Unbuilt/Cancelled/Rejected Canadian Aircraft/Helicopter Carrier Design

airborne24

ACCESS: Restricted
Joined
22 March 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
15
Aside from the cancelled Essex acquisition around the 1950s (even that still leaves me with some confusion).
I haven't been able to find much on the other Canadian aircraft carrier design and proposal I have came across (documents pulled from the internet mainly).
Here's a list of design and proposal I've seen so far. (I've also include some DDH designs here since the GPF thread doesn't seem to mention them)
- Essex-class CVS (unsure which whether it's an SCB 27 or one of the unmodified one) apparently tentatively named "HMCS Vancouver"
- Restigouche DHH Conversion (April 1962)
- 18,000-ton V/STOL Carrier (June 1963)
- ASW Carrier PD 25 (January 1963)
- Canadian-built Iwo Jima-class LPH (October 1963)
- Heliporter PD 24 (June 1963)
- 6,300-ton Heliporter PD 31 (April 1963)
- 7,900-ton Heliporter Catamaran (May 1963)
- 7,400-ton Heliporter PD 30 (April 1963)
- Heliporter PD 26 (June 1963)
- Heliporter PD 29 (June 1963)
- Destroyer type helicopter carrier PD 10 (1961)
- Nuclear aircraft carrier design based on a scaled down Essex (October 1963) (p.268 on The Annapolis Riddle)
- VSEL Modified Invincible (Questionable?)

Does anyone have any information and detail specification on these and any other Canadian aircraft carrier design and proposal?
Any info would be great, many thanks.

Source:
The Annapolis Riddle: Advocacy, Ship Design and the Canadian Navy’s Force Structure Crisis, 1957-1965 (Richard Oliver Mayne) (Plans and Diagrams from 460 onwards)
Fouled Deck: The Pursuit of an Augmented Aircraft Carrier Capability for the Royal Canadian Navy | The Canadian Air Force Journal Vol 3, No.4 (Micheal Whitby)
The Impact of V/STOL on Aircraft Carrier Design (Can be found here https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/australian-invincible.23148/post-895127)
 

Attachments

  • D12-13-3-4-eng.pdf
    3.5 MB · Views: 101
  • Mayne_Richard_O_finalsubmission_200804_PhD.pdf
    4.3 MB · Views: 82
Last edited:
What is the story with possibly acquiring an Essex?

It seems to me that it would have been attractive for several reasons: the Americans had a bunch of them (several like Franklin were not being used), the US Navy had lots of spare parts for them, and because US ports were nearby and the US was maintaining its own fleet, logistics support should have been easier.

Of course, that may have been a bigger and more expensive ship than Canada wanted.
 
What is the story with possibly acquiring an Essex?

It seems to me that it would have been attractive for several reasons: the Americans had a bunch of them (several like Franklin were not being used), the US Navy had lots of spare parts for them, and because US ports were nearby and the US was maintaining its own fleet, logistics support should have been easier.

Of course, that may have been a bigger and more expensive ship than Canada wanted.
Not too sure to be honest, since I'm quite unfamiliarity with naval policies in general (I basically only look around for interesting ship design...) but iirc from the two pdfs I've linked the Essex acquisition proposal happened twice. First in 1956 by the Storrs committee (form the same year) when they suggested a two-carrier navy where Bonnie would be a dedicated ASW carrier for Canadian Atlantic (CANLANT) and mobile refueling station for land-based Trackers while Vancouver (the Essex) would be a mixed role carrier for Eastern Atlantic (EASTLANT). The proposed air group here was 20 Trackers, 12 Banshees, 8 Tracers, 8 HSS ASW. (Whitby). Second in around 1961~1963 during the exploration of amphibious warfare by RCN and was championed by Fraser-Harris who want to replace Bonnie with an Essex (?) (Mayne)
Also of note, the Canadian-built Iwo Jima proposal came from them as well.
 
Last edited:
Honest to God , Fraser- Harris was a genuine character and one of those larger then life people who show up every so often in the RCN'S history.
Somebody really does have to write a real biography of him.
The more I read about him the more I rethink my appraisal of him .
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom