HMCS Huron (DDH 281)

HMCS "Huron" (DDG 281) was an sclass|Iroquois|destroyer|1 that has served the Canadian Forces since 1972.

"Huron" was the second ship of her class which is sometimes referred to as the "Tribal"-class or simply as the "280"-class. She was the second vessel to use the designation warship|HMCS|Huron.

"Huron" was laid down on 1 June 1969 at Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon and was launched on 9 April 1971. She was officially commissioned into the CF on 16 December 1972 and carried the pennant number 281.

"Huron" completed a refit known as the Tribal Class Update and Modernization Project (TRUMP) on 25 November 1994. At this time her classification changed from Destroyer Helicopter (DDH) to Destroyer Guided Missile (DDG).

She was assigned to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) and was homeported at CFB Esquimalt.

ervice

"Huron" served on MARPAC missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Pacific Ocean and enforced Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone.

"Huron" was also deployed on missions throughout the Pacific and to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations.

"Huron" was deployed to the Persian Gulf in winter 1991 as part of Operation FRICTION, the CF's contribution to Operation DESERT STORM (the Gulf War) to replace her sister ship HMCS|Athabaskan|DDH 282 as flag ship of the Canadian Naval Task Group. "Huron" arrived after hostilities ceased and patrolled for several months before returning to Esquimalt.

"Huron" was deployed to the Adriatic Sea in 1993 in support of the United Nations naval embargo of the former Yugoslavia. In 1999 "Huron" intercepted a civilian ship smuggling illegal migrants off the coast of British Columbia. [ [http://www.jproc.ca/cta/huron2.html HMCS Huron info page] ]

Paying Off and sinking

Despite being the most recently refitted "Iroquois"-class destroyer, defence cutbacks during the late 1990s saw "Huron" placed in mothball status due to a personnel shortage in 2000. In 2005 she was paid off from the CF and awaited disposal at Esquimalt.

In 2006 MARPAC decided to use "Huron" in what would become the first sink-exercise that Maritime Command (MARCOM) had ever conducted. The sink-ex was named Operation TRIDENT FURY and was planned to use a variety of MARPAC ships and AIRCOM aircraft to bombard "Huron" with artillery, missiles, strafing fire, and finally be sunk by a torpedo launched from a submarine.

"Huron" was stripped of armaments and all environmentally harmful contaminants and fuel in winter 2006-2007. On 14 May 2007 "Huron" was towed to the MARPAC offshore weapons range west of Vancouver Island. Despite being damaged by a Sea Sparrow surface to air missile and several other weapons, it was naval gunfire from sister HMCS|Algonquin|DDH 283 that was responsible for sinking the hulk of "Huron". [ [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=3e8e2268-978f-4783-b64d-4b7dbec0fff3&k=29905 Canada.com - Navy Ship is sunk during target practice] ] Ironically, the main gun used by "Algonquin" was originally installed on "Huron", meaning that "Huron" was sunk by one of its own weapons. [ [http://www.jproc.ca/cta/huron2_sunk2.html Canadian Tribal Destroyer Association] ] This sinking marked the first Canadian warship to be operationally sunk in Canadian waters. [ [http://www.lookoutnewspaper.com/archive/20070507/index.shtml Lookout Newspaper] ]

References