HMCS Nanaimo (MM 702)

For other ships of the same name, see HMCS Nanaimo.
HMCS Namaimo alongside in Victoria Harbour for Canada Day 2009 celebrations
History
Canada
Name: Nanaimo
Namesake: Nanaimo, British Columbia
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax
Laid down: 11 August 1995
Launched: 17 May 1996
Commissioned: 10 May 1997
Homeport: CFB Esquimalt
Identification: 702
Motto: Faith and Labour[1]
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic 1941-44, Gulf of St. Lawrence 1944[1]
Status: Active in service
Notes: Colours: Gold and Blue[1]
General characteristics
Class & type: Kingston-class coastal defence vessel
Displacement: 970 tonnes
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)
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:

HMCS Nanaimo is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel that has served in the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy since 1997.

Nanaimo is the third 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 Nanaimo.

Nanaimo was laid down on 11 August 1995 by Halifax Shipyards Ltd. at Halifax and was launched on 17 May 1996. She was officially commissioned into the Canadian Forces on 10 May 1997 at Nanaimo, British Columbia and carries the pennant number 702.[2]

She is assigned to Joint Task Force Pacific (formerly Maritime Forces Pacific) and is homeported at CFB Esquimalt.

Design

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]

Nanaimo underway in July 2006

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]

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]

Underway in San Diego, CA on 27 June 2014.

Operational history

After commissioning, Nanaimo was assigned to the west coast. In June 2002, she participated in RIMPAC 2002. As part of Operation Caribbe, she patrolled the eastern Pacific Ocean with her sister HMCS Whitehorse in February 2014.[5] She once again participated in RIMPAC in 2014, as part of the units operating of Southern California.[6]

In February 2015, Nanaimo was deployed as part of Operation Caribbe.[7] On 10 March, Nanaimo came across 50 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) packets of cocaine floating in the ocean. She returned to Canada on 15 April 2015.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Official Lineages, Volume 2, Part 1: Extant Commissioned Ships.". National Defence and the Canadian Forces. 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron (2002). Warships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-2002 (3 ed.). St. Catharines: Vanwell Publishing Ltd. p. 303. ISBN 1-55125-072-1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "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. ↑ Pugliese, David (13 February 2014). "Her Majesty's Canadian Ships Nanaimo and Whitehorse On Their Way To Operation Caribbe". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Pugliese, David (26 June 2014). "Full list of participating forces and military assets for RIMPAC 2014". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Pugliese, David (2 March 2015). "Four Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels on patrol on OP Caribbe". Defence Watch (Ottawa Citizen). Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Petrescu, Sarah (16 April 2015). "Esquimalt-based ships return from busting drug smugglers". Times Colonist. Retrieved 16 April 2015.

External Links


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