science

HMCS Barrie

HMCS Barrie is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand HMCS Barrie rather than just read about it. In short: HMCS Barrie was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. The ship was constructed by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. at Collingwood, Ontario, laid down on 4 April 1940.

Key takeaways

HMCS Barrie belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect HMCS Barrie to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of HMCS Barrie from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

HMCS Barrie was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. The ship was constructed by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. at Collingwood, Ontario, laid down on 4 April 1940. The ship was launched on 23 November 1940 and commissioned on 12 May 1941. The corvette was named for the city of Barrie, Ontario. Barrie served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort. Following the war, Barrie was sold to Argentinian commercial interests which converted the corvette to a cargo ship and renamed the vessel Gasestado. In 1957, Gasestado was acquired by the Argentinian Navy and converted to a survey ship and renamed ARA Capitán Cánepa. The Argentinian Navy discarded the ship in 1972.

Design and description

Flower-class corvettes such as Barrie serving with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The Flower-class corvettes originated from a need that arose in 1938 to expand the Royal Navy following the Munich Crisis. A design request went out for a small escort for coastal convoys. Based on a traditional whaler-type design, the initial Canadian ships of the Flower class had a standard displacement of 950 long tons (970 t). They were 205 feet 1 inch (62.51 m) long overall with a beam of 33 feet 1 inch (10.08 m) and a maximum draught of 13 feet 5 inches (4.09 m). The initial 1939–1940 corvettes were powered by a four-cylinder vertical triple expansion engine powered by steam from two Scotch boilers turning one three-bladed propeller rated at 2,800 indicated horsepower (2,100 kW). The Scotch boilers were replaced with water-tube boilers in later 1939–1940 and 1940–1941 Programme ships. The corvettes had a maximum speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). This gave them a range of 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The vessels were extremely wet. The Canadian Flower-class vessels were initially armed with a Mk IX BL 4-inch (102 mm) gun forward on a CP 1 mounting and carried 100 rounds per gun. The corvettes were also armed with a QF Vickers 2-pounder (40 mm, 1.6 in) gun on a bandstand aft, two single-mounted .303 Vickers machine guns or Browning 0.5-calibre machine guns for anti-aircraft defence and two twin-mounted .303 Lewis machine guns, usually sited on bridge wings. For anti-submarine warfare, they mounted two depth charge throwers and initially carried 25 depth charges. The corvettes were designed with a Type 123 ASDIC sonar set installed. The Flower-class ships had a complement of 47 officers and ratings. The Royal Canadian Navy initially ordered 54 corvettes in 1940 and these were fitted with Mark II Oropesa minesweeping gear used for destroying contact mines. Part of the depth charge rails were made portable so the minesweeping gear could be utilised.

Modifications In Canadian service the vessels were altered due to experience with the design's deficiencies. The galley was moved further back in the ship and the mess and sleeping quarters combined. A wireless direction finding set was installed, and enlarged bilge keels were installed to reduce rolling. After the first 35–40 corvettes had been constructed, the foremast was shifted aft of the bridge and the mainmast was eliminated. Corvettes were first fitted with basic SW-1 and SW-2 CQ surface warning radar, notable for their fishbone-like antenna and reputation for failure in poor weather or in the dark. The compass house was moved further aft and the open-type bridge was situated in front of it. The ASDIC hut was moved in front and to a lower position on the bridge. The improved Type 271 radar was placed aft, with some units receiving Type 291 radar for air search. The minesweeping gear, a feature of the first 54 corvettes, was removed. Most Canadian Flower-class corvettes had their forecastles extended which improved crew accommodation and seakeeping. Furthermore, the sheer and flare of the bow was increased, which led to an enlarged bridge. This allowed for the installation of Oerlikon 20 mm (0.8 in) cannon, replacing the Browning and Vickers machine guns. Some of the corvettes were rearmed with Hedgehog anti-submarine mortars. The complements of the ships grew throughout the war rising from the initial 47 to as many as 104.

Construction and career

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with HMCS Barrie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what HMCS Barrie claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to HMCS Barrie before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about HMCS Barrie ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of HMCS Barrie

In research: HMCS Barrie appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses HMCS Barrie in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: HMCS Barrie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 ships, Auxiliary ships of the Argentine Navy, Corvettes of the Cold War, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for HMCS Barrie outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study HMCS Barrie in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what HMCS Barrie means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain HMCS Barrie out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is HMCS Barrie in simple terms?

Why does HMCS Barrie matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study HMCS Barrie?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on HMCS Barrie.