Family, veterans, and dignitaries watch as the HMCS Athabaskan makes its final sail in the Halifax Harbour during the ship's paying off ceremony in Halifax on Friday, March 10, 2017. The Athabaskan concluded 44 years of service in the Royal Canadian Navy and is the last of the four Iroquois-class Destroyers to be paid off.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
March 12, 2017 - 7:00 AM
HALIFX, N.S. - A veteran Canadian warship that served in the first Gulf War was decommissioned on Friday in Halifax.
HMCS Athabaskan sailed around Halifax harbour for the last time as part of a ceremony marking its final retirement from service.
The destroyer was the last serving member of a class of four destroyers that have served the Canadian navy since the early 1970s.
The navy's most senior officer says for more than four decades the vessel and her crews have proudly served and protected Canada.
Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd says the navy's future is partly anchored on the legacy of ships such as Athabaskan.
The destroyer brought in aid after hurricane Katrina in 2006 and Haiti's 2010 earthquake, on top of its NATO obligations and fisheries and sovereignty patrols.
Athabaskan's sister ships have already been decommissioned.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017