Navy
HMCS Athabaskan offers final sail for veterans before decommissioning
Final goodbye to the 44-year-old navy ship is Friday
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The HMCS Athabaskan docks at the Rainbow Gate after the day sail.
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HMCS Athabaskan docks at the Rainbow Gate after the day sail Wednesday.
For many, it was the last time they will step onto the ship, as it was decommissioned Friday.
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Some veterans sport Persian Gulf Tour jackets as they say goodbye to the HMCS Athabaskan.
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Commanding Officer Jean Couillard on the bridge of HMCS Athabaskan.Related stories
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Crew members work together to dock the ship on Wednesday.
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Gordon Stewart served on the second Athabaskan. He stands on the bridge for the final firing of artillery.
Stewart called the day sail “a wonderful reunion of friends,” but said he was sad to say goodbye to the final Athabaskan.
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Peter Rigby, who served in the navy for 19 years, calls the decommissioning of the Athabaskan “bittersweet.”
“The Athabaskan had one of the best crews I ever sailed with,” said Rigby, who served on the ship for 19 years before retiring two years ago as first class petty officer.
He said that when a scud missile flew over the ship during the Persian Gulf War, in the middle of the night, the crew went to their defence positions, or “action stations,” in under four minutes.
“That was from a dead sleep,” said Rigby of the missile alert. “I didn’t have to worry about people standing behind me or my counterparts beside me.”
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The ship’s canteen where crew members can buy goods.
The Athabaskan sailed by the “paying off” ceremony at the dockyard on Friday, where those who have a connection with the ship gave it one final salute. The term paying off comes from the British Commonwealth sailors’ tradition of paying a crew their wages once a ship reached its destination.
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A crew member looks out the window of the bridge before the firing off ceremony.
Disposal plans for the Athabaskan have yet to be determined.
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Current and former members of HMCS Athabaskan’s crew march off the ship after the day sail.Correction:
March 24, 2017: An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that Peter Rigby spent 19 years in the navy when in fact he spent 19 years on Athabaskan.
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Mike D'Arcy