Internally, HMCS Halifax is powered by 2 x General Electric LM2500 gas turbines of 47,500 horsepower mated to a single SEMT-Pielstick diesel engine offering an additional 8,800 horsepower while driving 2 x Shafts under stern. The gas turbines are "raft-mounted" so as to add an inherent stealth feature via noise reduction/control - though this had originally proven to not be the case with the vessel operating at full speed/power. Remedies were enacted during trials to ensure the warship become one of the quietest of its type anywhere in the world. Stability was also addressed due to results captured in testing of the ship in various sea states.
A Royal de Schelde transmission system is featured as are 2 x Escher Wyss controllable-pitch propeller units for fine maneuvering. There are also 4 x AEG Telefunken generators outputting 850kW of power.
With this propulsion scheme, the Halifax is capable of ocean-going speeds reaching 30 knots and can range out to 9,500 nautical miles.
Structural dimensions include an overall length of 400 feet, a beam of 54 feet, and a draught of 23 feet.
HMCS Halifax's onboard systems and capabilities were modernized during the 2000 under the "FELEX" program ("Frigate Equipment Life EXtension"). In 2002 the Westronic 14 optronic fire-control system was installed. As mentioned above, the Evolved Sea Sparrow weapon system also replaced the original Sea Sparrow system and the introduction of the Sikorsky CH-148 "Cyclone" helicopter replaced support for the CH-124 models. Countermeasures, sensors, and processing systems were also revised for the better to keep Halifax a viable platform for the foreseeable future.
Halifax was taken into service in June of 1991 and sea trials followed in the next year. Commissioned in 1992, her first war-related assignment was during the Yugoslavian conflict as she relieved HMCS Iroquois in April of 1994 which was committed to a blockading action at the time. NATO exercises then followed in 1995. She deployed to the Adriatic region for March of 1996 and undertook another NATO exercise before searching for survivors of SwissAir Flight 111 (the crash had no survivors). Following the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001, she was sent to the Indian Ocean to support the American initiative against the Taliban/Al Qaeda. She returned to home waters in February of 2002.
In 2010, she departed to Haitian waters to support the humanitarian effort following the January 2010 earthquake that left the island devastated. In September of 2010, she was given another modernization. For September of 2015, she took part in a new NATO exercise and, around this point, she had already trialed her new Cyclone helicopters. A year-long refit then followed in 2016 before Halifax was placed back into service, this coming in September of 2017.
There are active plans to replace the Halifax-class of frigates in the RCN in the coming years.
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