Above watch: It was an emotional day at HMC dockyard as the HMCS Iroquois was officially retired. Ray Bradshaw reports.
HALIFAX – It was an emotional but proud day as the destroyer HMCS Iroquois officially retired Friday.
The Iroquois was the lead ship of her class and served almost half a century with three generations of crew.
HMCS Iroquois was commissioned on July 29, 1972 and was the first of four Iroquois-class destroyers.
Based in Halifax, the ship’s last voyage was in September 2014 and on Friday, the destroyer was retired.
“In her 43 years of service, Iroquois sailed over 860,000 nautical miles. That’s equivalent to 40 times around the equator,” said Robert Watt, the last commanding officer of the ship.
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“She led the Canadian naval task group that departed shortly after 9/11 for Operation Apollo.”
In 1992, a refit transformed the ship into a modern air defence platform with state of the art weapons, sensors, and command and control systems.
Rear Admiral John Newton said the ship was a force to be reckoned with.
“She has taught a whole generation about the modern warfare threat environment and what Canada must consider to protect it’s national interests in a confused and unsettled world,” he said.
Unfortunately fatigue cracks were found in the hull of the destroyer a year ago during a port visit to Boston, which signaled the end of her career.
Vice Admiral Mark Norman paid tribute Friday to the ship and everyone who served aboard her for more than four decades
“She and every one of you who have kept her running have done everything we could possibly ask of you,” said Norman. “It is truly time to thank her and say farewell.”
The comment struck a cord with Wayne Park, a civilian who oversees maintenance work on the ship.
“I’ve been here for almost 34 years. I’ve worked on the ship for that period of time. I’ve looked after the ship for a total of 18 years so it’s a pretty emotional moment for me,” he said.
“She was the best ship in the fleet. It was just an enjoyable time,” said George deGrace, an original crew member of the Iroquois.
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