Iroquois class

   Ordered in 1968 as anti-submarine destroyers, the four vessels of the Iroquois class comprise Iroquois, Huron, Athabaskan and Algonquin and are a revised version of the eight Tartar SAM-equipped Tribal class of general-purpose frigates cancelled in 1963. They retain the same hull design, dimensions and basic characteristics of the Tribals but have enhanced ASW features such as three sonars, a helicopter flight deck and hangarage for two licence-built CH-124A Sea King ASW helicopters: these can also carry 12.7-mm machine-guns and ESM/FLIR equipment in place of ASW gear. The weapons and sensor fit was a mixed bag with an Italian 127-mm OTO Melara Compact gun, two four-rail launchers for the US Sea Sparrow SAM system that retracted into a deckhouse in the forward superstructure, Dutch and US electronics and a British ASW mortar. The last was the ubiquitous triple-barreled Mk 10 Limbo weapon.

   For a new class of proposed helicopter-carrying destroyers, the Huron tested a vertical-launch Sparrow system in 1982, but the class did not materialize, and in the TRUMP (TRibal class Update and Modernization Project) in 1986 the ships were revised with a Mk 41 vertical-launch system (with 29 Standard SM-2MR medium/long-range SAMs in place of the Limbo installation). The electronics were also improved with more modern, capable systems, the process yielding ships with much enhanced anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. The original main gun was replaced by a 76-mm Super Rapid weapon from the same manufacturer and is complemented by a single Mk 15 Phalanx installation.

   For the embarked helicopters the ships can carry the active acoustic-homing Mk 44 and active/passive acoustic-homing Mk 46 torpedoes. The landing decks are fitted with the Beartrap system. The Iroquois class are to remain in service until at least 2010.