The RCN's future River Class destroyers

Back on June 28th, the Halifax Shipyard hosted a ceremonial steel cutting for the new River Class of destroyers that are being built for the Royal Canadian Navy. I attended the event and wrote a piece that is appearing in the September 2024 issue of Warships International Fleet Review - which should be hitting Canadian shelves shortly, if not already. Atlantic News in Halifax usually carries the magazine, as Chapters/Indigo often has it as well. The cover looks like this:

My story appears on Pages 32 through 34:

The new ships will look something like this, based on this rendering provided courtesy of the RCN:

My article covers some of the challenges faced by the program and how they are being addressed. If you are interested, please check it out!

Ceremonial cutting of steel for the first River Class destroyer and the first Canadian Coast Guard AOPV.

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. 

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.

Launching Ships at Halifax Shipyard, and upcoming launch of HARRY DEWOLFE

When the Halifax Shipyard was modernized in recent years in support of the National Shipbuilding Strategy to allow it to construct the new Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) and Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC), the original launching ways were demolished and the construction sheds were reoriented such that vessels under construction would exit the buildings at the north end instead of the south as was the case previously. 

Tugs belonging to Atlantic Towing Limited, another Irving company, line up in front of Atlantic Condor prior to the latter's launch from the old launching ways.

Atlantic Larch performs in front of Atlantic Condor, prior to launch.

The old launching ways were on the site where many ships were built previously, including the second group of four Tribal Class destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy. Those ships were built right on the ways, and were launched stern first. Since the construction of the RCN's fleet of MCDVs, however, things changed slightly. The MCDVs were constructed in a shed further up the hill, and when complete were transferred out onto a "turntable" which transitioned the ships in both the horizontal and vertical so they could be sent down the launching ways. The turntable was upgraded several times over the years to accommodate larger ships, such as Atlantic Towings fleet of offshore support vessels - including Atlantic Condor.

Traditionally, ships tended to be launched stern-first in order to prevent damage to the ship's running gear (e.g. propellers and shafts) and rudders. Atlantic Condor and other recent vessels at Halifax Shipyard, however, launched bow first. As I recall, a protective cradle was welded to the ship's hull to prevent it from damaging this critical gear as the bow starts to float and the stern drops accordingly, and the cradle was removed after the launch. In addition, the Atlantic Condor at least was ballasted down by the bow significantly, so it is also possible that the ship simply floated off the ways on the level in the first place.

Prior to the launch, Atlantic Towing tugs (in this photo, Atlantic Oak) performed for the crowd.

Prior to the launch, Atlantic Towing tugs (in this photo, Atlantic Oak) performed for the crowd.

Atlantic Condor heading down the launching ways.

Afloat now, Atlantic Condor can be seen to be heavily ballasted down by the bow.

Atlantic Condor heading alongside to complete her fitting out.

Now, however, ships are built within the new shed in modules which are transported outside to a "land level transfer facility" where the modules are joined. I believe this method is modeled at least in part on that which is used at Bath Iron Works in Maine, and in keeping with BIW, the completed ship is eventually to be transferred onto a semi-submersible drydock or barge in order to be launched. Until today, this last part of the puzzle was missing from the Halifax Shipyard, as the shipyard's two previous floating drydocks, Scotia Dock and Nova Dock, were both removed in recent years.

Tug Boa Odin nudges one half of the Nova Dock onto the semi-submersible barge Boa Barge 33.

A portion of the former Nova Dock being removed from Halifax Harbour on the deck of Boa Barge 33.

The second half of Nova Dock, destined for Florida, on the deck of Boa Barge 33. 

Earlier today, Boa Barge 37 arrived in Halifax under tow by Boa Bison. When the future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE, the first of the AOPS, is ready for launch, she will be transferred onto the deck of Boa Barge 37. The latter will be towed to a position deep enough (possibly in Bedford Basin, though the main harbour would be more convenient for this photographer - hint, hint) to submerge and allow HARRY DEWOLFE to float off.

Boa Barge 37 alongside at the Halifax Shipyard, having arrived earlier this morning.

Boa Bison in the narrows of Halifax Harbour.

The future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE under construction.

The future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE sits on the hard, just north of the new assembly building.

The future HMCS HARRY DEWOLFE under construction last year.