Farewell to Athabaskan

After paying off during the winter of 2017, the former HMCS ATHABASKAN has been alongside in HMC Dockyard having various equipment removed and being prepared for breaking up. I covered her final week in commission and her paying off ceremony here.

With all the preparations complete, Athabaskan was schedule to leave first at 1000 on Wednesday March 28, which was then delayed until 1700 that day, but she instead finally left Halifax on March 29 under tow for Sydney, NS, where she will be broken up. The later timing worked much better for me, as I would otherwise have missed it. 

I rode the Halifax-Dartmouth ferry back and forth from 0800 until 0915 or so to get these images, and was fortunate that the ferry was able to pass ahead of the tow on her final Dartmouth-bound crossing - which is exactly what I was hoping for! 

Atlantic Larch was alongside the jetty hooking up the towline when I arrived at the ferry, and she was shortly joined by the Navy tugs Glenside and Listerville to help ease Athabaskan out into the stream.

Athabaskan shortly after the tow began, with Atlantic Larch in the lead and Glenside still with a line to the quarterdeck. A backup towline is rigged at deck level along the starboard side - to be used if the primary tow line breaks during the tow.

Other ships have been towed via a bridle connected to the two anchor chains, however, Athabaskan only has the one anchor chain on her starboard side, so the tug is connected to a line threaded through the bullnose. Another line hangs from the starboard bow, possible one of her mooring lines improperly stowed.

This is the specific shot I was hoping for - a portrait image of Athabaskan and her tugs.

My final sight of Athabaskan - the obligatory shot of her with the George's Island lighthouse in the foreground.

When she was paid off, Athabaskan was the only destroyer in commission with the Royal Canadian Navy, and it is unclear whether the RCN will ever have another - it is quite possible that the proposed Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC), the class of 15 ships slated to replace the IROQUOIS and HALIFAX classes, will be classified as frigates. Regardless of whether new ships are classified as frigates or destroyers, the IROQUOIS class, and Athabaskan as the final representative of that class, was probably the last destroyer (for a while at least) entirely designed and built in Canada, as the RCN is currently looking at foreign designs for CSC.

Farewell, Athabaskan!

Heavy lifts, shipbreaking & camber dives

This will be the blog equivalent of a buffet, covering all of the little nautical things that I have photographed over the last month and a bit.

To start with, there has been the usual shipping traffic including container ships, tankers, and the smaller coastal freighters.

Atlantic Sail escorted by Atlantic Fir.

Torm Carina.

YM Evolution.

Anet.

Halifax was also visited by the semi-submersible heavy lift ship Dockwise Forte carrying the jack-up oil rig Noble Regina Allen. The rig was offloaded, and tied up at Woodside before being towed offshore to start dismantling one of the Sable Offshore natural gas platforms.

Dockwise Forte carrying the jackup rig Noble Regina Allen.

Dockwise Forte carrying the jackup rig Noble Regina Allen.

Atlantic Willow.

I also managed to catch some naval traffic, including HMCS SUMMERSIDE both in and out of the water.

SUMMERSIDE.

SUMMERSIDE with GLACE BAY in the background.

SUMMERSIDE.

SUMMERSIDE on the Syncrolift. To steal a joke from others, the connections to shore services makes her look like a member of the Borg Collective from Star Trek.

HMCS GLACE BAY also made an appearance.

After recently completing a refit and returning to the water, HMCS WINDSOR has been fitting out to return to service, and carried out a camber dive within HMC Dockyard. A camber dive is a controlled test dive, and in this case at least her "fin" (the USN calls it the "sail", and it was known as the "conning tower" during the Second World War) remained out of the water to allow the embarked crew access to the open air.

HMCS WINDSOR performing a camber dive in HMC Dockyard, with only the fin visible above the water.

On the last Sunday of November, I was able to make a short trip down the South Shore, stopping in Lunenburg and Liverpool.

Cape Sable at the Fisheries Museum.

Winter cover framework is assembled onboard the schooner Theresa E. Connor.

Rekord in Lunenburg.

Bluenose II also has the framework for her winter cover assembled.

Both Lunenburg slips were occupied, with Svitzer's Point Chebucto and the Canadian Coast Guard's M. Perley in for maintenance.

Point Chebucto and CCGS M. Perley.

Point Chebucto and CCGS M. Perley.

Further down the South Shore in Liverpool, the scrapping of the former HMCS IROQUOIS continues. The entire superstructure has been removed, and the hull has been partially hauled out onto the shore to continue the work. This leaves only one intact IROQUOIS class destroyer, the former ATHABASKAN - and she lies alongside in Halifax being stripped of weapons before going for scrap herself. I suspect the recent effort to preserve her as a museum will be unsuccessful.

Hull of the former IROQUOIS hauled out at the Port Mersey Industrial Park.

Having recently come across one of my grandfather's slides of the old Government Wharf in Liverpool, despite the rain that started I took a quick shot of the wharf as it appears today to compare to the older image.

Cape Rock and Flying Cloud, with the Judith Suzanne to the far right. This image was taken prior to 1984, probably between 1977 and 1980 based on an adjacent photo of myself or my brother in the same slide tray.

The same view roughly 40 years later in 2017 is rather different.

The old Government Wharf in Liverpool, with Richmond Odyssey, Fortune Lady, and Bickerton Pride alongside.

While Bickerton Pride looks like she might have belonged alongside the wharf in the 1970s or early 1980s, the other two are rather more modern. Back then, though, the vessels were more likely to have been built of wood. Time marches on.