[5][note 3] The ships were powered by two Babcock & Wilcox boilers connected to the two-shaft English-Electric geared steam turbines providing 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW).

[4] The ships were initially armed with two 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber[note 4] dual-purpose guns mounted in a single turret forward.

The two Annapolis-class destroyers were built late enough to incorporate the helicopter hangar retrofitted to the St. Laurent class and the "Beartrap" haul-down device.

However, in 1959, the last two repeat Restigouches were altered to incorporate variable depth sonar and a helicopter landing area and became a separate class.

[12] Her construction was overseen by Cdr Donald Clark CD, who also oversaw the laying-down and commencement of HMCS Bras d'Or.

[17] In 1982, Nipigon was tasked with searching for and recovering any survivors from Ocean Ranger, a semi-submersible oil platform that had sunk in heavy seas.

[18] Nipigon's DELEX refit was performed by Davie Shipbuilding at Lauzon, taking place from 27 June 1983 to 22 August 1984[12] and cost $16 million.

[19] On 28 April 1985, the warship shelled and sank the fishing trawler Lady Marjorie after it had been abandoned by its crew and became a hazard to navigation.

[20] In June 1985, Nipigon, while participating in naval exercises, suffered structural damage after a 15-metre (49 ft)[21] stress crack sheared 215 rivets in the vessel's superstructure.

[12] On 27 February 1987, her CH-124 helicopter rescued crewmen from the tug Gulf Gale which had caught fire off Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.

[15] Nipigon underwent another refit, this time at Port Weller, Ontario beginning on 30 August 1988 and lasting to 16 February 1990.

[12] In June 1995, the destroyer intercepted the Spanish fishing vessel Patricia Nores, and boarded her just outside Canada's exclusive economic zone.

Eleven tonnes of unrecorded turbot catch was found aboard Patricia Nores in a secret compartment.