The Porte class were designed with the possibility of commercial adoption of the design by the Canadian fishing industry. The gate vessels were planned for use as auxiliary vessels during peacetime.[1] The Porte class was of a trawler design, and were designed to operate the anti-submarine booms for harbour defence. They were also capable of being fitted for minelaying.
The Porte class were 125feet long with a beam of 26feet and a draught of 13feet. They displaced 429LT fully loaded and had an initial complement of 3 officers and 20 ratings. The Porte class were powered one Fairbanks-Morse 6-cylinder diesel engine driving one shaft creating 600bhp. This gave the vessels a maximum speed of 11kn. The vessels had a range of 4000nmi at . They were equipped with one Racal Decca navigation radar operating on the I band. The ships were armed with one 40 mm gun placed forward.
| + Porte class construction data | ||||||||
| Ship | Original pennant number | Final pennant number | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Paid off | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YMG 186 | YNG 186 | Pictou Foundry Co., Pictou | 15 May 1951 | 4 March 1952 | 10 December 1952 | December 1995 | ||
| YMG 184 | YNG 184 | Victoria Machinery Depot, Victoria | 5 March 1951 | 28 December 1951 | 7 October 1952 | 19 December 1996 | Broken up Seattle 2015 | |
| YMG 185 | YNG 185 | Burrard Dry Dock, Vancouver | 15 February 1951 | 28 August 1951 | 19 September 1952 | 19 December 1996 | Broken up Seattle 2015 | |
| YMG 180 | YNG 180 | George T. Davie & Sons, Lauzon | 16 May 1950 | 22 November 1950 | 5 December 1951 | 31 March 1996 | ||
| YMG 183 | YNG 183 | George T. Davie & Sons, Lauzon | 21 March 1951 | 23 July 1952 | 29 August 1952 | 31 March 1996 | ||
The first Porte-class vessel was ordered September 1949.[1] Porte Saint Jean and Porte Saint Louis were based at Halifax, Nova Scotia and Porte Dauphine, Porte Québec and Porte de la Reine at Esquimalt, British Columbia. From 1958 to 1974, Porte Dauphine was loaned to the Department of Transport (DOT) as an environmental research ship on the Great Lakes, before transferring to the West Coast via the Panama Canal. Porte Dauphine was modified for DOT use, which involved the installation of a widened wheelhouse and a cafeteria. The vessels were used to train naval reserve crews in key trades such as navigation, diesel mechanics, communications and logistics. Porte Saint Jean and Porte Saint Louis began training on the Great Lakes in 1953, working with in Hamilton, Ontario. They sometimes travelled to Bermuda for training. In 1973, Porte Saint Jean and Porte Saint Louis sailed into the eastern Arctic. With the arrival of the s in the mid-1990s, the Porte class was retired. Porte Dauphine was the first, discarded in December 1995, followed by Porte Saint Jean and Porte Saint Louis in March 1996 and Porte Québec and Porte de la Reine in December 1996.