Over the Shoulder
St.Laurent cheats the breakers
The last ship in that revolutionary new warship class built by Canada in the mid fifties, HMCS St.Laurent was also the first to see decommissioning. Greatly modified from her original configuration during the mid sixties with the addition of a helicopter flight deck and hanger, plus over the stern variable depth sonar, she last saw service on June 14, 1974. In the intervening years she had been cannibalized for parts keeping others of her class serviceable. She remained at Bedford magazine until June 1979 where, nearly stripped bare, it was decided she should be sold for scrap.
A few months later, she was sold by Crown Assets for $76.000 to Dartmouth Salvage Ltd. which then moved her to the Dartmouth side of the harbor. Here she was stripped of all readily accessible salvage and her gutted hull sold to Consolidated Andes, Brownsville, Texas. Accordingly, plans were made to tow the hulk to her new home in Texas in early 1980.
Gutted of all her machinery, weapons and fuel, St.Laurent rode high in the water as she left Halifax for the last time, in tow by the Norwegian tug, Odin Salvadore. On January 12, 1980, buffeted by the fringe of a tropical hurricane, she began to settle astern. After casting off her tow, the Norwegian tug circled the floundering hulk, to take the photos accompanying this story. The bows rose into the darkening skies and, slowly St.Laurent slipped into the nearly 2,000 fathoms of water, some 200 miles south of Nantucket.
Analysis of these pictures led naval engineers to believe ship might have sprung one or more of her through hull patches in the former engine room, allowing water to invade the cooling water sea chests. This, in turn, allowed the engine room to flood and gradually, the hull settled by the stern, as air vented through forward openings. Since St.Laurent was decommissioned before retrofitting of water tight doors and partitions along Burma Road, the spread of water forward must have been easy. This coupled with the virtual demolition of her interior spaces and the light condition of the ship, led to her eventual loss.
Whatever the cause, St.Laurent cheated the wrecker’s hammer and preserved her dignity by slipping into a watery grave. She rests now, at home in the waters which were her home and element for nearly 24 years. Rest in peace old girl, was the thought of all who had served in her over the years.
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