You might want to check out an interesting article in Maritime Engineering Journal (Volume 93, Summer 2020), “The Canadian Surface Combatant - Starting a New Conversation on Canada’s Major Warship Replacement Project,” by Cdr Andrew Sargeant. This article is introducing a series of articles to be published in coming months […]
Canadian Shipbuilding
100 posts
At the end of July 2020, the first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) – HMCS Harry DeWolf – was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). This was a great moment for several reasons. First, this is the first ship built for the navy through the National Shipbuilding […]
Procrustes, 11 August 2020. The recent confirmation that the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) will conduct and deliver yet another report on the mounting costs of Ottawa’s preferred bid winner for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) program in October 2020 could lead to a reversal of course on this slowly evolving […]
RCN Media Release, 31 July 2020. The ultimate milestone in shipbuilding procurement is finally here, a first for the Royal Canadian Navy under the National Shipbuilding Strategy! The first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship, the HMCS Harry DeWolf was formally accepted and delivered to Canada on 31 July 2020. The […]
Procrustes, 23 July 2020. Are cost overruns the norm in Canadian naval shipbuilding? If so, why? The Canadian warship procurement system is centrally oriented to keeping Canadian shipbuilders in business. Ottawa’s cost concerns and the navy’s scheduled delivery goals are only secondary considerations. The operating assumption is that, once construction […]
Dan Middlemiss, 19 July 2020. Will the Canadian Navy ride the robotic wave of the future? Maybe the future has already arrived. The United States Navy (USN) recently awarded a $35 million contract to L3 Technologies for a prototype Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV). This represents another milestone in what […]
Procrustes, 15 July 2020. Is Ottawa going against an international cost-reduction trend in putting all its surface warship eggs in a one, large, expensive Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) design basket? Herein lies the age-old quality versus quantity debate concerning naval fleets. In one sense, the impulse toward a capable, general-purpose […]
Procrustes, 05 July 2020. There has been a longstanding debate in Canada about the extra costs (i.e., the ‘domestic premium’) for building warships in Canada. Certainly the best exponent of the view that this premium is minimal and that comparing Canadian prices with the ship prices of foreign suppliers is […]
It is usually a long process to procure new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy. Warships are both complex and expensive, so there are legitimate concerns about efficient use of taxpayer money. It should be noted that lengthy procurement processes do not just apply to warships - the Canadian Air […]
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 […]