Launch of the future HMCS William Hall

The fourth of six new AOPVs to be built for the Royal Canadian Navy, the future HMCS William Hall, was launched by Irving Shipbuilding on Sunday. I caught her being towed back to the shipyard after launching. Halifax Shipping News has photos of the actual launch process.

Only a week before, the ship was still on land and looking like she wasn't going anywhere fast.

Two slightly modified additional ships (making a total of eight) will be built for the Canadian Coast Guard, once the ships for the Navy are complete.

Launching the future HMCS MAX BERNAYS

As hinted in my last post, the future HMCS MAX BERNAYS was rolled onto Boa Barge 37 on Friday in advance of her launch on Saturday. (For brevity, I will just refer to her as MAX BERNAYS from now on.)

As noted in my previous post, the red wheeled transporters in the foreground are positioned under the ship's cradles, and the entire assembly of ship and cradles is rolled out onto the Boa Barge 37.

I will start with a photo from a week or so ago, showing the ship up on the land level transfer area, prior to the transfer. She was located under the tower crane and next to the elevator tower.

MAX BERNAYS up "on the hard" prior to the transfer.

On Friday, the transfer began and the ship was moved backwards onto the barge. I nipped down over my lunch hour to grab a few photos.

MAX BERNAYS moving back onto the barge. Boa Barge 37 is the red barge with the white superstructure in this photo.

It has been noted on Twitter, where I first posted these photos, that MAX BERNAYS is the first of the AOPVs to be painted with a blue antifouling paint. The previous ships were painted with a red bottom, with a suggestion (not verified by me) that the red paint was the same as that used by the Canadian Coast Guard on their icebreakers. No word yet on whether this blue paint is a new product that will also be good in ice, or if it has been decided that the ship doesn't need the red paint.

An overall view of ship and Boa Barge 37 with the shipyard shed in the background.

When I returned later in the afternoon, the ship was entirely on the barge. 

If you look closely, you can see the red transporters under the cradles.

On Saturday morning, the Boa Barge 37 and MAX BERNAYS were towed out into Bedford Basin. The semi-submersible Boa Barge 37 was sunk underneath MAX, and the latter floated off around 4pm. I missed the actual launch, but managed to catch MAX's return to the shipyard in the early evening.

MAX was towed as a dead ship from the launch location back to the shipyard, under the command of two tugs.

The ship was turned before going alongside at the shipyard.

The ship is by no means finished, and work will continue for a number of months to complete the ship's interior and to commission it various equipment and systems. Various pieces of equipment also still need to be installed, such as sensors and the main gun. The ship is scheduled to be handed over to the Navy sometime in 2022, and won't likely commission until 2023 at the earliest after the Navy's own process of handover and familiarization. 

Future HMCS MAX BERNAYS

(Note: A previous version of this blog post incorrectly indicated that the WILLIAM HALL was rolled out, however, it is actually the MAX BERNAYS. The keel for the WILLIAM HALL was laid recently, hence my confusion on the subject. The quickest way to find the answer to something is to post the incorrect answer on the internet.)

The future HMCS WILLIAM HALL MAX BERNAYS is taking shape at the Halifax Shipyard, with the stern and midships sections having rolled out of the building hall within the last few months, and having recently been joined together. MAX BERNAYS will be the third Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) to enter service in the Royal Canadian Navy. The first, HARRY DEWOLF, is currently undergoing sea trials and has recently operated in ice off Baffin Island. She will commission into the RCN later this year.

The arrangement of the building yard, storage for snow, ship's cradles, and high fencing does not make for easy photography, but one manages.

The opening for the port stabilizer can be seen just to the right of the yellow debris chute - it is retracted into the hull, as it would be when the ship is operating in ice or coming alongside. Icebreaking hulls are not known for great handling in rough sea conditions, and these stabilizers will help to make the ships a little more comfortable and prevent excessive rolling.

Photography from the ferry at dusk is similarly not easy, as it is taken from a distance at high ISO levels, but it can certainly be pretty. I need to find a better vantage point for this sort of night time image.

For those interested, I have a two-part article on these ships coming out in the April and May editions of Warships International Fleet Review magazine, and these articles greatly benefitted from an interview with the commander of HMCS HARRY DEWOLF.

HMCS HARRY DEWOLF (AOPV 430) returns from her circum-Newfoundland cruise

Upon seeing that HARRY DEWOLF was entering Halifax Harbour yesterday morning, and not having any meetings on my calendar, I was able to nip down to Alderney Landing to take a few photos. The weather did not cooperate, starting off with light fog and ending with actual rain.

HARRY DEWOLF just rounding George's Island with McNab's Island in the background and a Canadian Coast Guard Bell 412 helicopter in the background.

One of the Glen tugs approaches HARRY DEWOLF as a CCG RHIB speeds by in the foreground.

HARRY DEWOLF with George's Island in the background.

It was at this point that the rain started, which supplanted the fog in degrading my image quality.

At this point, I think I got a single shot off before rain coated my front filter, and I had to retreat to the back of the car to clean it off.

HARRY DEWOLF passing in front of MV Asterix.

As the first of a new class of Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV), the Navy has been putting HARRY DEWOLF through her paces both in Bedford Basin and at sea, with her most recent cruise a counterclockwise circumnavigation of Newfoundland that also took her into the Northumberland Strait where she had a photo op with the Confederation Bridge. With a planned Arctic passage in 2021, all her systems need to be certified and the crew needs to be well familiar with the ship. It is also a time to root out any inevitable bugs and deficiencies, like some recent fuel pump failures, which presumably need to be fixed under warranty by the shipyard.