HMCS Charlottetown: New lease of life for Canada's expert submarine-hunter
Conceived in the middle of the Cold War era, the Canadian Royal Navy frigate HMCS Charlottetown has evolved over three decades of service, becoming one of the most capable and adaptable ships in Canada's navy.
After setting sail for Nato's Exercise Steadfast Defender in the North Sea, she made a stop in Edinburgh en route to participating in the alliance's largest training mission since the Cold War.
Forces News Reporter David Sivills-McCann went on board to speak to the crew about what makes HMCS Charlottetown a formidable submarine-hunting force in Nato's fleet, delving into her capabilities and readiness for the challenges ahead.
The Halifax-class frigate HMCS Charlottetown is one of 12 Canadian Patrol Frigates in the fleet.
"The Halifax frigate class is best at hunting down and finding submarines. And that's basically the Royal Canadian Navy's role in Nato as a whole," Ethan Matthews, a bosun on board HMCS Charlottetown, explained.
"Actually, we're really good at getting subs and finding them," he added.
Commissioned in 1995, HMCS Charlottetown has evolved over three decades of service, reflecting the dynamic nature of modern warfare.
Since then the submarine-hunting frigate has received some serious upgrades. She is armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 16 Sea Sparrow Surface to Air Missiles, a Bofors 57mm rapid-fire gun and 24 anti-submarine homing torpedoes.
Manned by a crew of 225 sailors, the 440ft ship also has a torpedo-carrying CH-148 Cyclone helicopter to extend the range of her effectiveness.
And that's not all. HMCS Charlottetown is still in the process of receiving further enhancements to her capabilities.
"We are undergoing an upgrade, something called USU – underwater suite upgrade – that will be further enhancing our capabilities in the future with HMCS Ville de Québec being the first to come online with that and, certainly, we're looking forward to those capabilities and all of our frigates as we move forward," Commanding Officer Nicholas Buxton said.
Damien Paton, a bosun on board HMCS Charlottetown, said due to the size of the frigate, he often can go days without seeing fellow sailors.
"It's interesting, I was on one of the smaller ones, so when I came here it was a bit of a big difference really because there's a lot more crew on here and you can go five days without seeing someone and then seeing them again. You're like, I forgot you were here!" he said.
Like the Anzac class vessels used by the Australian and the New Zealand navies, Halifax class ships have been at the forefront of Canada's maritime capability.
HMCS Charlottetown has played pivotal roles in major international conflicts, including deployments to the Arabian Sea during the war in Afghanistan and operations during the Libyan civil war and the annexation of Crimea.
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