Initially called twin-screw corvettes, frigates were designed for the RN by William Reed. The design of the Frigate was intended to alleviate the shortcomings of the Corvette as an ocean escort.  Frigates built for the Royal Navy were named after rivers hence they acquired the name River Class. Vessels built for the RCN were named after towns and cities. There were two building programs with HMCS Waskesiu the first to commission in June 1943.
 
 

HMCS Strathadam is being used to represent the entire River class. Here she is seen on the west coast on October 27, 1944. (Photo courtesy Frigates of the Canadian Navy)

After VE day some ships were taken in hand for tropicalization to be sent to the Pacific but only a few had completed the process by VJ day. One of the items on the work order provided for an air conditioner in the radio office. It was installed for the benefit of the equipment and not the hands.

After WWII, eleven of them were stripped and sunk as breakwaters for British Columbia logging firms. The remainder saw service as training ships and between 1953 and 1958, twenty one of them were modified to emerge as the Prestonian class frigates.

There is an interesting point to note about the River Class pendants. The RCN changed the system of numbers and type designators for the fleet effective Jan 10, 1949 [4] . Swansea, while still in her River class configuration, is shown wearing pendant 306 in a photo dated July 1953 and well ahead of her conversion to a Prestonian in 1957. A quick study of the photos in the book "Frigates in the RCN" by Ken Macpherson, reveals that  La Hulloise was wearing pendant 305 by July 1950 and Antigonish was sporting 301 in 1951, both as River class configurations and all three wearing the Maple Leaf on the funnel. It is theorized that all of the River class ships which were still in service after 1949 quickly received new pendants and in three verifiable cases,  far ahead of their conversion to Prestonians.

According to Alan Riley, a WWII telegraphist, River class Frigates were typically fitted with the following equipment:

	Frigate starboard side view showing main wire aerials. Click to enlarge. (Image courtesy Frigates of the RCN). The four main LF are really only two because each pair is joined together at the feed point.
	The DF Office was located on the signal deck.  Click to enlarge. (Image courtesy Frigates of the RCN)

Radio aerial inventory from the main plan, starboard view:

2 LF Aerials - Each LF aerial consists of two spans joined to a common feed.
1 HF Aerial
1 Sound Reproducing Equipment Antenna
1 FR 12 aerial for Canadian Marconi FR12  LF/HF transmitter/receiver
1 Loran  (LRN) wire aerial
1 DF loop for MDF-5
1 Sense aerial for MDF-5

This is the main radio office aboard HMCS Strathadam. Note the bleach burns on the shirt of the rightmost 'Sparker'. (Photo courtesy Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy)

From the above photo, its very easy to identify the equipment line up (L-R): CSR5 receiver,  MSL-5 receiver, another CSR-5 and a portion of an FR12, all made by Canadian Marconi. Pat Kelly, who served in a River class frigate remembers two radio rooms - one being the main radio office and another down below for use in an emergency (Radio 2).
 
 

Radio room of HMCS PRINCE RUPERT (K324). This was  taken on October 22nd, 1943, the day after she arrived in Halifax from her builders Yarrows Ltd., Esquimalt B.C.  Left side of photo: PV500H transmitter  Right side of photo from left to right: Two SMR3 receivers and a FR12 and just a sliver of an MSL5 can be seen at the right.  (Public Archives Canada Photo HS-0262-1 submitted by Spud Roscoe)

 

RADIONAVIGATION

According to Bowditch -The American Practical Navigator, LORAN was derived from the words LOng RAnge Navigation. If those three words are abbreviated, it becomes LRN, the exact term on the Frigate drawing. Prior to being called LORAN it was known as LRN [1] as well but meaning "Loomis Radio Navigation" in honour of F.W. Loomis [2], Associate Director of MIT's Radiation Laboratory who had previously been the Head of the Physics Department at the University Illinois.

The River class plans shown above are applicable to seven ships of the 1942/43 River class program. HMCS Waskesiu was a part of this group and commissioned in June 1943. That means that LORAN was being fitted in RCN ships by early/mid 1943.

 For detailed information on Loran 'A', select this link.

RADAR

On-build, Type 271 (10 cm) was the standard radar fit on the River class and the antenna was mounted at the base of the foremast. Technical specifications on the 271 radar can be found here. A study of River class photos reveals a radar modernization which appears to have started after 1945. The 271 radar was removed from the foremast base and the USN Type SU radar was fitted on the foremast. In the case of HMCS Charlottetown, this occurred in 1946.  The position of the SU radar was not always consistent from ship to ship. Sometimes its positioning caused the HFDF antenna to be relocated to the mainmast peak.

The following River class frigates are known to have received SU radar modernizations and in some cases, far ahead of their conversion to Prestonian class ships. These ships are:

FotRCN= Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy by Ken Macpherson.

ANTIGONISH                     (pg. 58, FotRCN, with 301 painted on side in 1951)
CHARLOTTETOWN K244 (pg. 20 FotRCN, in 1946)
GROU K518                         (pg. 25 FotRCN, possibly in February 1945)
LA HULLOISE                     (pg. 30, FotRCN, in 1950 with 305 painted on)
OUTREMONT K322            (pg. 40 FotRCN, in 1945)
ST. CATHARINES               (pg 104, FotRCN, in 1945)
STORMONT  K327              (pg. 47 FotRCN, in 1945 waiting for disposal)
SWANSEA                            (pg. 49 FotRCN, in 1953, with 306 painted on side)
 

Perspex enclosure for the 271 radar antenna. This is the recreated enclosure found on HMCS Sackville. (Photo by Jerry Proc)

 

This is a rare image of the 271 radar antenna. The double cheesecake construction means separate transmitting and receiving antennas. Shown is the backside of the antenna  (Graphic source unknown)

271 radar set. (Photo courtesy of HMS Collingwood,  Fareham England)

ASDIC

128  Set (circa 1937)

Frigates and Bangors were equipped with the 128 set [3]. This was the retractable dome version of the British 127 set and was superior in performance to the 123A since it relied on a gyro compass instead of a magnetic compass for bearing indication. Priority was given for the fitting of the 128 set in Bangors because it was originally intended that their primary role was to be minesweeping, a task that required accurate navigation to mark swept channels. Corvettes, which were supposed to be jack-of-all trades -- such as escort, minesweeper, and patrol craft, would have to suffice with the less accurate 123 set which employed a magnetic compass.

In February of 1943, the British Admiralty announced that the 128 set was being superseded by 128A. Type 128A had a training mechanism that was manipulated electrically rather than mechanically and was kept on target automatically by the ships gyro compass. The RCN quickly approved the same change for its own Bangors, however, it had to wait for a British policy statement before work could start. There were nineteen versions of the 128 set produced during World War 2.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] According to an article published in MIT's "THE TECH" newspaper, Dec 5, 1967.

[2] In 1940, Loomis conceived the idea of a precision long-range radio navigation system. The LORAN team, working from MIT's Radiation Laboratory was led by Dr. John A. Pierce of Bell Labs and by 1942, the first Loran station was operating  from the American East Coast  on 1.95 MHz.

[3] In "Seek and Strike" by Willem Hackman, he shows Frigates as using the 127 type.

[4] Battle Ensign Flying, Barry Gough, page 155

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Contributors and Credits:

1) Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943- 1974 by Ken Macpherson. Vanwell Publishing, St. Catharines Ont. 1989
2) Ships of Canada's Naval Forces (1910-1993) by Ken Macpherson and John Burgess.
3) Alan Riley, ex-RCN. Toronto
4) Spud Roscoe <spudroscoe(at)eastlink.ca>
4) Don Wagner <navwags(at)earthlink.net>
5) Bowditch -The American Practical Navigator    http://www.irbs.com/bowditch/
6) MIT Archives http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_087/TECH_V087_S0526_P005.pdf
7) Alexander (Sandy) McClearn  <smcclearn(at)ns.sympatico.ca>
8) Pat Kelly <pnkelly(at)shaw.ca>
 
 

Jan 27/07