Ichhabe
04-19-2004, 11:34 AM
Posted on behalf of evanlloyd.
http://media.canada.com/canwest/29/front.jpg
The big boat is coming back
Military to buy largest ship since this beast was scrapped
Chris Wattie
National Post
April 19, 2004
HMCS Bonaventure, Canada's first and last aircraft carrier.
CREDIT: DND File Photo
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They will be the Canadian Forces' largest warships in more than three decades, they cost $700-million apiece and they have the navy buzzing with anticipation.
Last week in a speech at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick, Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, announced funding for three 28,000-tonne joint support ships, and they are nothing if not multi-purpose -- capable of carrying troops and heavy equipment anywhere in the world, landing them with a flight of assault helicopters and turning into a floating hospital or headquarters to back up the army from just offshore.
"Is this a freighter? No way," Captain Kelly Williams, the navy's head of strategic planning, says emphatically. "This is the whisper of something new."
A flight deck and hangar on the ships' stern will be able to handle up to four of the promised new maritime helicopters, which will replace the antique Sea Kings at about the same time the new ships come into service.
A cargo bay below decks will be able to load tonnes of heavy equipment -- enough armoured vehicles, trucks and gear to equip a small battle group or humanitarian aid for a natural disaster. More containers or vehicles can be stored on deck amidships.
The ships' living quarters can house more than 200 soldiers, or be converted into a floating hospital or command centre to run an army mission ashore or a naval task force at sea.
The lowest decks of the ships will be tanks filled with fuel to refill the tanks of other Canadian warships through hoses and booms on the upper decks.
The joint support ships "will be the backbone of Canadian task forces," says Capt. Williams. "They can put us on the doorstep, waiting for the call to go in ... this is probably the most exciting project the Canadian Forces has moved on for many, many years."
The navy has not had ships this big on its list since the aircraft carrier Bonaventure was sold for scrap in 1970.
When the first ship of the new class is launched in 2015, it could well become one of the flagships of the fleet. At $700-million each, they will also be among the most expensive, but defence planners are confident the navy will be getting its money's worth.
"If Canada wants a voice on the world stage, if we want to reclaim our position in the world, we have to be able to move quickly and decisively," says Capt. Williams. "The joint support ships allow us to do that."
Dr. Richard Gimblett, an analyst with Dalhousie University and a former naval officer, says the new ships will be impressive if they live up to the navy's expectations.
"The navy's done something really radical here," he says. "It's a big gamble and they deserve a lot of credit for it.
"I think the only real drawback is that these ships will be too popular -- everybody will want to use these things for every mission. And there will only be three of them."
However, Dr. Gimblett questions why it will take 11 years to build them. If the military had used off-the-shelf plans from similar Dutch, German or Portuguese ships, it could have saved up to $100-million and a number of years in delivery time, he says.
"They needed these ships 10 years ago."
The project has been in development for almost 11 years, beginning as a plan to replace the Protecteur class of replenishment ships -- the four-decade-old vessels known as "oilers" that refuel and resupply other Canadian warships at sea.
Under Vice-Admiral Ron Buck, the navy expanded the role of the joint support ships to allow them to support the army and carry aircraft to far-off theatres for humanitarian, peacekeeping or combat missions.
"The JSS is truly the most transformational project that the Canadian Forces is going to launch in the next five to six years," he says. "For the first time, we will have the capability to move rapidly and decisively."
"It's not just moving troops and trucks.... You could take an entire field hospital, put it in containers and send it anywhere in the world. Wherever there's a humanitarian disaster, there it would be with a Canadian flag flying over it."
If the Canadian military had been equipped with joint support ships earlier this year when unrest consumed Haiti, Capt. Williams says, a vanguard of troops and their vehicles could have been loaded on board while the crisis developed and sent to wait just offshore for the order to move in as part of a multinational security force.
"Haiti took a long while to bubble up -- the whole world could see that there was going to have to be intervention. We could have had a whole reinforced company of soldiers standing by, ready to go, 20 miles off the coast. The minute the political decision was made, those forces could have been ashore in two hours."
Rather than setting up a large, heavily protected base camp, the force headquarters could have remained on the ship, he said. "A Canadian command centre can be run from sea, right in the hold of these ships. It's plug and play and off it goes.
"It could also house special forces ... and act as a remote operating base for them wherever the government wants them to go."
The new ships are to carry their own landing craft, two smaller vessels capable of unloading up to 30 tonnes of cargo each from either a rear ramp or cranes in the middle of the mother ship.
As a bonus, Capt. Williams says the new vessels will have double hulls, allowing them to sail through thinner pack ice in the North. "For the first time we'll be able to project military power in that area of our national jurisdiction. This is not an icebreaker, but it will have the capacity to operate up and near the iced-over regions ... to enhance our sovereignty and to react to crises in the Arctic."
Capt. Williams says the new ships will not entirely replace the need to charter cargo vessels to carry heavy equipment or cargo planes to move large numbers of troops around the world quickly. "This won't solve all our problems, but it'll solve a huge chunk.
"The only limiting factor is going to be how quickly you can load it, because these ships are going to be ready to go."
MEASURING UP:
Joint Support Ships Stats:
Length 200 metres
Width 32 metres
Draft 8.5 metres
Cargo 2,500 lane metres (one metre x 2.5 metres) enough to carry up to 300 light trucks on two covered decks and atop the main deck.
Crew 165
Passengers 210
Speed 21 knots
Range 10,800 nautical miles
Source: National Post
© National Post 2004
http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=f77a0bfa-f80e-4263-a0dc-6ffe3fe13d20
http://media.canada.com/canwest/29/front.jpg
The big boat is coming back
Military to buy largest ship since this beast was scrapped
Chris Wattie
National Post
April 19, 2004
HMCS Bonaventure, Canada's first and last aircraft carrier.
CREDIT: DND File Photo
ADVERTISEMENT
They will be the Canadian Forces' largest warships in more than three decades, they cost $700-million apiece and they have the navy buzzing with anticipation.
Last week in a speech at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick, Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, announced funding for three 28,000-tonne joint support ships, and they are nothing if not multi-purpose -- capable of carrying troops and heavy equipment anywhere in the world, landing them with a flight of assault helicopters and turning into a floating hospital or headquarters to back up the army from just offshore.
"Is this a freighter? No way," Captain Kelly Williams, the navy's head of strategic planning, says emphatically. "This is the whisper of something new."
A flight deck and hangar on the ships' stern will be able to handle up to four of the promised new maritime helicopters, which will replace the antique Sea Kings at about the same time the new ships come into service.
A cargo bay below decks will be able to load tonnes of heavy equipment -- enough armoured vehicles, trucks and gear to equip a small battle group or humanitarian aid for a natural disaster. More containers or vehicles can be stored on deck amidships.
The ships' living quarters can house more than 200 soldiers, or be converted into a floating hospital or command centre to run an army mission ashore or a naval task force at sea.
The lowest decks of the ships will be tanks filled with fuel to refill the tanks of other Canadian warships through hoses and booms on the upper decks.
The joint support ships "will be the backbone of Canadian task forces," says Capt. Williams. "They can put us on the doorstep, waiting for the call to go in ... this is probably the most exciting project the Canadian Forces has moved on for many, many years."
The navy has not had ships this big on its list since the aircraft carrier Bonaventure was sold for scrap in 1970.
When the first ship of the new class is launched in 2015, it could well become one of the flagships of the fleet. At $700-million each, they will also be among the most expensive, but defence planners are confident the navy will be getting its money's worth.
"If Canada wants a voice on the world stage, if we want to reclaim our position in the world, we have to be able to move quickly and decisively," says Capt. Williams. "The joint support ships allow us to do that."
Dr. Richard Gimblett, an analyst with Dalhousie University and a former naval officer, says the new ships will be impressive if they live up to the navy's expectations.
"The navy's done something really radical here," he says. "It's a big gamble and they deserve a lot of credit for it.
"I think the only real drawback is that these ships will be too popular -- everybody will want to use these things for every mission. And there will only be three of them."
However, Dr. Gimblett questions why it will take 11 years to build them. If the military had used off-the-shelf plans from similar Dutch, German or Portuguese ships, it could have saved up to $100-million and a number of years in delivery time, he says.
"They needed these ships 10 years ago."
The project has been in development for almost 11 years, beginning as a plan to replace the Protecteur class of replenishment ships -- the four-decade-old vessels known as "oilers" that refuel and resupply other Canadian warships at sea.
Under Vice-Admiral Ron Buck, the navy expanded the role of the joint support ships to allow them to support the army and carry aircraft to far-off theatres for humanitarian, peacekeeping or combat missions.
"The JSS is truly the most transformational project that the Canadian Forces is going to launch in the next five to six years," he says. "For the first time, we will have the capability to move rapidly and decisively."
"It's not just moving troops and trucks.... You could take an entire field hospital, put it in containers and send it anywhere in the world. Wherever there's a humanitarian disaster, there it would be with a Canadian flag flying over it."
If the Canadian military had been equipped with joint support ships earlier this year when unrest consumed Haiti, Capt. Williams says, a vanguard of troops and their vehicles could have been loaded on board while the crisis developed and sent to wait just offshore for the order to move in as part of a multinational security force.
"Haiti took a long while to bubble up -- the whole world could see that there was going to have to be intervention. We could have had a whole reinforced company of soldiers standing by, ready to go, 20 miles off the coast. The minute the political decision was made, those forces could have been ashore in two hours."
Rather than setting up a large, heavily protected base camp, the force headquarters could have remained on the ship, he said. "A Canadian command centre can be run from sea, right in the hold of these ships. It's plug and play and off it goes.
"It could also house special forces ... and act as a remote operating base for them wherever the government wants them to go."
The new ships are to carry their own landing craft, two smaller vessels capable of unloading up to 30 tonnes of cargo each from either a rear ramp or cranes in the middle of the mother ship.
As a bonus, Capt. Williams says the new vessels will have double hulls, allowing them to sail through thinner pack ice in the North. "For the first time we'll be able to project military power in that area of our national jurisdiction. This is not an icebreaker, but it will have the capacity to operate up and near the iced-over regions ... to enhance our sovereignty and to react to crises in the Arctic."
Capt. Williams says the new ships will not entirely replace the need to charter cargo vessels to carry heavy equipment or cargo planes to move large numbers of troops around the world quickly. "This won't solve all our problems, but it'll solve a huge chunk.
"The only limiting factor is going to be how quickly you can load it, because these ships are going to be ready to go."
MEASURING UP:
Joint Support Ships Stats:
Length 200 metres
Width 32 metres
Draft 8.5 metres
Cargo 2,500 lane metres (one metre x 2.5 metres) enough to carry up to 300 light trucks on two covered decks and atop the main deck.
Crew 165
Passengers 210
Speed 21 knots
Range 10,800 nautical miles
Source: National Post
© National Post 2004
http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=f77a0bfa-f80e-4263-a0dc-6ffe3fe13d20