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3 avril 2014 4 03 /04 /avril /2014 07:20
Cracks In HMCS Iroquois Will Limit Warship’s Operations

 

 

April 2, 2014. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

 

Patrick Smith of the Ottawa Citizen has this article:

 

A Canadian military ship will be limited in future operations after cracks were discovered on the upper part of the vessel in late February.

 

HMCS Iroquois, an air defence destroyer ship that has been in use by the Royal Canadian Navy since 1972, suffered stress fractures to the superstructure – the part of the ship above the main deck – as a result of stress from the sea’s movement.

 

The damage, on a portion of the ship that is above water, were discovered while HMCS Iroquois was completing a fleet exercise off the East Coast of the United States.

 

Further examination of the ship while it was docked in Boston, Mass. showed that the cracks’ impact were not serious enough to affect the current exercise. HMCS Iroquois was able to complete its mission and return to Canada.

 

However, the Citizen has discovered that the ship, which is currently docked in Halifax, N.S. while engineers further assess the damage, will only be able to operate at limited capacity when the weather is bad.

 

Specifically, the Iroquois will be unable to navigate waters when the waves are particularly heavy.

 

The 42-year-old vessel typically operates in the North Atlantic Ocean, known for its rough water. The ship was declared safe enough to continue sailing in winter conditions during the examination in Boston.

 

As the Citizen reported in November 2013, Iroquois-class destroyers received a major upgrade in the 1990s and are scheduled for replacement in the mid-2020s if the government schedule remains on target.

 

Previous reports, though, have shown that officials do not expect the lifespan of these ships to last longer than 2017. As it stands, the ships will not be replaced before they are retired, leaving a sizeable gap in Canada’s navy. Although the navy’s Halifax-class frigates will pick up some of the slack, the retirement of the Iroquois class will limit the range of operations the navy can undertake.

 

The Iroquois class has only three remaining ships: HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Algonquin.

 

It’s unclear whether the Iroquois will be left in its current, restricted state, repaired for use until 2017, or retired from the fleet ahead of time.

 

The commanding officer of the ship was not available for comment.

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22 décembre 2013 7 22 /12 /décembre /2013 19:20
Upgrades To Halifax-Class Frigates Require Flight Testing To Determine Sea King Operating Limits

 

December 22, 2013. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

 

From the Royal Canadian Navy:

 

Civilian and military personnel from various agencies successfully completed flight testing on board HMCS Fredericton in early December to define the ship/helicopter operating limits for the CH124 Sea King helicopter operating from the newly modernized Halifax-class frigates.

 

The often harsh conditions facing a ship at sea can make it extremely challenging to land a large helicopter on the deck of a frigate while underway. The data collected during these tests, conducted in the Northern Atlantic Ocean from December 2 to 9, will serve to establish the safe limits for shipborne air operations.

 

Partner agencies involved in the project included the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE), the National Research Council, Defence Research and Development Canada – Atlantic, and 12 Wing Shearwater, which provided the Sea King and the personnel to maintain it, and to augment the AETE flight test team.

 

This testing was required because the Halifax-Class Modernization Frigate Life Extension program included significant superstructure changes to the ship which had the potential to affect the accuracy of the mast-mounted anemometers and the wind characteristics over the flight deck. Without the revised wind and deck motion limits, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) would be unable to conduct helicopter operations, severely limiting the ship’s capabilities.

 

Thanks to the success of this joint operation, Sea King crews will be permitted to operate from this class of ship commencing in 2014, ensuring continued excellence at sea as the RCN transitions to its future fleet.

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