THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY accepted delivery of its third Arctic and Offshore Patrol ship while the first of its class will undergo repairs to its malfunctioning generators.
The RCN accepted delivery on Sept. 2 of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Max Bernays.
Built by Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the vessel is the third of six new AOPS being delivered to the RCN.
HMCS Max Bernays will remain at the Her Majesty’s Canadian Dockyard Halifax while post-acceptance work and final ship preparation work are completed. In 2023, the ship will be transferred to the West Coast, with CFB Esquimalt as its designated homeport.
In the meantime, the Royal Canadian Navy has discovered the reason for the latest mechanical breakdown on first AOPS, HMCS Harry DeWolf.
HMCS Harry DeWolf had to scrub its participation in exercises in the far north in August because of the failure of its main diesel generators, critical for the vessel’s propulsion system.
HMCS Harry DeWolf left Halifax on Aug. 15 for the Operation Nanook exercise but it already had one of its four main diesel generators inoperable. Several days later when the ship was off the east coast of Newfoundland another of the vessel’s main diesel generators failed, forcing a return to Halifax.
Navy Lt. Rudee Gaudet noted in an email to Esprit de Corps that technicians found that a coolant leak in the two diesel generators was the cause of the problems. HMCS Harry DeWolf will now enter a pre-scheduled maintenance period, which will run until the end of October, and the repairs to the generators will be done then, she added.
The ship is expected back to conduct “force generation activities” in November and early December, said Gaudet.
The failure of the main diesel generators on HMCS Harry DeWolf is just the latest is a series of mechanical problems for the ship. The vessel was to have joined in on Operation Nanook in early August but was initially left in port because its fire suppression system wasn’t working properly. With the fire suppression system repaired, HMCS Harry DeWolf left Halifax but then the generator problems emerged.
The Royal Canadian Navy stated that the failure was an “isolated incident.”
But in October 2020 the Canadian Press news service reported HMCS Harry DeWolf was forced to return to port after its freshwater generator and communications systems failed. It was while the ship was docked the crew also found the cooling pumps on two of the ship’s four diesel generators had broken, the news service reported.
The RCN has responded to the AOPS issues with a strategic communications campaign to portray military equipment – like all equipment – as sometimes being prone to breakdown.
In an emailed statement LCdr Brian Owens noted “mechanical issues arise from time to time” in the navy’s ships and HMCS Harry DeWolf had been
serving Canada extremely well since being delivered in 2020.
Rear Admiral Brian Santarpia told journalists Sept. 2 that “whether the ship is one year old or 30 years old, like the frigates, things are going to break and we fix them.”
Privately, however, defence sources tell Esprit de Corps the breakdowns plaguing HMCS Harry DeWolf were embarrassing as it led to the vessel being unable to even reach the Arctic on a joint operation will allied forces. Those sources pointed out that despite Santarpia’s claims they couldn’t recall one of the frigates having to scrub its participation in such a high profile exercise because of a mechanical breakdown.
Rolls-Royce Canada employees voted in favour Sept. 1 of a new collective agreement that will be in place until March 2028. The support for the agreement is the result of extensive discussions with the CSN union and the contribution of the conciliators of the Quebec Ministry of Labour who supported discussions between the union and employer parties. The agreement will provide 25 per cent increases in salary over its duration and maintain attractive terms and conditions for the Rolls-Royce Canada workforce.
Rolls-Royce Canada said in a statement that it welcomed the agreement which affects company’s nearly 500 employees at its Lachine. Quebec site.
Rolls-Royce Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, began operations in Montreal, in 1947. Now located in Lachine, the company is specializes in providing civil and military aircraft engine repair and overhaul services.
Saab announced Sept. 7 that it has received an $81 million U.S. order for Carl Gustaf ammunition and AT4s.
The ammunition and weapons will be distributed to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. special forces. Deliveries will take place in 2024.
Saab announced Sept. 7 that it has received an $81 million U.S. order for Carl Gustaf ammunition (Carl Gustaf launcher shown in this photo) as well as man portable shoulder fired AT4s. (PHOTO COURTESY SAAB)
The order was placed under the auspices of a previous agreement signed in 2019 between Saab and the U.S. Army that allows the U.S. to buy Carl-Gustaf ammunition and the single-shot AT4 should-fired weapon systems during a five year period.
The Canadian Coast Guard officially welcomed its medium interim icebreaker in late August.
The Canadian Coast Guard invested in three medium interim icebreakers to supplement its icebreaking fleet. The icebreakers were converted by Chantier Davie Shipyard.
The welcome was for the CCGS Jean Goodwill, the second of the three medium interim icebreakers. The CCGS Jean Goodwill is named after Jean Cuthand Goodwill O.C., the first Indigenous nursing program graduate in Saskatchewan. She was a founding member of the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, and served as the organization›s president for seven years.
The CCGS Jean Goodwill will provide icebreaking services primarily in the Atlantic regions and the St. Lawrence Waterway as other icebreakers are being scheduled for major refits.
In August 2018, Chantier Davie of Lévis, Quebec was awarded a $610 million dollar contract for the acquisition and conversion of three interim icebreakers for the Coast Guard. The three icebreakers were acquired to supplement the Coast Guard’s existing fleet during vessel life extension and repair periods, providing continuous on-water capability during scheduled maintenance periods.
CCGS Jean Goodwill was accepted into the Coast Guard fleet in November 2020. The first of the three icebreakers, CCGS Captain Molly Kool, entered into service in late 2018. The third icebreaker, CCGS Vincent Massey, is expected to join the fleet sometime in the fall of 2022. On June 30, 2021, CCGS Jean Goodwill took its maiden voyage to the Arctic by departing its homeport in Dartmouth, NS.
