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AOR Replacement & the Joint Support Ship (Merged Threads)

It's ambitious, certainly, but as long as money and time aren't too big a factor, it's not beyond Davies to do.
 
There always seems to be a world of difference in price and value between a vendor driven proposal and a client driven proposal.

My personal bias, based on my years of experience, has me believe that a vendor driven proposal will deliver 80 to 90% of the requirement for 110% of the budget within the warranty period. 

Conversely a client driven proposal will cost a fortune in preliminary engineering, run to many times the budget in cost over runs and may never get delivered.  Engineers and architects make a fortune from bespoke solutions that never turn into bricks, mortar and steel.

Most projects that work seem to work because time and budget pressures demand making the best use of what is immediately available.  Most projects that fail seem to fail because committees of young PhDs with nary a scar on their knuckles are determined that a rhombus makes a better wheel than a circle.
 
Lets remember we are commenting on a rumour here.

We must also remember that Davie is not selling this thing to the government. It is proposing to build, own, operate (at least the driving around/load/unload part) and then lease it at an annual price. If that annual price is right for the government and Davie can deliver what we see in the picture with the described capabilities, then more power to Davie.

[Hey Kirkhill, are you not happy? Davie seems to want to be able to put up to two Chinook on that thing :nod:]

From an engineering, cost and time point of view, it is more than doable.

First (and quietly, unbeknownst to most people), Davie under the new British management is a great success story, now employing in excess of 850 people, which makes it currently THE largest shipyard in Canada both in size of facilities [always was] but in personnel also, and it just won the title of best shipyard in North America, a title granted by the North American association of shipbuilders. They have also completed the first - and are working on two more - of the most complex merchant ships ever built in Canada, built for Norwegian gas exploration companies which says something.

Second, it is smarter, in my book, to start from a container ship than a tanker. You save a lot of cleaning and decontamination work before start, for one thing. Second, because of their cargo being "piles" of containers, container ships tend to have a different and stronger internal structure and more separate holds than tankers or bulk carriers, where the mass is already spread evenly on the ship's bottom. They also have a better interior system of access to those compartments for inspection at sea. So it is a lot easier and faster to install all the piping, pumps and handling equipment and then enclose the future tanks or hold from within in a container ship than in a pre-built tanker. The superstructure looks impressive, but again, taking the old one out nowadays is easy: cut at base and crane out to shore and as impressive as the new one looks, it is a straightforward square box likely built to civilian standard: easy-breezy for a civilian yard, something they can do in their sleep. The stronger structure of a container ship also makes finding proper attachment points for the two large cranes (forward: for dry cargo and ammunition) and the four transfer posts very easy.

If Davie already has the merchant ship in its sight, I am still willing to bet they can do it in 12 to 16 months.

 
Oldgateboatdriver said:
....

[Hey Kirkhill, are you not happy? Davie seems to want to be able to put up to two Chinook on that thing :nod:]

...

Why would I be happy?  I'm Scots.  ;D

PS - I agree with you.  If Davie, the vendor, is saying such a thing is possible I would be inclined to agree with you.  Equally, I am sure a BMT/STX AOPS built at Seaspan would be much closer in budget and timeline to a Svalbard.
 
That proposal doesn't look like a ship that would be operated by Davie; there wouldn't be Chinook hangars and ammunition on board if that was the case.

Also it's a lot more then just replacing the superstucture if they want it to hold 350 pers; it would also require an upgrade to all the hotel services (black/grey water, hvac, galleys, etc) and be able to carry a lot more water/food.  All doable, but it's a little more then a bit of steelwork, and would also probably mean an upgrade to the power distribution system and other auxiliary systems to accommodate the changes.  Again, not rocket science, but not 'easy peasy'.  Depending when the boat was built, they also would need to do some other updates to various navigation, comms, environmental and other systems to meet the changes to civilian standards that are grandfathered until you upgrade.
 
As in: "You should remodel the bathroom this week-end. It's easy-peasy, you'll be done in no time at all".

And then, six months later ...
 
Armada de Chile supply ship arrives Esquimalt July 3--another tweet:

Timothy Choi
‏@TimmyC62
As noted last week, @Armada_Chile Almirante Montt arrives at @MARPAC for #AOR duties...
proxy.jpg

https://twitter.com/TimmyC62/status/617036907667525632

Mark
Ottawa
 
Newsflash: First world navy dependent on developing world navy to provide logistical support!

All kidding aside, not a bad idea, I wonder how much we are paying? The Chilean navy has some interesting history behind it as well and will be a good bonding exercise between our nations. No doubt at some point our subs will go down there to provide some "clockwork mice" training for them.
 
Este buque es el cuarto de la clase de petroleros de flota "Henry J. Kaiser" ,construídos para la Armada de Estados Unidos. A contar de 1996 se mantuvo en condición de reserva, hasta el año 2009 en que se inició el proceso de transferencia a la Armada de Chile, incorporándose oficialmente el 10 de febrero de 2010, para ser rebautizado como "Almirante Montt", con el objetivo de reabastecer en alta mar a las unidades de la Armada, en reemplazo del viejo petrolero "Araucano", dado de baja tras 43 años de servicio.

http://www.armada.cl/armada/unidades-navales/superficie/petroleros/ao-52-almirante-montt/2014-04-15/162530.html
 
For the two or three people on this site that don't habla espanol, it roughly translates as:

"This ship was the fourth of the United States Navy Henry J. Kaiser class of auxiliary oiler resupply ship. It was put in reserve staring in 1996, until 2009, when the process of transferring it to the Chilean Navy began. The ship officially joined the fleet on February 10, 2010 and was renamed Almirante Montt. Its task is to provide the fleet units with refuelling at sea as a replacement for the old oiler Auracano, who will be retired after 43 years of service".
 
Armada española loaner for MARLANT:

With a little help from our friends – Spanish Navy lease RCN an AOR
http://casr.ca/doc-news-aor-lease-cantabria.htm

Cantabria webpage:
http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/page/Portal/ArmadaEspannola/buques_superficie/prefLang_en/06_buques-logisticos--02_buque-aprovisionamiento-combate-cantabria

CKOWs_rUYAAVzQB.jpg
.

Cantabria design was once in running as basis for JSS:

...
JSS Procurement Plan #2
...
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/canada-issues-rfp-for-cdn-29b-joint-support-ship-project-updated-02392/

Note from the DID article:

...
While the 20,240t Berlin Class would certainly qualify for this role, Britain ended up choosing the option Canada didn’t: BMT’s Aegir design, albeit in a larger 37,000t ship. This makes for a very interesting comparison, and Britain added one more major difference: their ships would be built abroad, because even the UK’s shipbuilding facilities weren’t deemed ready, or good value for money. Instead, they chose one of the world’s leading shipbuilders, with a commercial and military history of on-time, on-budget delivery: Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea. The 1st ship, RFA Tidespring, is expected to enter service in 2016.

The cost differential is stunning.

Canada’s JSS program is budgeting C$ 2.6 billion for 2 ships of 20,240t each. Which means that each ship costs $1.3 billion. We’ll assume that rough parity with the US dollar continues throughout the project. We’ll also assume that the JSS project doesn’t end up with major cost overruns, even though this is a significant risk given Seaspan Vancouver’s lack of experience.

Britain’s 4 x 37,000t Tide Class MARS replenishment ships cost GBP 602 million total, or about $950 million equivalent. Which means that each ship costs $237.5 million. Their builder has a long record of solid performance, so this amount is fairly reliable.

The difference per ship = 5.47x, in order to build ships with just 2/3 the individual tonnage, and much greater risk of cost overruns or late arrival...

Good politics though--Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Mark
Ottawa
 
It makes me want to hurl, reading that article which is exactly what I've been saying for years that we should do.  But, no....
 
Colin P said:
I will add to this idea, also buy one Berlin Class to be built overseas by the shipyard that has built others. Hell by the time ours are ready to sail, this one will need a refit. Perfect world 3 Berlins, 2 Mistral. The ships can rotate through refits and hot layups to help with manning and a modern fleet might make recruiting a bit easier as well.

It would be great to have this level of capability with the RCN, particularly the Mistrals with their "Joint" capabilities.  But I wonder if the RCN would be able to actually man a fleet of this size. (2 Mistrals, 3 Berlins, 12 CSCs, 4 SSKs, 5-6 AOPS, any remaining MCDVs, etc)  Granted, with PRO, PRE, IRO, and ALG all retired in quick succession, there would presumably be a bit of excess crew capacity at the moment, but IIRC there was a deficit not long ago that had ships tied up alongside with no crews.

Any future plan that relies upon a massive recruiting effort seems doomed to fail in my opinion.  With personnel costs the largest chunk of our budget (from what I understand - someone here might have the details), I can't see any government wanting an increase on that front.

Sure would be nice to have though, and I think the RCN is in the most dire need of new kit.

Harrigan
 
Ref: the Spanish and Chilean AORs,

How does the purchase of "at-sea days" work in practice?  Do they deploy solely for RCN use for a set number of days, or do they go the "Eastern Pacific Station" and pass gas to all Navy ships that need it, with us "booked in" for a certain number of days?  (or does it mean something else)

Harrigan
 
Harrigan said:
It would be great to have this level of capability with the RCN, particularly the Mistrals with their "Joint" capabilities.  But I wonder if the RCN would be able to actually man a fleet of this size. (2 Mistrals, 3 Berlins, 12 CSCs, 4 SSKs, 5-6 AOPS, any remaining MCDVs, etc)  Granted, with PRO, PRE, IRO, and ALG all retired in quick succession, there would presumably be a bit of excess crew capacity at the moment, but IIRC there was a deficit not long ago that had ships tied up alongside with no crews.

Any future plan that relies upon a massive recruiting effort seems doomed to fail in my opinion.  With personnel costs the largest chunk of our budget (from what I understand - someone here might have the details), I can't see any government wanting an increase on that front.

Sure would be nice to have though, and I think the RCN is in the most dire need of new kit.

Harrigan

I'll harp on an old theme of mine.  When you cant find bodies buy motors.

Some advantages of motors:

They come in all shapes and sizes and can move any load known to man

They follow orders

They are easy to communicate with

Groups are easy to coordinate

They dont talk back

They dont take up much space

They are easy to maintain

They are easily replaced

They dont require funerals

Their families dont vote.

On the downside they can be expensive.

Me, I would be buying AFVs designed for two man crews, log vehicles that can be operated in trains buy two to four men, LRPRS/GBAD batteries for supplying umbrellas -many of them ship mounted, ships with minimum crews, and aircraft of all sorts.  Adjust TTPs to suit and hire them out to needy allies.

Boost defence to 2% of GDP and Aid to 0.7%  and use them to make friends.  I figure the massive boost in Aid along with a well managed publicity campaign  would cover the rise in Defence.

Plan on supplying support that others can't afford themselves.  Let the locals man the MGs and fill the trenches.  Move the infantry to SOF light and have them focus on Sense operations with easily extactable small groups.

If we ever need to line the trenches ourselves well, there is always the Militia -who will need asmuch support and as many motors as the Regs can find.

Dont plan on trying to raise a bigger foreign service force.  If you can only recruit 50,000 of the authorized strength of 65,000 then figure hoe you can make the available force as effective as possible by converting the unused FTEs to motors, sensors, munitions and comms.
 
Back on June 24, when we were discussing the Davie AOR proposal Seaspan was announcing this:

88-15-125-800x533.jpg


Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards Celebrates Start of Construction on First NSPS Vessel
Posted June 24, 2015 & filed under Press Releases.

For Immediate Release – June 24, 2015

North Vancouver, BC – The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, joined by Andrew Saxton, Member of Parliament for North Vancouver and John Weston, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, announced today that Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards (VSY) has started construction on the first National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) ship, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG)’s Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV).

It was also announced that the first ship will be named CCGS Sir John Franklin in honour of a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of the Arctic. Found in September 2014, Franklin’s ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

“Seaspan is changing the course of shipbuilding history on the west coast of Canada, and today’s ceremony marks the most significant milestone yet for the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS),” said Brian Carter, President, Seaspan Shipyards. “Today is day one of many years to come of planned ship production at Vancouver Shipyards for the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy. This is thanks to NSPS and we are grateful that federal Minister Finley is here to celebrate with us the official start of our first vessel, the OFSV.”

Seaspan’s steel-cutting event follows the recent awarding of an incentive-based build contract to VSY for the construction of three OFSVs, which will be delivered together under a ceiling price of $514 million before the end of 2017. Following the completion of the OFSVs, Seaspan will then build one Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV), two Joint Support Ships (JSS), one Polar Icebreaker (PIB) as well as up to five Medium Endurance Multi-Tasked Vessels (MEMTVs) and up to five Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), with more opportunities to follow well into the future.

“This announcement marks the resurgence of sustained employment and long-term economic activity within Canada’s shipbuilding and marine industrial base across the country. Seaspan is proudly building the next generation of vessels for the men and women of the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy,” said Brian Carter.

To date, Seaspan has signed over 200 contracts with 137 companies in Canada, with half of their value going to small and medium-sized businesses.

It is estimated that Seaspan’s NSPS work will create 5000 direct, indirect and induced jobs over the next 20 years, produce almost $500 million per year in GDP for B.C.’s economy, and mean thousands of people will get the opportunity for an exciting new career in shipbuilding.

-30-

Jeff Taylor
Email: jataylor@seaspan.com
Office: (604) 990-3175
Mobile: (778) 879-8993

The structure in the back ground, under the flag, appears to be the fairly well developed hull of an OFSV.  That would lend credence to the claim:

Seaspan’s steel-cutting event follows the recent awarding of an incentive-based build contract to VSY for the construction of three OFSVs, which will be delivered together under a ceiling price of $514 million before the end of 2017.

After the similarly sized OOSV the JSS construction will start.

http://www.seaspan.com/building

OFSV-3Dmodel_2011-06-20-PDF-800x517.jpg

104-fwd-stbd-sea.png



 
Actually Kirkhill, you are the one that missed it.

We were all over it in the proper thread "New Canadian Shipbuilding Strategy":

http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/90990/post-1374273.html#msg1374273
 
Oldgateboatdriver said:
Actually Kirkhill, you are the one that missed it.

We were all over it in the proper thread "New Canadian Shipbuilding Strategy":

http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/90990/post-1374273.html#msg1374273

Ouch....... mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Thanks OGBD. (I think).

Edit: WRT "Proper" thread - I claim AOR relevance on scheduling grounds.  :nod:
 
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