CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk tour

 

CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk alongside at BIO.

I took the opportunity on Canadian Guard Guard Day at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography to tour the newest vessel in the fleet, the research vessel CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk - the replacement for the retired and broken up CCGS Hudson. This was the first time I actually got to set eyes on this ship, which only arrived on the East Coast recently after her delivery cruise from Vancouver where she was built.

Captions and explanations are based on my memory of the tour, and my recollections may not be 100% accurate. 

Hudson was commissioned in 1964 and retired in January 2022.

A piece of Hudson herself wasn't far away - her old propeller sat on the jetty within sight - take a look at the dent in the blade on the right!

The tour started on the aft working deck of the ship. If I am reading the rank insignia correctly (with the help of Wikipedia), our guide was Deputy Superintendent Mullen (the ship's First Officer).

This boom is dedicated to launching sensors over the ship's transom to free up the larger crane and A-frame for other tasks.

The blue launching equipment handles an array that measures seawater salinity and density. The array is towed up to a nautical mile behind the ship and provides a constant stream of data back to the ship.

On the aft deck, our guide explained that the deck itself is littered with small round covers - any of which can be removed and underneath are tie-downs that can be used to moor sea containers or other equipment. 

Looking forward from the aft working deck to the superstructure.

The large yellow cranes in this photo were built by Hawbolt Industries in Chester, NS. From here, we headed up to the bridge. The steps and railings of the ship are heat traced to prevent ice buildup in cold weather conditions. The CCG is apparently moving away from Starlink for satellite communications and is using OneWeb, a Canadian solution. (OneWeb is apparently European, not Canadian).  

Looking to port at the ship's Fast Rescue Craft (or FRC). 

The ship has two boats, the FRC and a dedicated lifeboat. There are also several inflatable lifeboats such as the white cylinders to the left of the image. 

Looking aft from the bridge deck with the ship's lifeboat on the right (port side). 

Interior of the lifeboat looking aft.

Interior of the lifeboat looking forward.

Port bridge helm station.

The port helm station again. The semi-circle handles are used to control the ship's two azipods, and the lever between them is used to control the ship's bow thruster. 

In addition to the manual helm controls, the ship has a Dynamic Positioning system. Basically an auto-helm, it can be turned on at any time under 4 knots and will use GPS to maintain the ship's position in a single spot which is very useful when a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is deployed.

The ship's azipods have the propellers pointed forward to pull the ship through the water, rather than the more traditional push configuration. It was explained that this was to reduce interference with towed sensor packages. 

Starboard aft helm station.

Ship's bridge looking forward and to port.

Ship's bridge looking forward and slightly to starboard, with the buildings of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in the background through the windows. 

A typical twin cabin. The head is on the left. There are also single cabins.

People sharing a twin cabin are often on different shifts, with one person sleeping while the other is working.

The interior of the oceanographic Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) sampling room.

The sampling bottles can be opened at both ends and the entire housing is sent to hover just above the ocean bottom and they can take samples at different water depths as it is brought back up to the ship. They can also deploy the plankton net to the right of our guide.

The ship will typically repeat certain runs at the same time every year (such as the "St. John's Run" where they go several hundred miles offshore) and visit the same spots to take samples and readings that can be compared year over year. There are also sensor buoys that take readings year round, and the data from the ship is compared against the data from the buoys to confirm continuity and consistency. The data is ultimately used to assess the health of the ocean.

A view of the starboard superstructure with the oceanographic sampling room doors open and the control cabin to the left.

Closeup of the oceanographic sampling room with the doors open.

One of the several labs onboard the ship.

Looking forward along the starboard side.

The crane and A-frame at the stern of the ship.

Looking forward and to port at the ship's superstructure.

I did ask who I should bribe in order to obtain a tour of the engine room but was told that it was a long list of people and that I probably didn't have enough cash on me for that purpose (or that I would have had to make arrangements in advance) or something like that. Maybe both.

In any case, it was described that the ship's powerplant is diesel electric, and that the diesel is housed in an acoustic enclosure to reduce noise and interference with the various sensor packages the ship will  carry in service. In any event, we were told that one of the engines was running while we were onboard, and we could not hear anything or feel any vibration in the deck plates. In fact, our guide told us that there aren't even any signs requiring hearing protection at the entrance to the engine room.

It was also a good opportunity to get a close-up view of one of the CCG's Bell 412 EPI helicopters. This is a modern iteration of the legendary Huey. 

Aside from the ship and helicopter tours, there were many other booths, tents, and displays showing what the CCG does, so if you are interested you should check it out next year.

Knorr & Matthew

In an interesting coincidence, I saw two stories this week within a day of each other that took me back 19 years to a university work term at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO). I was lucky enough to be taken on by the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) for the 1997 winter work term (and indeed one day a week for that summer), where I frequently had a view of the comings and goings from the BIO wharf. 

R/V Knorr at the BIO wharf in 1997.

One visitor during my time there was the R/V Knorr, a US Navy-owned research vessel operating out of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and the ship that discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic. I was lucky enough to catch her during her departure from BIO, during light flurries. Launched in 1968, she was already 29 years old at the time, and she was still operating out of Woods Hole as late as 2014 or so. 

R/V Knorr departing from BIO in 1997.

Also at the wharf during some of my time at BIO was CCGS Matthew, a hydrographic vessel operated by CHS (she may still have been referred to as CSS Matthew at that time). She was at that time still in her all-white paint job, before the Canadian Coast Guard colours were applied. 

CCGS Matthew (left), CCGS Parizeau (right), with HMCS IROQUOIS photobombing in the background. All are now decommissioned or paid off (1997). None of the three ships are in CCGS or Navy service any longer.

Within a year or so of this photo, Matthew was repainted in the standard Canadian Coast Guard colours, and this is how she appears in most of the photos that I have of her. A few from my collection:

CCGS Matthew in 2005.

CCGS Matthew in 2008.

CCGS Matthew in 2012.

This last photo is probably the most recent that I have of her (underway at least), as she was laid up in 2012 due to budget cuts. Shipfax is now reporting that she has been renamed 2015-03, and is being readied for disposal. Built only in 1990, at 26 years of age she should have some life left in her, but alas, not in Canadian government service. 

R/V Knorr has 20 years on Matthew (errr, I mean 2015-03), but instead of being scrapped, is being renamed ARM RIO TECOLUTLA and is being transferred to the Mexican Navy. Perhaps someone will find some use for Matthew, though perhaps her singular design as a hydrographic survey ship will count against her. I was told that she rolled quite badly when her two survey boats were not embarked, but perhaps the aft deck could be closed in and some ballast added.