Forty-one years of distinguished service have come to an end for a Royal Canadian Navy ship that’s been retired at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

HMCS Algonguin received its last cheer at the navy base as sailors marched off for the last time and a band played Sunset.

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Commander and vice-admiral Mark Norman said the Iroquois-class destroyer protected Canadian interests at home and around the world.

The warship was deployed to places that included the Gulf of Oman, and also helped mark the centennial of the Canadian navy in 2010.

It was built in Lauzon, Que., and commissioned in November 1973.

The ship sailed for the first half of its life with the Atlantic fleet before transferring to the Pacific in 1994.

Algonquin was scheduled to retire in 2019, but that date was moved forward after the ship was damaged during a training exercise off Vancouver Island in 2013.

The warship and supply ship HMCS Protecteur were conducting a towing exercise when they collided. Algonquin bore the brunt of the collision, and had an estimated $3 million in damage to its port-side hangar.

Given the damage and the pending retirement, the government decided repair didn’t make economic sense.