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Arctic patrol ship's birth marked through tradition
Keel-laying ceremony held for HMCS Harry DeWolf

Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, June 20, 2016

HALIFAX
The first of six Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS), set to start patrolling Canada's Arctic in 2018, reached a milestone as Irving Shipbuilding held a keel-laying ceremony for the HMCS Harry DeWolf June 9 in Halifax.

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Irving Shipbuilding president Kevin McCoy, Irving veteran Carl Risser, Rear-Admiral John Newton, Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic, and Chief Petty Officer First Class Pierre Auger commemorate the laying of the keel on the first Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship, HMCS Harry DeWolf, June 9 in Halifax. - photo courtesy of Royal Canadian Navy

"This is a significant event in the ship's life," Irving president Kevin McCoy stated in an e-mail to Nunavut News/North.

"It really signifies the birth of the ship. From a morale and an anticipation standpoint it certainly is a great thing for the Canadian navy."

The keel-laying ceremony involves placing a coin - in this case a newly-minted $3 silver wolf coin - on the keel of the ship, which is the long beam of the ship's hull.

It's a tradition hundreds of years old, with the coin originally considered a "good luck token" given as an offering to the seas, stated a news release.

"A keel-laying ceremony is an important shipbuilding tradition in its own right, but the placing of this unique wolf coin also represents the beginning of an exciting era for the Royal Canadian Navy," stated Commodore Craig Baines, Commander Canadian Fleet Atlantic, in an e-mail. "Canada's new fleet of Arctic and offshore patrol vessels will substantively enhance the Navy's ability to maintain a Northern presence in support of Canada's sovereignty."

The naval tradition calls for a junior or senior shipyard worker to lay the coin on the keel, and in this case, Carl Risser - a 46-year veteran of Irving - did the honours, declaring the keel "well and truly laid," according to a Navy news release.

It's the first time since 1988 that the Navy has held a keel-laying ceremony for the HMCS Summerside patrol frigate, according to Mary Keith, Irving Shipbuilding vice-president of communications.

Each Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ship is made of 64 blocks assembled into three mega-blocks. As of June, 32 of HMCS Harry DeWolf's 64 blocks are being assembled at Irving's Halifax shipyard.

The steel for the next ship, HMCS Margaret Brooke, will begin being cut in September.

The ships are on budget, stated Ashley Lemire, senior communications advisor for the Department of National Defence, noting that all six ships are set for delivery by 2022.

Nunavut News/North reported in 2015 that the budget had increased by 10 per cent from $3.1 billion for eight ships in 2007 to $3.5 billion for up to six ships in 2015. When first announced in 2007, the first ship was expected to hit the water in 2013.

The ships will be used in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They are not icebreakers, but will be able to operate in first-year ice up to one metre thick.

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