Sorry, link was truncated. Here it is: First Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship scheduled to be launched Saturday
Royal Canadian Navy Discussions and updates
- Thread starter stephen weist
- Start date
Here she is on the barge: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/91ffa510-19e3-43a7-aa5c-927efd6786d5/en
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
It must have been very cold in Halifax the day of the launch, she looks shorter and has lots of wrinkles.
Novascotiaboy
Active Member
And a list to starboard.
Growing pains. Nothing that concrete wont fix.
Im really looking forward to the sea trials this fall and winter as the North Atlantic starts to roll and blow. With our amazing weather here on the east coast maybe they can try and catch some sea from a tropical storm or two.?
Growing pains. Nothing that concrete wont fix.
Im really looking forward to the sea trials this fall and winter as the North Atlantic starts to roll and blow. With our amazing weather here on the east coast maybe they can try and catch some sea from a tropical storm or two.?
J_Can
Member
I remember reading either a forum post or some public source technical documents awhile back that said the current mounting for the 25mm is designed to handle a larger caliber if need be. Does anyone know what the caliber can be scaled up to, is there already serious deck penetration from the 25mm? That or is something other than the ammo stowage located beneath the mounting right now? I know this designed is based off of the Norwegian Svalbard but I also have been lead to understand that the design changed alot as well with its canadianization after Vard-Ice then to AOPS.
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John Fedup
The Bunker Group
The Svalbard has a 57mm Bofors so up-gunning the Dewolf at some point shouldn't be a big deal even taking into account the Vard-Canadianization. I would think potential export customers would want something a little more significant than a 25 mm so perhaps the RCN should consider making the last two ships 57 mm ready and if they want to minimize cost wait for the availability of ex-Halifax 57mm guns.
Hi John, you are entirely correct. It will easily accommodate a 57mm Bofors, and possibly even a 76mm (there really isn't much difference in weight between the Bofors 57 mm mk3 and the Oto Melara Strales 76mm. It's really the below decks space that is the limiting factor). I believe there is a plan that would see moving the 57mm Bofors guns from the retiring Halifax class to AOPS during the AOPS mid-life refit. I believe that plan also includes moving over Phalanx as well. With the CMS330 already on board, this would be relatively straightforward, especially if they have already factored for these systems in the design. The RCN just signed a large contract with Raytheon Canada to overhaul and upgrade all the Block 1B Phalanx systems from baseline 0 to baseline 2, so these systems will still be very relevant in 10 years. The 57mm Bofors were all upgraded to the mk3 standard during the Halifax mid-life update, so those guns have a lot of life left in them as well. I guess only time will tell if the RCN actually goes through with this plan, but it would certainly make this a much more capable and versatile OPV.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
A millennium gun instead of the Phalanx would be even better but that is probably a bridge too far. A future upgrade with the Halifax 57 mm seems both reasonable and affordable. We can only hope.
While it is always a prudent exercise to plan how you would up-gun a warship, I have my doubts that the RCN will actually do any of these things. The ship is officially classified as a "non-combat" ship, and is really optimized for Arctic sovereignty patrols, Arctic SAR, science, and drug interdiction in the Carribean. For those purposes the 25mm gun is probably adequate, even if it looks ridiculous.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
The ship may be tasked for some more demanding missions where a 25 mm gun won’t cut it. If it never leaves Canadian coastal waters then perhaps the RCN won’t bother trying to go with a larger gun. IMHO a 6,300 ton ship costing 300-400 million CDN deserves a bigger gun
Novascotiaboy
Active Member
Sorry I couldnt get a picture but the middle mega block of the future Margaret Brooke was rolled out of the assembly hall this evening. Noted her as I crossed the Mackay bridge. Wasnt out this morning at 11 as I went to Pier 9. Nice to see.
Here you go Novascotiaboy (AOPS2 centre mega block exiting the Assembly Hall, with the stern section showing in the partially open door to the right).
