Canadian Navy’s first AOPS HMCS Harry DeWolf takes shape

Irving Shipbuilding has transported the last major section of the Royal Canadian Navy’s first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship – the future HMCS Harry DeWolf – from inside the Halifax Shipyard’s indoor shipbuilding facility outside to land level.

As the bow section was joined together with the previously connected center- and stern sections, the HMCS Harry DeWolf assumed the form of a fully assembled ship.

Further outfitting will continue at land level and the ship is expected to be ready for launch in summer 2018.

Construction of HMCS Harry DeWolf began in September 2015. Over the course of time, 65 smaller units became 21 larger blocks, which then became three mega-blocks.

The 103-meter ship will displace 6,440 tonnes and 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.

Construction on the second ship in the class, HMCS Margaret Brooke, started in May, 2017 with a naming/launching ceremony set for 2019.

HMCS Harry DeWolf and HMCS Margaret Brooke are the first two of an initial block of six vessels ordered by the RCN under a CAD$2.3 billion contract in January 2015.