New Canadian Shipbuilding Strategy

[Czech_pivo]

isnt that what Davie is assuming they can start producing ships?

Yes, hopefully. With only the icebreaker on their build list at the moment.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Yes. Over the course of time, we will be refitting ships while ships are being built. The theory of a national shipbuilding strategy is that, starting in 2030(ish), there is a destroyer type vessel being delivered to the fleet every 18 months.

Forever.

No more boom/bust.

While that is going on, the existing fleet needs someplace to go for their 5/10/15 year refits (maybe 20. Maybe not) before being sold on to another country or decommissioned and put in reserve or scrapped.

So would this mean we have 216 months after First RCD to have a replacement in place being built?

Yes, they go in for a docking work period of 6 months every 5 years. No those work periods cost triple and take 12 months. With the new system you're constantly replacing the 20 year old ship with a new one.

The AOPS were never really part of the permanent build for warships plan. I think there is a good possibility of their replacements being jagged into a shedule for someone somewhere, probably after all the MRSV's are completed (16 or so from Seaspan). We'll have to see. There are so many ships needed at this point I think there will be enough work for all the major shipyards for the next 15 years.

No refits now are 4 to 7 years depending on the shape of the ship. It's why we moved to a zero (minimal) crew refit.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

So would this mean we have 216 months after First RCD to have a replacement in place being built?

God! That's going to be tight. Better start working on designing the replacement now!

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

All joking aside, with the CDC needing to be as Canadian as possible, we have an opportunity to re-create the 1950's office of plans and engineering, which was a half civilian, half military bureau of engineers and naval architects that constantly produced and maintained plans "ready-to-go" for ships and also oversaw and developed the upgrades to current ships for their major refits. Their last design was for the IRO's in their original form, in 1972.

The advantage of such a bureau was that the military learned and understood design from the civilian experts and a t the same time, educated the civilian to the specific military needs. Since they produced the plans/designs, there were also very little difficulties in producing "specs" for tender that corresponded to what the Navy wanted.

 

[Maxman1]

God! That's going to be tight. Better start working on designing the replacement now!

Why not just build a new flight, like the US does with the Arleigh Burke?

 

[Underway]

Why not just build a new flight, like the US does with the Arleigh Burke?

Designs reach the end of useful life at some point. You can do both honestly.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

The Office I am talking about did both, that is why the Saint-Laurent's were done in four batches (7-7-4 and 2), with major retrofits to the original seven into DDH's, and four of the Restigouche's into IRE's (St, Croix, Columbia and Chaudiere were left out). But they also had plans for the next frigates to start replacing the Saint-Laurent's, incorporating a lot of what the Americans were doing with their Knox class, but these were canned in the lead up to Unification, and ultimately, it was the next follow up class, destroyers, that were built instead - the Iroquois'.

Then, after unification, the bureau was dismantled, all functions centralized in Ottawa - without the industry experts, and we got silence for 15 years.

 

[DBNSG]

I take it hell will freeze over before the old Saint John Shipbuilding yards are given new life? Mind you, I haven’t been to Saint John in years and don’t know whether the yards were ever repurposed…e.g. condos.

The Irving's have left the old Drydock pretty much as it was but the Shipbuilding land facilities do not exist anymore as the site was converted to a Wallboard plant.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I think Seaspan should acquire another Careen sized drydock to be stationed permanently in Esquimalt.