[6] The destroyers were also equipped beginning in 1958 with Mk 43 homing torpedoes in an effort to increase the distance between the ships and their targets.

[7] As part of the 1964 naval program, the Royal Canadian Navy planned to improve the attack capabilities of the Restigouche class.

[8] By 1969, the budget for naval programs had been cut and only four out of the seven (Terra Nova, Restigouche, Gatineau and Kootenay) would get upgraded to IRE standards and the remaining three (Chaudiere, Columbia, and St. Croix) were placed in reserve.

[15] However, by the time the ships emerged from their refits, they were already obsolete as the Falklands War had changed the way surface battles were fought.

[16] The ship was towed to Halifax, Nova Scotia by the tugboat Foundation Vigilant and completed there to avoid the freeze-up of the Saint Lawrence River.

[18] In August 1960, the destroyer escort, along with sister ships Terra Nova, St. Croix and Kootenay, took part in the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator's death off Lisbon.

[19] In March 1965, Terra Nova and Gatineau participated in the search for a Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair CP-107 Argus that had disappeared 60 miles (97 km) north of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

[21] In March 1968, Gatineau joined the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), the first Canadian warship to do so.

[22] In 1969, Gatineau was transferred to the west coast as part of the re-ordering of naval forces following the Unification of the Canadian Armed Forces in 1968, where four Restigouche-class vessels were transferred to the west coast, to replace the Mackenzie-class destroyers in the Second Canadian Escort Squadron.

[17] In September 1992, STANAVFORLANT took over the responsibility for patrolling the Adriatic Sea as part of the NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Gatineau had six .50 calibre machine guns, search lights, night vision equipment and a rigid-hulled inflatable boat installed aboard before departing for deployment with STANAVFORLANT as Canada's contribution.

[25] In July 1993, Gatineau escorted three Soviet warships that visited Canada, among them the cruiser Marshal Ustinov.

[17] Later that year, Gatineau was deployed off Haiti as part of the force enforcing the United Nations-sanctioned blockade of the island returning to Halifax on 23 November.

[16][17] In 1995, the ship took part in the NATO naval exercise Strong Resolve off the coast of Norway, acting as the Canadian flagship.