HMCS Glace Bay (MM 701)

For other ships of the same name, see HMCS Glace Bay.
Career (Canada)
Name: Glace Bay
Namesake: Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax
Laid down: 28 April 1995
Launched: 22 January 1996
Commissioned: 26 October 1996
Homeport: CFB Halifax
Identification: MM 701
Motto: Ex Fundo Maris (From the depths of the sea)[1]
Honours and
awards:
Atlantic, 1944-45[1]
Notes: Colours: Black and white[1]
Badge: Sable on a pile Argent a thistle proper.[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:Kingston-class coastal defence vessel
Displacement:970 t
Length:55.3 m (181.43 ft)
Beam:11.3 m (37.07 ft)
Draught:3.4 m (11.15 ft)
Propulsion:2 × Jeumont DC electric motors
4 × 600VAC Wärtsilä SACM V12 diesel alternators
Speed:15 kn (27.78 km/h)
Range:5,000 nmi (9,260.00 km)
Capacity:47
Complement:31 to 47
Sensors and
processing systems:
Kelvin Hughes navigation radar (I-band)
Kelvin Hughes 6000 surface search radar (E-F band)
Global Positioning System
A towed high-frequency sidescan sonar
Remote-control Mine Hunting System (RMHS)
Armament:1 × Bofors 40 mm 60 Mk 5C cannon
2 × M2 Machine Guns

HMCS Glace Bay is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel that has served in the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy since 1996.

Glace Bay is the second ship of her class which is the name for the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel Project. She is the second vessel to use the designation HMCS Glace Bay.

Glace Bay was laid down on 28 April 1995 at Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax and was launched on 22 January 1996. She was officially commissioned into the Canadian Forces at Sydney on 26 October 1996 and carries the pennant number 701.[2]

She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and is homeported at CFB Halifax.

Design and Construction

The Kingston-class coastal defence vessel was conceived to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment and construction techniques in a ship designed to military specifications. The construction of the design required the building of partially outfitted steel block units, which were assembled into larger blocks and those blocks were integrated into the ship. The decks were assembled upside down with pre-outfitting of the underside of the deck prior to installation on the ship. The ship is outfitted with a degaussing system from Power Magnetics and Electronic Systems.[3]

Kingston class vessels are designed to carry up to three 6.1-metre (20 ft) ISO containers with power hookups on the open deck aft in order to embark mission-specific payloads.[4]

Glace Bay was laid down on 28 April 1995 at Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax and was launched on 22 January 1996. She was officially commissioned into the CF on 26 October 1996.

Armament and Sensors

Kingston-class vessels are outfitted with a Bofors 40 mm 60 mk5C rapid fire gun, and two 12.7mm machine guns. The ships are equipped with one of three modular mine countermeasures systems: the deep sea Thales MMS mechanical mine sweeping system, the route survey system or the Sutec remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mine inspection system.[3]

The navigation equipment installed in Kingston-class vessels are a Kelvin Hughes I-band navigation radar and a global positioning system. The surface search radar is the E to F-band Kelvin Hughes 6000.[3]

Propulsion

The ship is equipped with four main Wärtsilä UD 23V12 diesel engines which are coupled to four alternators (600 V AC). Two Jeumont electric motors (±740 V DC) provide power to the two LIPS Z-drive azimuth thrusters which are fitted with fixed-pitch reversing propellers. The propulsion system provides 15 knots (28 km/h) maximum continuous speed. The range at the economical cruising speed of 9 knots (17 km/h) using two engines is 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) with a 20% margin in tank capacity. Mechanical minesweeping is carried out at 8 knots (15 km/h). The crash stop length is five ship lengths from a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h).[3]

Service History

Following the crash of Swissair Flight 111, Glace Bay was among the vessels sent to search for the downed aircraft in September 1998. The following year, she was sent to the Baltic Sea to participate in minesweeping exercises with NATO.[2]

In November 2009, the Canadian trials for the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system were performed aboard the Glace Bay.[5]

In June 2013, Glace Bay and HMCS Kingston were sent on a seven-week tour of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes, making several port calls along the way. In 2014, she was deployed to serve in Operation Caribbe.[6] During the ship's deployment, in collaboration with the United States Coast Guard, the vessel seized a large shipment of cocaine valued at $84 million.[7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Official Lineages, Volume 2: Extant Commissioned Ships - HMCS Glace Bay". National Defence and the Canadian Forces. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron (2002). Warships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-2002 (3 ed.). St. Catharines: Vanwell Publishing Ltd. p. 301. ISBN 1-55125-072-1.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Kingston Class Coastal Defence Vessels, Canada". naval-technology.com. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  4. Saunders, Stephen (ed.) (2008). Jane's Fighting Ships 2008–2009. Jane's Fighting Ships (111th ed.). Surrey: Jane's Information Group. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-7106-2845-9. OCLC 225431774.
  5. "ScanEagle Takes Flight off Canadian Vessel". naval-technology.com. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  6. "Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships Kingston and Glace Bay Have Joined HMC Ships Nanaimo and Whitehorse On Op CARIBBE". Ottawa Citizen. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  7. Pugliese, David (24 March 2014). "HMCS Glace Bay Recovers 97 Bales of Cocaine During Caribbean Sea Patrol". Defence Watch (Ottawa Citizen). Retrieved 1 October 2014.

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