How do navies get fuel, ammo, food and spare parts when they’re at sea? Naval forces often have agreements with allied or friendly states that allow them to visit ports to buy fuel and supplies, but often there is no convenient state nearby. And in sparsely populated regions like the […]
AORs/support ships
9 posts
On June 10, the Joint Support Ship (JSS) Build Contract was awarded to Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards Ltd. (VSY). This $2.4-billion contract will undertake the full construction phase for the replacement of the RCN’s two, previously decommissioned, Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR) vessels. The award directly supports both a significant Strong Secure […]
30 March 2017. An article written by Christopher Cedros, a surface warfare office with the US Navy, sparked my earlier comment on repair containers and mexeflotes. The article is “Distributed Lethality and the Importance of Ship Repair” [available at http://the strategybridge.org/the-bridge/2017-2-14/distributed-lethality-and-the-importance-of-ship-repair]. The doctrine of distributed lethality could fill an issue […]
22 March 2017. “Mexeflote for Interim AOR” was the title of an article posted on Broadsides last September. The article proposed the interim AOR be equipped with a mexeflote-powered raft for ship-to-shore transfer of large cargo, up to 60 tonnes per trip. The AOR's cranes could lower the mexeflote pontoons […]
On 30 November 2015, the federal department Public Services and Procurement issued a statement (http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1022609) that the government of Canada had "determined that proceeding with Project Resolve is the most viable course of action to provide the Navy’s at-sea oil replenishment capability..." Project Resolve is the conversion by Chantier Davie […]
I am writing to express my concerns regarding the names announced recently for the RCN’s two future Joint Support Ships, Chateauguay and Queenston. A recent press release stated: “The names (of these two vessels) recognize the achievements and sacrifices of those early Canadian soldiers who fought and died in these […]
[*Originally appeared in Canadian Naval Review, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Winter 2011).] “Cheap for us and nasty for the Germans.” Winston Churchill, 1940. In this centenary year there is much to be proud of but more to be concerned about. The course envisaged by Leadmark, the future fleet structure as […]
If the Canadian navy had possessed a large ship available to deploy in the case of such incidents as the Haitian Earthquake: an AOR, JSS, Large Deck Amphib, or a RoRo Vessel taken up from trade, it could have taken huge quantities of building supplies, mechanized vehicles such as bull […]
Robin Allan refers to the requirement as a "Big Honking Ship". The term is somewhat overly generous. The projected full load displacement of the JSS is about 28,000 tons, about 3,000 tons greater than the new US Navy San Antonio-class LPD, about the same for the Spanish Navantia LHD design, […]