Reaching another milestone in the construction of the Royal Canadian Navy’s arctic and offshore patrol ships, Canadian shipbuilder Irving Shipbuilding moved the first two of three major sections of the first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) outside.
This milestone on the future HMCS Harry DeWolf comes a little over a year after the ship’s keel was laid in Halifax.
On July 14, the shipbuilder used heavy lift transporters to move the centre mega-block of the future HMCS Harry DeWolf from the Halifax Shipyard’s indoor shipbuilding facility outside to land level.
On July 15, the stern mega-block was also moved to land level.
At land level the two mega-blocks will be joined together for further outfitting. These two mega-blocks combined will form more than 70% of the ships length.
The bow mega-block is currently under construction and will be moved to land level to be joined with the centre mega-block in fall 2017, according to the company. The future HMCS Harry DeWolf is scheduled to be launched in 2018.
Sharing this milestone, Irving Shipbuilding hosted an open house welcoming 4,000 public visitors to its shipyard.
The future fleet of AOPVs has been designated the Harry DeWolf Class in honor of Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf, a Canadian wartime naval hero, and the first ship of the class also carries his name.
Harry DeWolf, measuring the length of a Canadian football field, can carry a crew of up to 65 people, plus an additional 22 to support an enhanced naval boarding party, army troops, special operations forces and other government departments to support science and research. It also carries a helicopter, up to six sea containers, and up to seven small boats.