On March 14th 2014, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Iroquois recorded her fourth consecutive HAIDA trophy victory during a gunnery serial as part of a recent Task Group Exercise (TGEX) that also included HMCS Ville De Quebec and HMCS Preserver.
The HAIDA trophy is an award presented to the unit demonstrating the highest accuracy in gunnery during a TGEX. The trophy was provided by HMCS Ville De Quebec and is made of ammunition from both the Tribal-Class Destroyers’ 76mm shell and the City-Class Frigates’ 57mm shell. Due to the ongoing work of the Halifax Class Modernization (HCM) project, only two ships have been able to compete – HMCS Iroquois and HMCS Ville De Quebec, with all four victories going to the crew of HMCS Iroquois.
“I have never seen a ship work in harmony like Iroquois, where the personnel in each position work so well together in order to achieve success,” said Sub-Lieutenant Henry, a Phase VI Combat Systems Engineer. “It is great to see the hard work of the technicians and operators pay off when it counts.”
The HAIDA Trophy is named after HMCS Haida, a Tribal-Class Destroyer that served in the Second World War, Korea, the Cold War, and was known to have sunk the most enemy surface tonnage of all HMC Ships. The award was first conceived by Cdr Steve Thornton, and was designed to inspire a sense of teamwork, competition, and warrior-like attitude – skills that are required in successful naval warfare.
[mappress] Press Release, May 23, 2014; Image: Canadian Navy