rejoined the convoy in the morning of 1 December. Just as the destroyer rejoined the escort, Saguenay was struck by a torpedo demolishing the bow back to the "A" gun, roughly 30 feet (9 m) of the ship. The commander of Saguenay, Commander G. R. Miles, spotted the Italian submarine Argo 800 yards (732 m) away. He ordered the ship to open fire and the destroyer got off two shots from "B" gun before the submarine dived. Meanwhile, the forward part of the ship was on fire, and to prevent further damage, the forward magazine was flooded. Damage control managed to bring the fire to a maintainable level, though later when Highlander arrived to help, fires could still be seen burning in the forward area by the British. Commander Miles order 85 of his crew to Highlander, keeping only those on board necessary to bring the ship into port. On 2 December, two tugboats arrived to aid Saguenay, though a tow was only needed from Scheldt on 4 December. The destroyer arrived at Barrow-in-Furness on 5 December. For saving the ship, the crew and captain were commended and Commander Miles was made an Officer of the OBE.

HMCS Bonaventure

In 1952, the unfinished light aircraft carrier HMS Powerful from the Royal Navy to be finished with Canadian specifications. Among the changes included the installation of an angled flight deck, steam catapult and mirror-landing aid. The armament was intended to be augmented with the installation of four twin mounts of 3-inch/50 calibre guns and 40 mm/L70 anti-aircraft guns, however the 40 mm guns were later dropped.

The Admiralty 3-drum boilers were trunked and fitted with wide-range burners. They could be controlled automatically during a nuclear attack. The generating capacity was increased to 3,200 kilowatts (4,300 hp) DC and 300 kilowatts (400 hp) AC. The ship was provided with one 3-bladed and one 4-bladed propeller in order to reduce vibration.

In order to operate the F2H Banshee fighter, tank capacity was increased due to the need to store both kerosene and aviation gas aboard the ship. This was due to the fuel which the Banshees consumed, which was a blend of aviation gas and kerosene and was made on the aircraft carrier.

Kingston class

Background

The Kingston class was the result of the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel Project (MCDV) in the late 1980s. The project came about due to four influences, along with restrictions. The vessels in use by the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve were ageing and needed replacement. At the time, the Maritime Command was using old Mackenzie-class destroyers, Bay-class minesweepers and Porte-class gate vessels to train reservists, with the vast majority of the ships having begun service in the 1950s and early 1960s. The navy lacked a mine warfare capability. Furthermore, the new Halifax-class frigates were not capable of inshore and restricted area patrol and finally, the government sought to keep the shipbuilding efforts ongoing, as the frigate program was already well underway.

The MCDV project was also the culmination of a series of political promises offered by then Minister of National Defence Gilles Lamontagne. The government sought to move the National Reserve Headquarters from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Quebec City, Quebec as part of their effort to increase French representation in the armed forces. The move was to provide a site where those of French descent could live and work in their native language. Lamontagne faced opposition within the forces due to the Quebec City was far from the existing naval bases and that the waters around it froze during the winter months. Lamontagne promised to replace the ships for naval reserve training in order to move the project forward. The decision to begin the program began in the 1987 National Defence White Paper under the concept of "Total Force". This was intended to mask reductions in the regular force by increasing the capabilities of the reserve forces. This led the navy to add minesweeping and coastal patrol duties to the reserve force's list of duties.

Design and description

There were five main criteria for the design. The ships had to be built in Canada, they had to be inexpensive to build, they had to be operable by naval reservists, the design had to have role flexibility included, and they had to be inexpensive to operate. This was exemplified by the Royal Navy's River-class minesweeper which was operated by the Royal Navy Reserve. The design originally called for steel-hulled mine countermeasures vessels and training ships. The Kingston class were built to commercial standards to reduce costs with the exception of stability, maneuverability and the magazines which were constructed to naval standards. Their mixed construction is visible in their two square, separated funnels which were cheaper to manufacture, their poor seakeeping and large radar signature.

The ships have a standard displacement of 772 tonnes (760 long tons) light and 979 t (964 long tons) fully loaded. During sea trials, the vessels were found to be top heavy and a further 9 t (8.9 long tons) of permanent ballast was added. The Kingston class measure 55.31 metres (181 ft 6 in) long overall and 49 m (160 ft 9 in) between perpendiculars with a beam of 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in) and a draught of 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in). The vessels have a maximum crew of 47, with crew sizes changing depending on the vessel's task. The crew is a mix of reservists and regular force personnel, with the regular force personnel assigned to engine room and electronics tasks. The Kingston class are equipped with Kelvin Hughes Nucleus S-band surface search radar.

The Kingston class use an electric drive system that is powered by four Wärtsilä UD 23V12 diesel engines which are coupled to four Jeumont ANR 53-50-4 alternators, creating 715 kilowatts each. Two Jeumont C1 560 L electric motors provide power to the two LIPS FS-100 Z-drive Kort nozzle azimuth thrusters which are fitted with fixed-pitch reversing propellers. In total the system creates 3,064 shaft horsepower (2,285 kW) and a maximum speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). When minesweeping, the vessels have a maximum speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The Kingston class have a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) and have an endurance of 18 days.

The Kingston class were initially armed with a single Bofors 40-millimetre (1.6 in)/60 calibre Mk 1N/1 anti-aircraft gun mounted in a Mk 5C Boffin mount and two single 12.7 mm (0.50 in) Browning M2 machine guns. The Bofors guns were refurbished World War II models that had been previously used by the Canadian Army for air defence in Europe. The Bofors gun was mounted on the forecastle deck until their removal in 2014. The machine guns are mounted on either side at the front of the bridge deck. The 40 mm guns were used as monuments after being dismounted. The Nanuk .50 calibre RCWS from Rheinmetall was trialled as a replacement aboard HMCS Goose Bay in 2018. All twelve ships have degaussing coil arrays fitted, but only the first three ships have the control system, with it situated between the two funnels.

On the aft sweep deck, there are three positions that can receive a variety of mission payloads in the form of 6.1-metre (20 ft) ISO containers. The Royal Canadian Navy has a limited number of each mission payload;

• Two Indal Technologies AN/SLQ-38 deep mechanical minesweeping systems
• Four MDA Ltd. AN/SQS-511 heavyweight high-definition Route Survey System
• One ISE Ltd. Trailblazer bottom object inspection vehicle
• One ISE Ltd. HYSUB 50 deep seabed intervention system
• Fullerton and Sherwood Ltd. six-man, two-compartment containerised diving systems
• MDA Ltd. Interim Remote Minehunting and Disposal System control van

Furthermore, the vessels have additional systems not in an ISO container format that can be fitted, including;

• Two L3/Klein K 5500 high definition side scan sonars
• Four L3/Klein K 3000 dual frequency side scan sonars
• Two Deep Ocean Engineering Inc. Phantom 4 remotely operated vehicles (ROV)

The modules are split between the naval bases on each coast. The Trailblazer module is based at CFB Esquimalt, there are two route survey modules per coast, and the two minesweeping modules are located at CFB Halifax. In November 2009, the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle was successfully trialled aboard a Kingston-class vessel.