Heavy Lifting

Over the last twenty years or so, Halifax has hosted visits by several heavy lift platforms associated with the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP). In fact, the second largest of these platforms in the world, Thialf (Halifax Shipping News has written a piece here) is sitting offshore of Halifax Harbour as I write this. Like Thialf, the modern generation of heavy lift platform, such as the Saipem 7000 (currently the world's third largest) is designed (among other things) to transport and place jackets and topsides for offshore oil and gas exploration and production platforms. I have yet to take any photos of Thialf due to the current COVID-19 quarantine, but I have previously written about the visits of Saipem 7000 (1998) and Heerema's Hermod (2003).

Saipem 7000 approaching the jetty in Woodside, with two SOEP jackets onshore to the left of the image.

Saipem 7000 now alongside and with the two jackets lifted onboard.

Shown here in Halifax in 2003, Hermod has since been scrapped. Heerema replaced her, and presumably her older sister Balder, with the new platforms Sleipnir and Thialf.

The history of floating crane platforms lifting heavy loads in Halifax Harbour goes back much further than the last twenty years, however, with (admittedly much smaller) heavy lifts occurring at least as far back as the Second World War. For use in their marine construction and salvage operations, the Foundation Company of Canada and their marine arm, Foundation Maritime, operated several such platforms bearing names such as Foundation Masson, Foundation Mersey, Foundation Scarboro, and Foundation Shipshaw (among others). The heaviest lifter of this bunch was Foundation Scarboro, with a lifting capacity of 230 tons on her shear legs.

One particular operation in 1945 or so involved lifting a number of small wooden tugboats onto a freighter to take them overseas. 

Foundation Scarboro lifting the tug CT65 onto a freighter, which appears to be the Fort Moose. 

"Under Tow" by Donal M. Baird recounts that twenty-two of these small 50-60 ton tugs of the Tanac-class were built of wood in small east coast boat yards, and many were shipped overseas as deckloads, with Britain and the Mediterranean as some of the destinations - one made it as far as Australia. Some remained in, or were repatriated to, Canada and served as late as the 1990s for companies such as Atlantic Towing.

In place of a name, the Tanacs initially carried the letters CT (for Canadian Tug) and a number. CT61 through CT65 were built on the South Shore of Nova Scotia by Industrial Shipping Co. Ltd. in Mahone Bay (61 through 63) and by Smith & Rhuland in Lunenburg (64 and 65). The Shipbuilding History website indicates that CT65 ended up in Italy under the name Tenax. 

Foundation Scarboro underway in Halifax with CT63 on the hook.

Lifting CT65.

Foundation Scarboro started off life with just the two shear legs fitted, but was later refitted to include a rotating derrick crane for more flexible but lighter lifting.

A close-up of the connection detail between the spreader bar and the tug.

A close-up of the connection detail between the spreader bar and the tug.

A close-up of the connection detail between the spreader bar and the tug.

A steel cable wrapped in padding passes down from the spreader bar and under the hull of the tug.

Presumably CT63 on board a freighter.

CT61 and another Tanac tug on-board their freighter. I'm not sure how many of these tugs a freighter could carry at once, but it was at least two at a time. In the top right of the image, just to the left of the bridge of the tug on the right, is what I assume is one of the old Halifax Harbour ferries.

CT64 onboard a freighter.

These tugs were build for the Ministry of War, who ultimately distributed them as needed. According to the Shipbuilding History website, a total of 265 of these tugs were built in Canada between approximately 1943 and 1946. Interestingly, as one of the hundreds of cargo vessels built in Canada during the war, Fort Moose was also built in Canada, at Montreal in 1943.

As it turns out, Foundation Maritime also operated a Tanac tug for a few years after the war, the Foundation Alice. She was built as CT262 at Smith & Rhuland in 1945, but was sold on from Foundation in 1948.

Foundation Alice.

Portuguese Navy's SAGRES II and Bluenose II

On possibly her first visit since the tall ships festival in 1984 (Shipfax suggests this isn't the case, and she has been here since), the Portuguese Navy's sail training barque SAGRES paid a visit to Halifax today, docking at Pier 24 just at after 10:00 this morning. I decided to put my Father's Day gift, a new fitness tracker, to good use and walked down to the ferry and then to the seaport.

SAGRES was fairly small on the horizon when seen from the ferry, and was carrying minimal sail.

SAGRES is one of a number of near sisterships that include the US Coast Guard's EAGLE, the German Navy's GORCH FOCK II, and Romania's MIRCEA. SAGRES is actually the second or third ship of that name in the Portuguese Navy, though online sources are unclear on whether she should be SAGRES II or SAGRES III - when she was here in 1984, it is my recollection that she was referred to as SAGRES II, and that is how I always think of her. 

On her entry to Halifax Harbour, SAGRES pulled up to the camber containing Pier 24, and two Ville class tugs of the RCN took up lines from bow and stern, and SAGRES was guided in stern first. Around this time, Bluenose II headed out with a load of guests.

Bluenose II heading out while tugs bring SAGRES into Pier 24.

The Navy's Ville class of small tugs often wear aprons over their bumpers to prevent marking the white hulls of certain visiting ships.

The lighting was not in our favour this morning, with the ship backlit for the entire approach.

Standing in the shadow of the ship's ensign yielded this image of the illuminated flag.

Members of what I assume was the Stadacona Band were on hand to greet SAGRES.

Pier 24 is not the most accessible or picturesque pier in the Port of Halifax - I personally would have preferred her to tie up further north in a more accessible portion of the waterfront. EAGLE has used the Cable Wharf in the past, however, the ongoing construction of the Queen's Marque development makes this impossible at the moment, and this may partly explain SAGRES berthing location.

After being securely tied up, the jack is raised on a staff midway along the bowsprit.

After finishing up with SAGRES, I headed north once more to catch the ferry back to Dartmouth. My walk was interrupted when I saw that Bluenose II was headed back to her own temporary berth in front of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Like SAGRES II, it is unclear what number the current Bluenose should be. Although formally called Bluenose II by her owners, the Province of Nova Scotia, the original Bluenose II (launched in 1963 as a mascot for the Oland Brewing Company) ended its life in a wood chipper, and the current Bluenose II is a complete new schooner from the keel up, and to slightly different lines. She should properly be called Bluenose III, and I have sometimes been known to refer to her as Bluenose v2.5. Regardless, she is an attractive sight when sailing the harbour, and without the original Bluenose II to compare her to, she is virtually indistinguishable from her namesake. 

Although "sailing" with the wind, her sails are hauled in tight, and she was making her way past George's Island under engine power when this image was taken. 

I managed this angle of her approach by kneeling on the floating wharf opposite Bluenose II's berth.

This early in the season, the floating wharf is unusually devoid of small boats, allowing this unencumbered viewing angle of Bluenose II and her reflection on the water. I needed a 12mm lens (18mm equivalent on my APS-C camera) to fit everything in.

Last year was the big tall ships festival for Canada's 150th year, so this year I will have to make do with the table scraps thrown my way with the occasional barque and schooner. 

2017 Royal Canadian Navy Photography Retrospective

The year of Canada's 150th anniversary celebration, 2017, included a number of unique opportunities to photograph the ships of the Royal Canadian Navy. Here are my favourites of the past year. Some are included because I really like the image, and others because it marked one milestone or another in the history of the RCN. They are presented more or less in chronological order.

2017 isn't the final year for the RCAF's CH-124 Sea King, but it is getting close, and some airframes will be retired in the coming months.

The reason for the Sea King's impending retirement, the RCAF's new CH-148 Cyclone, has been getting lots of flight time around Halifax. At the end of 2017, however, it has been announced that there will be a pause of Cyclone operations from RCN ships, as there is a conflict between the dipping sonar and the Beartrap hauldown cable while could cause damage to the former. The dipping sonar will therefore have to be relocated within the airframe on existing models, and the location will be modified on airframes yet to be completed. The helicopter, ordered in 2004 for delivery in 2008, will now be 10 years late.

The last IROQUOIS class destroyer, HMCS ATHABASKAN, took a bow this year, and paid off on March 3, 2017.

HMCS ATHABASKAN: Final Week in Commission and Paying Off

The Navy allowed the general public access to the paying off ceremony, so I was able to get relatively unfettered access. ATHABASKAN carried out a sailpast of the dockyard flying her paying off pennant, the first RCN ship to have the opportunity to do so in some years (her sisters IROQUOIS and ALGONQUIN, and the oilers PROTECTEUR and PRESERVER, were not seaworthy when paid off).

The paying off pennant trails behind ATHABASKAN, kept aloft by balloons. It is hard to see in this image, but you can see the tail end hanging just above the water to the left of the image.

ATHABASKAN approaches the jetty under her own power for the final time. This image made the cover of the Spring issue of Warships International Fleet Review magazine, published in the UK.

Hat's off!

The crew marches off the ship for the last time.

There were some good angles of the crew lined up on the jetty with the ship in the background.

The Syncrolift platform at HMC Dockyard required repairs and upgrades over the last few years, and with them complete, the platform can once again be used to hoist large ships. Here, HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN is shown after a bottom cleaning.

HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN on the Syncrolift

While ATHABASKAN was being paid off, her remaining sisters Algonquin (left) and Iroquois (right) were being broken up in Liverpool, NS.

Also coming to and end in Liverpool was the former HMCS PRESERVER. Here, she is shown hauled out, being broken up below the waterline.

Battle of the Atlantic Sunday was a foggy, rainy, affair this year, and HMCS MONTREAL didn't leave the jetty. The service was held inside the hangar.

Battle of the Atlantic Sunday - 2017

MONTREAL's bell shows traces of the day's weather.

At the end of May, SACKVILLE returned to her summer berth on the Halifax waterfront.

I always try to get the shot of sailors throwing lines ashore, and only occasionally manage it. I think succeeded here.

I only walked the bridge once this year, and while no ships passed underneath, I was rewarded with an RCN RHIB passing underneath.

Navy ships are once again being built at the Halifax Shipyard, and earlier this year both the middle and stern sections of the future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE were rolled out.

Harry DeWolf rollout

Another Cyclone flypast.

Another Sea King flypast.

Preserver left Halifax for the final time, bound for breaking up in Sydney, Cape Breton. Here, she has a tow line rigged, and the tug lies under her stern.

The Navy featured in portions of the 2017 Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo.

For the first time in many years, HMCS ORIOLE (the oldest commissioned vessel in the RCN) paid a visit to Halifax, stayed for the Tall Ships festival, and headed to Lunenburg in the autumn for a refit. Originally scheduled to return to the West Coast at some point after the refit, I have seen rumblings suggesting she may remain on the East Coast.

ORIOLE participating in the Tall Ships sailpast.

SUMMERSIDE escorted Queen Mary 2 during a sailpast in August.

SUMMERSIDE and a tug using its fire fighting monitors - what better excuse do I need?

The only RCN submarine currently assigned to the East Coast, WINDSOR, completed a refit and rolled out of the maintenance facility onto the Syncrolift, before being put back in the water.

MONTREAL returning from a training cruise.

Before SACKVILLE headed back to Dockyard for the winter, I took the opportunity to revisit her recently cleaned engine room for a new set of photos, and blogged about it.

HMCS SACKVILLE Engine Room

At the end of October, it was time for the inevitable return trip to Dockyard for SACKVILLE. When I have the opportunity (e.g. when work allows), I like to ride along during her transits - and this year I was rewarded with a well timed sunrise.

HMCS SACKVILLE cold move to Dockyard

I caught the rising sun from the bridge, both looking over the bow and the stern.

HMCS SUMMERSIDE returning to port, with MONCTON in the background.

I'm always a sucker for a nice dawn silhouette, like this one of MONCTON.

As with PROTECTEUR and ALGONQUIN before her, IROQUOIS goes under the cutting torch in Liverpool. 

WINDSOR underwent workups in December preparing for deployment in the new year.

Harry Dewolfe's bow made an appearance in December, and was mated to the rest of the hull. Shooting through a chain link fence can be a challenge.

Bow Roll-Out of future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE

I usually try to avoid clutter in my ship photos, however, I thought these cranes and other equipment framed the ship nicely.

TORONTO was underway a fair bit during December, so there were a few good opportunities to catch her from the ferry.

WINDSOR, too, cooperated with my ferry crossings.

Apart from some MCDVs, SACKVILLE was the only ship lit overall in the Dockyard this year. Athabaskan sits to the right.

To top off the year, the MV Asterix arrived in Halifax on December 28th.

MV Asterix arrival in Halifax

Asterix is the new interim AOR.

Overall, it has been an eventful year for the RCN in Halifax, and I look forward to 2018!