by Stacey Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 11/97) - HMCS Yellowknife joined the navy at the Halifax Dockyard June 5 with the Stadacona brass band playing and a cold north wind snapping flags to attention as dignitaries from the NWT and the armed forces officially named Canada's newest maritime coastal defence vessel.

Dene elder Joe Martin of Dettah and a naval chaplain asked for blessings on the ship and all who sail in her as the Yellowknife floated dockside in the Atlantic port. Showing an eagerness for action much like her Northern namesake, the 55-metre, 934-tonne craft had earlier decided to enter service on her own, unexpectedly sliding down her slips into salt water May 24 after being pulled from out of the giant shed that housed her construction.

"We constantly launch ourselves without warning into adventurous activities, much like our ship did," said Pat McMahon, ex-mayor of Yellowknife and official sponsor of the vessel.

McMahon joined current mayor Dave Lovell and MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew in representing the city and Northerners.

"May she sail with the peace of the arctic night, the dancing grace of the Northern Lights, the strength of a great bear, and the speed and accuracy of a peregrine falcon," said McMahon.

Project manager Bill Adam commented on the ship's unscheduled excitement two weeks before.

"The ship had been brought out from the shed and inclined at an angle in her launch position," said Adam as construction helmets and officers hats mixed with a crowd of politicians and the public during the later official event. "Then it just kept on going. We still don't know why."

But a happy omen may be taken from the ship's earlier-than-anticipated opening splash. The gold coin placed aboard during the laying of the keel is homage to Yellowknife's mining tradition brought good fortune as the vessel rode comfortably intact upon the waves.

HMCS Yellowknife is lucky number 7 in a series of 12 ships designed to provide surveillance and control of Canada's coastal waters. Equipped with ultra-modern electronic surveillance gear these craft can identify activities above, upon and beneath the waves.

Armed with a cannon and machine-gun stations, they will enforce Canadian sovereignty along one of the world's longest coastlines. Peacekeeping functions will include law enforcement duties. In addition, HMCS Yellowknife will engage in search and rescue pollution control, resource management, and scientific activities. The ship will also provide valuable training, being crewed mainly by naval reservists.

"It's appropriate that the Yellowknife will be crewed by naval reservists as our city contributes so many members to that force," said Lovell, speaking from the podium in front of the flag-draped ship.

Blondin-Andrew spoke of the significance of so many Yellowknifers having served in Canada's armed forces during the Second World War and in peacetime, and noted Yellowknife's continuing connection to the military, serving as it does as the jumping-off point for so many Northern exercises.

The ship will remain dockside for the next couple of months for final outfitting before beginning sea trials in the late summer and fall.

Winter should see the craft sailing through the Panama Canal to be stationed at Esquimault on Vancouver Island as part of Canada's naval forces in the Pacific.

Unfortunately the city of Yellowknife will not be among the ports of call for the ship, which can't navigate the sand-bar choked waters of the Mackenzie River.