The Halifax class of frigates were designed and manufactured in Canada for the Canadian Navy (Maritime Command of the Canadian Forces). This class of ship was originally designed as an ASW surface combatant whose tonnage and armament placed it just shy of being classified as a destroyer, but shortly after the ships were built and registered, they underwent a major refit that increased both to beyond the specifications of a destroyer. The project that this class was designed under was called the "Canadian Patrol Frigate" (CPF) programme, and for public relations reasons the navy continues to classify them as "Patrol Frigates."

The ships were constructed between 1992 and 1996 and plans were, when the project was started, for a further twelve of this class to be built. This was later sacrificed in the late '80s for the oppotunity to acquire six nuclear-powered submarines from France, but this plan was abandoned in the early '90s due to budgetary restrictions.

Type: FFH - Guided Missile Frigate with Helicopter
Propulsion: Combined Diesel or Gas Turbine
Speed: 29+ knots (as high as 32 to my knowledge)
Range: 7100 nm @ 15kts (diesel) or 4500 nm @ 15 kts (GT). Max 9500 nm.
Complement: 225 officers and men (including air detachment)
Armament:
2 octuple-cell VLS containing Sea Sparrow missiles for point air defence,
2 quad-cell Harpoon missile launchers for anti-surface defence,
1 Bofors SAK 57mm deck gun capable for firing 220 rnds/minute (range ~10 nm),
1 Phalanx 20 mm CWIS (Block 1) for final-resort air defence,
2 double-tube Mk 32 torpedo tubes,
8 .50-calibre machine guns.
Countermeasures: 4 six-barrelled Shield Chaff/Infra Red Decoys
Sensors:
ERICSSON SEA GIRAFFE HC 150 - Air/Surface Search (G-band),
RAYTHEON AN/SPS-49 - Long Range Air Search (5 C/D-band),
SIGNAAL SPG-503 (STIR 1.8) - Fire Control Radar (K/I-band),
AN/SQS-510 - Hull-mounted variable depth active sonar (range to 27 nm),
AN/SQR-501 CANTASS - Towed-array passive sonar.
Length: 134.1m
Beam: 16.4m
Draught: 4.9m

Halifax class frigates also have a hangar and flight deck for one helicopter and currently carry the Sikorsky Sea King for ASW purposes, though these are due to be replaced by 2005. The ships of this class are based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Esquimalt, British Columbia (near Victoria). They are (in no particular order):

Halifax, NS
HMCS Halifax
HMCS Ville-de-Quebec
HMCS Toronto
HMCS St. John's
HMCS Charlottetown
HMCS Fredericton
HMCS Montreal

Esquimalt, BC
HMCS Regina
HMCS Calgary
HMCS Winnipeg
HMCS Vancouver
HMCS Ottawa

They feature an advanced Communications, Command, and Control system called SHINCOM (comparable to, but newer and somewhat more capable than, AEGIS) which allows ship's of these class to easily take part in the task group operations of many navies. In the Persian Gulf, HMCS Winnipeg became the first non-American warship to fully integrate with a United States carrier group. These ships serve as the work-horses of the heavy combatant requirements for Canada, although many of their patrol duties have been given to the smaller and more cheaply-run Kingston Class Minesweepers.

This information was obtained from the Canadian Navy's webpage, http://www.navy.dnd.ca/

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