Sonar Systems:
The Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy used the term Allied Submarine Detection Investigation committee (ASDIC) until the end of the Second World War when they adopted the US Navy acronym, SONAR (SOund NAvigation and Ranging) - in the RCN, the latter term was in general use by 1955.
Both the 505 and 507 were developed in Canada. The AN/SQS 505 was the result of a Canadian development program to produce a medium frequency sonar that could operate as a VDS (Variable Depth Sonar), or HMS (Hull Mounted Sonar). The design was done by the Department of National Defence, with the production contracted out between a number of Canadian companies, including Westinghouse, Sperry, and Fleet Engineering. The unit did well, becoming the chosen sonar for every new class of ship built in Canada from the 1960s into the 1980s, was retrofitted into many of the older classes, and was also sold to navies abroad.
"Diana One" was a system developed in the early 1960s that combined the AN/SQS-505 sonar and the AN/SQA-502 handling gear. The Naval Technical Services developed the systems and specifications while the National Research Council Ship Division was responsible for the towed body. The Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) portion was designed for deep towing, with a larger towed body that necessitated a larger handling gear. The sonar unit was the first major piece of equipment in the Royal Canadian Navy to have fully solid-state electronics. The prototype was trialled in HMCS Terra Nova, then production units were installed in her and the three other 'Improved Restigouche' (IRE) class destroyer escorts (the Restigouche, Gatineau and Kootenay), and the four DDH-280 Tribal-class destroyers.
The SQS 507 was dubbed "Helen" and was the unit intended for the HMCS Bras d'Or hydrofoil (developed by Canadian Westinghouse Company), but never fitted because the FHE-400 Bras d'Or project was cancelled. It was a lightweight, variable depth sonar.
The development of a sonar capable of functioning at high speed was key to the Bras d'Or program (40 knots or more, where previous devices operated at 20 or 25 at most). In June 1964, the Naval Board agreed that "...the greatest single contribution to the effectiveness of the FHE 400 would be the achievement of a high speed towable sonar, operable at speeds of 40 knots or more." This was to be the most challenging piece of equipment required for the hydrofoil and a three-year program was implemented to develop it. With doubts that it was possible to design such a thing in time for the ship's completion, the program was altered to allow an interim solution in shorter time that would produce a low speed (15 knots) towed sonar with high-speed hoist and an alternate dipping transducer as "insurance". Canada Westinghouse was awarded the contract in September 1963. The contract was run by the Treasury Board through the Department of Defence Production. In January 1964, the "interim" sonar (the U.S. Navy's SQS-35) was delayed for a projected thirty months after failures during evaluation. Research then focussed on designing the high-speed sonar, based on the existing AN/SQS-505 Variable Depth Sonar. (Of interest, the forerunner to the HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400), was a small experimental hydrofoil, the Bras d'Or R-103, later renamed the Baddeck.)
SS 11 A/TK (SS 11 B1) anti-aircraft rocket launchers:
The SS 11 was a line-of-sight, wire-guided missile developed for use from ground vehicles, helicopters, slow-flying aircraft and light naval vessels. Normally fired from a launching ramp, it could also be fired from a simplified ground launcher. After 1962, only the SS 11 B1 version was in production. This type could be fired in surface-to-surface and air-to-surface situations.
