As a Proud Canadian, I am truly saddened by the state of our Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard. Years of neglect have led to difficult times for our men and women in uniform.
Our Navy has access to a single resupply ship, the MV Asterix. This was retrofitted after the HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver were retired from service in 2014 when the Navy just couldn’t keep them floating after 50 years. Yes. 50 years.
The MV Asterix is 183m long, 25m wide and has a deadweight of 24,000 tonnes.
Our Coast Guard flagship, the CCGS Louis St-Laurent was built in 1969. At 120m long and 24m wide, she is a decent sized ship. Unfortunately, the Canadian Government just can’t seem to get another one built. How many years of life can we really expect from our ships? The government’s recent pitch seems like a half effort. 51 year old ships show their age even with lots of love from the Coast Guard.
Doing “one off” builds at Canadian shipyards as is expected for the replacement CCGS John G. Diefenbaker is the least cost effective way to build ships. Larger runs allow the ship design cost to be spread out over multiple hulls instead of doubling or tripling the cost of a single hull. Canadian shipyards need the work but this seems cost prohibitive for Canada. At $1.3 billion CAD (in 2013) for a single ship, this seems somewhat insane.
As an Albertan, I have been researching oil and gas shipping to try and get our products to market. I came across the Christophe De Margerie Ice Class LNG Carrier. Fifteen have already been built by South Korean shipyards for the Yamal LNG project in Northern Russia.
This ship is huge. Nearly 300m long and 50m wide with a deadweight of 80,000 tonnes and registered tonnage of 129,000 tonnes. It can carry nearly 50,000 tonnes of liquified natural gas. Ice breaking capability rated up to 2.1m and an open water speed of 19.5 knots. With the South Korean assembly lines going full out, costs per ship are currently under $300 million USD.
By comparison, the Diefenbaker was proposed to be 150m in length and 28m wide. The Christophe De Margerie is nearly 4 times larger at one third the cost. Could this be a viable Coast Guard ice breaker replacement? Not for me to decide but I’m sure our Auditor General might have something to say.
But how does this relate to the Canadian Navy? 15 years ago Chief of Defense staff Rick Hillier called for a big honking ship. Comparing basic ship statistics, the Christophe De Margerie is significantly larger than the USS Wasp or USS America. In fact, it closer to the size of the USS Gerald R. Ford.
In my personal opinion, this would classify as a big honking ship. And a ship that can sail all three of our coastlines 365 days of the year.
Purchasing 3 ships for the Navy and 3 ships for the Coast Guard and retrofitting them in Canada to meet the needs of the two Services would be years of work for one or more of our shipyards. Even if retrofit design/build costs were $400 million CAD, the total per ship cost would still be under $800 million CAD. Six ships? A little under $5 billion CAD excluding maintenance.
If Canada pursues Arctic LNG shipping, the number of similar hulls could easily be double or triple the six slated for the Navy and Coast Guard. Maintaining a fleet of 18 ships would be excellent long term work for Canadian shipyards. With a little luck, the oil and gas companies will purchase a dozen of them once Canada is open for business again.
Back to the Navy and Coast Guard ships. One possible retrofit, a mid-ship well deck, could support air-cushioned craft. These would be capable of operating on open water, littoral areas, snow and ice. The Canadian Coast Guard currently operates two hovercraft in Quebec and uses them for ice breaking along with search and rescue and buoy maintenance.
The same supplier, Griffon Hoverwork, has also provided military hovercraft to forces in multiple countries including the British Royal Marines and the Swedish Amphibious Battalion.
Big Honking Ships, Massive Ice Breakers and Hovercraft. That might just be cool enough to get our younger generation to sign up for service in the Navy or Coast Guard.
They could even check out the polar bears and caribou while on Arctic patrol missions. Just don’t lock the hovercraft doors. Residents of Churchill, Manitoba know all about that rule.
