FS MONGE and Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov

With the arrival of the French Navy's missile and satellite tracking ship MONGE (A601) this week, a number of photos have floated around not only of MONGE but also of some other similar Russian visitors to Halifax over the years. I thought I would join in.

FS MONGE

From the Wikipedia article, MONGE is named after the French mathematician Gaspard Monge, and is a missile range instrumentation ship. She has been in service since 1992. At 21,000 tonnes, she is 740 feet long. 

FS MONGE.

It has been a few years, but previous generations of this type of ship were also visitors to Halifax, including the Soviet Union's Kosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, both operated by the Academy of Sciences. I don't have photos of the former, but through my grandfather, I have photos of the latter. 

From his house on Johnston Avenue in Dartmouth, overlooking the harbour, my grandfather had a clear view of any and all marine traffic passing by, and he frequently took photos of the various ships. It would probably not be far wrong to surmise that I inherited my interest not only in photography, but in maritime photography, from him. The following three images are scanned from his old slides. 

Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. © Sandy Mowat

I don't have precise dates for his photos, but in the case of the photo above, Fenwick Place appears to be in the advanced stages of construction, and a Wikipedia article places its completion in 1971, making this photo circa 1970/71. Also of interest are the CCG icebreakers Labrador and Louis S. St. Laurent in the foreground at the now-closed CCG base in Dartmouth. 

She was named for Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, a cosmonaut and engineer who died when his Soyuz 1 capsule crashed on landing after its parachutes failed to open. Designated a "Space Control Monitoring Ship" in the 5th edition of Norman Polmar's "The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy", she was 17,500 tons full load, 510 feet long, and was commissioned in 1967. She was converted from a dry cargo ship during construction.

Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. © Sandy Mowat

The shot above is a better silhouette that shows her radomes and antennas to better effect against the sky, with what I presume is one of the marine railway platforms of the Dartmouth Marine Slips in the foreground. She carried tracking and communications antennas including Quad Ring, Ship Globe, Ship Wheel, and Vee Cone HF (I assume these are NATO reporting names not tied to the actual Russion designations). I'm not sure which are which, but my guess (based on common antennas between different ships in the Norman Polmar book) is that the small globe is Ship Globe, the big domes hide Ship Wheel antennas, and the Vee Cones are at the mast heads in the photos above and below (the forward set are visible just above the aft dome in the latter). 

Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. © Sandy Mowat

I'm not sure where the photo above was taken, but would guess she is at the south end of Pier 21.

Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was decommissioned in 1989 after the fall of the Soviet Union, and presumably scrapped shortly thereafter. 

Shipfax also has a post with photos of Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.

Nova Dock departure

To follow up on my previous posting on Nova Dock, after she was towed from the Halifax Shipyard to the Woodside pier, I captured some photos of the now-cut-in-two Nova Dock being loaded onto Boa Barge 33 - well, at least part of it was loaded.

As a post-Panamax floating drydock, Nova Dock was easily ably to swallow the largest ships capable of transiting the Panama Canal while at Halifax Shipyard. Shown here, it accommodated HMCS PRESERVER with room to spare:

HMCS PRESERVER in Nova Dock during her final refit in 2010.

As an aside, during passage through the narrows after this refit, PRESERVER attempted a 180 degree turn and lost power, coming into contact with Nova Dock and damaging both ship and drydock.

Once, when I was living directly across the harbour from Nova Dock, it lifted both of the Canadian Coast Guard heavy icebreakers - Louis S. St. Laurent and Terry Fox - at the same time, with the two ships end-to-end. I have photos of that somewhere too, but of course, can't find them at the moment.

After being towed to Woodside, however, Nova Dock was cut in two in order to be shipped to Florida for a new owner. The ends where it was cut were plated in, and it will be shipped to Florida in two parts. The "aft" end (the part without the two cranes mounted), for lack of a better description, is going first.

On Monday afternoon, the semi-submersible barge Boa Barge 33 was towed from Halterm out to an anchorage in the harbour, in front of the former Canadian Coast Guard base.

Boa Barge 33 being towed out into the harbour.

On Tuesday morning, the deck of Boa Barge 33 (accompanied by tug Boa Odin) was submerged to allow Nova Dock to be floated on.

Boa Odin standing by the partially submerged Boa Odin 33.

Boa Odin then headed over to Woodside to float the "aft" section of Nova Dock over top of Boa Barge 33, apparently with some help from Dominion Diving vessels.

Boa Odin alongside one section of Nova Dock.

Nova Dock floating over the still submerged Boa Barge 33.

Once Nova Dock was in place, Boa Barge 33 was refloated underneath it, until Nova Dock was no longer floating on its own accord (though I didn't manage to photograph this until Wednesday morning).

Nova Dock now on the deck of Boa Odin 33.

Nova Dock was then fastened to the deck of Boa Barge 33 to ensure it doesn't shift during the tow to Florida. With luck, I might catch this tow as it leaves the harbour.

Other coverage can be found on Shipfax (here and here) and Halifax Shipping News.

Last of the 280's - HMCS ATHABASKAN

Once upon a time, there were four IROQUOIS (DDH 280) class destroyers, all of which were commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy during the early 1970s. Wonders of modern warship construction at the time, they received extensive upgrades in the 1990s to transition from antisubmarine warfare (ASW) destroyers to guided missile area air warfare (AAW) destroyers. This bought them, in some cases, another 20 years, but now only one remains: HMCS ATHABASKAN (DDH 282).  HURON was paid off first, and sunk in an exercise. IROQUOIS and ALGONQUIN both paid off this year.

PRESERVER (left) and ATHABASKAN are the two oldest warships ships remaining in RCN commission. ATHABASKAN is the only one of the two still serviceable, with PRESERVER sadly operating as a glorified refueling barge.

Being the last of your family isn't easy. An accident during her tow whilst returning from a refit on the Great Lakes caused some minor damage, and she was never completely returned to her full fighting trim. More recently she has had propulsion problems (despite cannibalizing sister IROQUOIS for many parts). Despite this, she and HMCS HALIFAX (FFH 330) have deployed this week to an exercise in Europe. In the process of leaving on Thursday morning, ATHABASKAN circled the harbour with a Sea King on deck, which proceeded to warm up and take off before she left. My morning ferry ride put me in the right place at the right time, so to speak, to capture some of this.

On ATHABASKAN's return to Halifax from refit in 2013, several holes were visible in her hull above the waterline just aft of her pendant number on the port side, from where she hit the tug that was towing her.

I first saw her headed out beyond George's Island, after which she turned and returned to the inner harbour, with the Sea King on deck. 

Just rounded George's at this point.

Somewhere along the Dartmouth shore, as I was about to pack it in, the Sea King fired up. Around the same time, ATHABASKAN's exhaust plume of blueish smoke also became more apparent. Apparently she is still having some propulsion issues!

The Sea King continued to spin her rotors as ATHABASKAN turned to head back south. I was hoping that she would lift off before getting too far away from my vantage point on Cable Wharf, and I wasn't disappointed. 

Just after the Sea King lifted off. Note the rotor tip vapour trails.

Helicopters can be challenging to capture properly. With any prop or rotor driven aircraft, it is good practice to slow the camera's shutter speed in order to impart motion to the propeller or rotor, otherwise the aircraft can appear static in the air (as if it were falling). Plane propellers spin faster than helicopter rotors, so of the two, helicopters require slower shutter speeds. I usually aim for 1/100 of a second for helicopters, although the shots here were at 1/200 of a second because I forgot to change to shutter priority mode on the camera. Still, not too bad.

After liftoff, she moved right and flew along the starboard side of the ship.

I consulted Wikipedia about the vapour trails. Wingtip or rotor blade tip vortices are always present when lift is being generated, but are only visible when humidity conditions are just right, so that water vapour may condense or freeze in the core of the vortices. It was quite humid this week, so apparently conditions were right. You can also see the water kicked up from the harbour by the rotor wash from the Sea King.

Sea King headed back to Shearwater, ATHABASKAN passed the lighthouse on George's on her way out.

After she passed George's, I had to tear myself away to get to work. Hopefully the exercise is uneventful (well, in the bad sense anyway) for ATHABASKAN!

Nova Dock tow to Woodside

Photos from the Nova Dock tow by McKeil Marine tugs this afternoon. The dock was towed from Halifax Shipyard to Woodside by four tugs: Salvor in the lead, Tim McKeil and Lois M on the "port" side, and Beverly M1 on the "stern". It is not often that one sees such a large object under tow in the harbour, requiring this many tugs (and fairly large tugs at that).

Salvor

Beverly M1

Lois M and Beverly M1.

Lois M and Beverly M1 turning Nova Dock.

Tim McKeil, Lois M, and Beverly M1 turning Nova Dock 180 degrees.

Atlantic Condor also put in an appearance.

1960's CH-124 Sea King landing demonstration

Before the RCN started flying the CH-124 Sea King from the ST. LAURENT class destroyers (DDH) in the mid-1960's, starting with HMCS ASSINNIBOINE, the thought of flying a large ASW helicopter from a relatively small (~2800 ton) ship was a fairly novel idea. Novel enough that the RCN performed demonstrations of the DDH/Beartrap/Sea King combination for other navies, including the US Navy.

A good description of the system can be found in the Wikipedia article on the Beartrap so I won't repeat it here.

The photos below are from one such demonstration, courtesy of Joseph Bowers AW1(AC) USN Ret. They were taken by one of his flight officers on one of their flights to either Norfolk or Halifax as part of Air Development Squadron 1, based in Key West, Fla. If anyone thinks they know the name of the photographer, please let me know.

The Sea King is connected to the Beartrap with the cable here.

The Sea King has been hauled onto the deck.

Close-up of the Sea King on the helo deck.

The identity of the DDH is not known, but I wonder if it might  be FRASER as she performed a demonstration for the USN in 1967. TACAN was introduced later, so the lattice mast would not have been installed at the time of the photo.

Reconstruction of schooner Hebridee II

You don't have to head all the way down to Lunenburg to see traditional Nova Scotian boat building underway - if you live in the Halifax area, there is at least one closer example. In a small shed on the Halifax waterfront, with the sound of water splashing on the rocks below audible despite the music of the Rolling Stones, the schooner Hebridee II has been in the process of being rebuilt since she arrived at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in September, 2009. 

Hebridee II with masts removed.

Soon after arrival, I managed to catch her being lifted out of the water.

Hebridee II being lifted out of the water.

This 42' schooner (37' waterline, I believe) was originally built in 1953*, and was designed by William J. Roue, the designer of a couple schooners by the name of Bluenose and Bluenose II (Mk.1). In fact, she was apparently a scaled reduction of the original Bluenose.

* The Nova Scotia Schooner Association website variably lists her as being built in 1963, or the winter of 1952-53. Take your pick. I suspect the earlier dates to be more accurate. The museum website indicates the design itself dates from 1936.

She spent her first winter in a tent at the museum. This photo was taken in November 2009.

As rebuilds go, this one is fairly extensive. I'm told that all that remains of the previous schooner are the keel, stem, wheel, and a few bulkheads and decorative wood trim. So the schooner in the photo above, though sharing the lines of the new one, is essentially not the same schooner. To be fair, mind you, the new Hebridee II will have more in common with her predecessor than Bluenose II (Mk.2) has with Bluenose II (Mk.1).

Plan and profile views of the schooner.

After watching her under construction for the 5-6 years since, during which time I sadly paid her little attention, I finally got around to asking museum boatbuilder Eamonn Doorly when she might be back in the water (probably a few more years). Mr. Doorly kindly invited me in to take a look at her progress to date, during which time I took the following photos.

Hebridee II's bow points out towards the harbour.

Planking joins with the keel and stem.

The shed is rather tight with Hebridee II crammed in, and I didn't really get any good wide angle shots of her in her entirety.

Caulking of the planking is planned for Spring 2016.

The propeller will be installed on the shaft above, inset into the rudder. The rudder post curves around the inside of the propeller cut-out.

Planking joining with the stern post. The rudder is at an angle, which is mirrored by the wheel on deck above.

While the hull is mostly complete, minus the caulking and some touch-up, the topsides and interior are still a work in progress and I got a good look inside.

The deckhouse bulkheads are erected and porthole frames installed, and the decking is down.

This photos shows what a tight fit Hebridee II is in the shed, with her stern tucked in under the lower roof. The wheel, salvaged from the original, is installed in the cockpit with a seat behind.

The deckhouse roof is framed up, but not planked. This is where the companionway will descend into the cabin.

Hard to see here, but there is a small electric motor flywheel under the deck just behind the plank running top to bottom in this image. 

The original schooner would have had a bulkier engine (diesel, I assume), whereas the new boat will be powered by a bank of marine batteries designed to provide 5-6 hours of propulsion at a nominal 3 knots, enough to provide get-home oomph at the end of a sail to get passengers back to the dock if they need to catch a bus. The batteries can be charged dockside by plugging in, and renewable power will be purchased to reduce Hebridee II's carbon footprint. Smaller, lighter (only 35 pounds), quieter, and apart from the propeller shaft no through-hull fittings are required for exhaust or coolant. Mr. Doorly commented that he would be actually able to get at the stuffing box (propeller shaft seal) without the engine getting in the way.

The roof of the lower main cabin.

Interior of the main cabin, the main mast will be stepped in the red board in the floor.

Starboard decking looking aft.

Looking forward in the cabin. The lathed dowel to the left is apparently from the original schooner.

Starboard side looking aft.

I assume the name board is destined for the transom, though the previous schooner didn't have one.

I look forward to seeing Hebridee II back in the water, and even better yet, under sail!