HMCS Huron - DDG 281

An Iroquois-class destroyer, she is the second ship with the name “Huron,” the first being a WWII Tribal-class destroyer. She was commissioned on 16 December 1972 and designed to provide convoy protection and anti-submarine warfare against the Soviet submarine service during the Cold War. 

For most of her career, HMCS Huron was based in Esquimalt with Maritime Forces Pacific, protecting Canadian sovereignty in our oceanic territory, and joining anti-terrorism missions in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. She took part in Operation Friction, Canada’s contribution to Operation Desert Storm (the Gulf War), and later supported the 1993 UN embargo of the former Yugoslavia.

The Huron also took part in ceremonial duties, representing Canada at the Silver Jubilee Naval Review in 1977 and then carrying Governor-General Edward Schreyer for a tour of five Scandinavian ports in 1981.

On 4 December 2000 she was laid up and placed in reserve to be paid off on 31 May 2003. For the following four years she was stripped of everything that could be used by her three sister ships. On 14 May 2007, the Huron was sunk as an exercise target ship during Operation Trident Fury, a live-fire training exercise off Vancouver Island.

Reference Links:
Government of Canada - HMCS Huron
For Posterity's Sake - HMCS Huron
The Military Museums - HMCS Huron