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.

Photos this week: September 19-23

I don't have much time to write today, so I'll just share some of the photos I took this week around the harbour.

Norwegian Gem arriving in the fog on Monday morning.

If you look closely, you can see HMCS SUMMERSIDE sneaking in behind Norwegian Gem.

Norwegian Gem turned 180 degrees before coming alongside.

A large crane on a barge has been stored on the Dartmouth shore next to the Macdonald Bridge. It looked particularly interesting in the fog on Monday.

Bluenose v2.5 was in port this week, and the calm harbour on Monday made for nice reflections.

The Navy was also busy this week too, starting on Monday when GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE emerged out of the fog. The Navy's paint scheme blends well into the fog, and I had to resort to manual focus for many of these shots, as there was not enough contract to use the autofocus. 

HMCS GOOSE BAY.

HMCS GOOSE BAY passing the George's Island lighthouse.

The fog thickened up a little bit before SUMMERSIDE could make her way in.

Friday provided two special treats, with GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE anchored in formation at dawn, and HMCS ST. JOHN'S being hoisted on the Syncrolift for maintenance.

GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE at dawn.

The Syncrolift was originally built to handle the OBERON class submarines purchased for the RCN in the 1960s, and there was originally a tent-shaped shed that the subs could be rolled into for long term maintenance and refits. In the mid-1980s, the Syncrolift itself was upgraded to handle up to 6000 tonne "NATO" frigates, and it could then handle the destroyers of the day. With the purchase of the VICTORIA class submarines in the late 1990s, the old shed was no longer big enough, and while the Syncrolift platform could lift the new subs, it could not support them to be rolled inshore as the VICTORIA class have a larger load density (e.g. higher tonnes per length) and the inshore portion of the platform (and associated winches) had to be upgraded once again. Around the same time, the sub shed itself was torn down, and replaced with the new structure shown in the photos below which can handle the VICTORIA class.

Blocked up on the Syncrolift, ST. JOHN'S is hoisted out of the water. 

The blocking under the ship has to be fairly tall in order to accommodate the ship's propellers, which draw considerably more water than the hull. If you look closely, you can see some of the old blue antifouling paint peaking out from underneath the current black colour. Prior to the blue, I believe a grey colour was used. You could probably write a short paper on the procession of different colours of antifouling paint used by the Navy over the years. 

The heaviest part (or greatest load density) of the ships and subs is the middle part of the ship, and the platform and winches under that portion of the ship have to be able to handle the larger load. You can see the smaller winches on the harbour side, with larger winches located under the ship's funnel (and machinery spaces). 

I got a good chuckle when I zoomed in on images of what I presume is one of hte Navy's boarding teams heading out on Friday, with several members holding what appeared to be Tim Horton's cups in their hands. 

Exercise Cutlass Fury Sailpast

What better way to kick off the Royal Canadian Navy's Cutlass Fury exercise than a good old fashioned sailpast of the Halifax waterfront? Apart from the few times that RCN vessels have deployed in task groups in recent years, this has been the first proper sailpast in many years. After scouting several locations, I eventually decided on the wharf at Sackville Landing. It wasn't my first pick, but was a useful trade-off in that it was less crowded, and I had the option of running for the boardwalk south of the tug wharf to get shots of the ships departing in a line.

Overall, it was a a beautiful day for the sailpast, even if the light was a bit harsh (and the photos required a bit of Photoshop help).

Of the ships participating in the exercise, the two supply ships (USNS Robert E Peary and SPS PATINO) left early and did not participate in the sailpast. Peary left too early for me to catch her, but I did manage to photograph PATINO as she left.

SPS PATINO.

SPS PATINO.

Unlike the later ships, PATINO headed out using the eastern channel.

The Eastern Canada Towing wharf was in the way, and I had to crop this photo severely to hide it.

While we were waiting for the ships to depart, there was also a fair bit of air traffic.

A CH-148 Cyclone and a CH-124 Sea King in the same shot.

CH-148 Cyclone. I'm cheating with this one, as I caught it from the ferry on the way home from work.

The ships participating in the sailpast had departed the Dockyard earlier in the morning, and headed into Bedford Basin where they could form up for the sailpast. The departed the Basin in time such that the lead ship, FREDERICTON, could make it to be in line with HMCS PRESERVER for 1300. Alongside in the Dockyard, PRESERVER acted as the review ship. Soon after, FREDERICTON appeared from behind Cable Wha....errrr....DOWN IN FRONT, THEODORE!

Pesky Theodore Too and other traffic in the Big Harbour.

Where was I? Oh, right - FREDERICTON emerged from behind the Cable Wharf.

HMCS FREDERICTON.

HMCS FREDERICTON.

FREDERICTON was followed by USS BULKELEY, an Arleigh Burke Flight IIA class destroyer.

USS BULKELEY.

USS BULKELEY.

BULKELEY following FREDERICTON.

Apart from the ships, there was some smaller naval traffic in the harbour as well.

What I assume to be an RCN Boarding Team in a RHIB (Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat). Either that, or a harbour tour gone wrong.

As the ships passed Sackville Landing, each ship saluted HMCS SACKVILLE, at which time the CO of SACKVILLE returned the salute.

(Correction: A previous version of this post suggested that SACKVILLE was saluting each passing ship, when in fact, the reverse was occuring. SACKVILLE is the senior ship.)

Salute from HMCS SACKVILLE.

Salute from HMCS SACKVILLE.

Following BULKELEY was USS GONZALEZ, an older Burke Flight I class destroyer.

USS GONZALEZ.

USS GONZALEZ.

Next after GONZALEZ was the Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS MONMOUTH.

HMS MONMOUTH.

HMS MONMOUTH.

HMS MONMOUTH.

The French destroyer LANGUEDOC was next in line. What a difference 20-25 years makes in warship design! As mentioned in a previous post or two, the AQUITAINE class (of which LANGUEDOC is a member) is presumed to be a contender for the Canadian Surface Combatant program to replace the RCN's current destroyers and frigates.

FS LANGUEDOC.

NH-90 helo on FS LANGUEDOC.

A CH-148 Cyclone flies in the background of FS LANGUEDOC and her NH-90 helo.

FS LANGUEDOC.

After the last of the foreign warships, it was back to Canadian Content with HMCS ATHABASKAN. 

HMCS ATHABASKAN.

Crew manning the rails of ATHABASKAN.

HMCS ATHABASKAN.

Next came the two MCDVs, HMC Ships GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE.

HMCS GOOSE BAY.

HMCS GOOSE BAY.

HMCS SUMMERSIDE.

HMCS SUMMERSIDE.

Finally, after I announced that I didn't think WINDSOR was participating, guess who appeared? Submariners are sneaky that way.

HMCS WINDSOR.

It was at this point that I made a mad dash from the Sackville Landing wharf to the boardwalk by Bishop's Landing in order to get better pictures of the ships heading out in a line, cameras and backpack bouncing, and I suddenly remembered why I don't ever run anywhere. If anyone saw this sad sight, you can keep your opinion to yourself.

HMCS WINDSOR.

The two MCDVS, GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE, as well as WINDSOR, all turned around and came back into the harbour on the east side of George's Island. Presumably the MCDVs won't be participating in the main ASW portion of the exercise, and WINDSOR may make her way to the exercise area on her own.

It took a while before all the tugs and sailboats cleared the way so I could get this shot of the main fleet of surface combatants departing the harbour.

The fleet departs with Holland America's cruise ship Rotterdam to the right.

To finish, I present a photo of another of the contenders for the Canadian Surface Combatant program, which was also present in the harbour this afternoon:

Kite Surfer.

I also have a previous blog posting with photos of the ships alongside and, in some cases, as they arrived last week.