The second of the Royal Canadian Navy's new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV) started builder's trials this week. The future HMCS MARGARET BROOKE, AOPV 431, left the pier at Halifax Shipyard on Thursday and headed into Bedford Basin under escort by a tug in case of trouble.
 |
| MARGARET BROOKE on trials in Bedford Basin. |
The ship has since headed out to sea and continues trials with a tug nearby. The first of class, HARRY DEWOLF, underwent a longer series of trials in Bedford Basin before heading to sea, which may have been a combination of caution with the first of the new ships as well as being necessary to familiarize crew with the operation of the first of class.
Technically, the ship has neither had her naming ceremony nor her commissioning ceremony, and still needs to be handed over to the Navy. Only once all those steps are completed can the new ship properly be called HMCS MARGARET BROOKE. Her elder sistership, HARRY DEWOLF, is scheduled to commission this summer, and until then is properly called "future HMCS HARRY DEWOLF". The RCN has decided to simplify things in the interim, and usually just refers to the ship as HMCS HARRY DEWOLF in press releases and on social media.
Part 2 of my piece on HARRY DEWOLF, and an interview with her CO, appears in the May 2021 issue of Warships IFR Magazine - it is out now in the UK. The April issue, with Part 1, should appear shortly on Canadian shelves (assuming it hasn't already).
No comments:
Post a Comment