Procurement minister cuts first steel for third Arctic patrol vessel
by The Canadian Press
The lead ship, meanwhile, has been structurally assembled at Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and is scheduled to be launched next year
The HMCS Harry DeWolf, the first of Canada’s new Arctic Patrol Ships at Irving’s Halifax shipyard. PHOTO: Irving Shipbuilding Inc.
HALIFAX—Irving Shipbuilding has cut the first piece of steel on the third Arctic patrol vessel for the Royal Canadian Navy.
The ceremonial cutting was performed in Halifax today by the minister of Procurement Canada, Carla Qualtrough.
The new vessel is named in honour of Chief Petty Officer Max Leopold Bernays, who served aboard HMCS Assiniboine during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War.
Irving Shipbuilding president Kevin McCoy says the first patrol vessel, HMCS Harry DeWolf, is structurally assembled and is due to be launched in 2018.
He says construction on the second vessel is underway with 28 of the ship’s 64 units in production. Work on the HMCS Margaret Brooke began in August 2016.
Irving is to build five to six Arctic patrol vessels under Ottawa’s national shipbuilding strategy.
Fifteen surface ships are also to be built under the strategy.
