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Community celebrates significant Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) milestone
Moving two-thirds of a future Canadian Navy ship at Halifax Shipyard from Irving Shipbuilding
People passing by Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax Shipyard can now see the progress being made on construction of the Royal Canadian Navy’s future fleet. On July 14th and 15th the first two of three major sections of the first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), the future HMCS Harry DeWolf, were moved outside.
Irving Shipbuilding’s more than 1,600 shipbuilders have been hard at work constructing Canada’s first AOPS as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
On July 14th, Irving Shipbuilding used heavy lift transporters to move the centre mega-block of the future HMCS Harry DeWolf from the Halifax Shipyard’s indoor shipbuilding facility outside to land level.
On July 15th the stern mega-block was also moved to land level.
At land level the two mega-blocks will be joined together for further outfitting. These two mega-blocks combined will form more than 70% of the ships' length.
The bow mega-block is currently under construction and will be moved to land level to be joined with the centre mega-block in fall 2017. The future HMCS Harry DeWolf is scheduled to be launched in 2018.
More than 4,000 attend Halifax Shipyard Open House
Halifax Shipyard Open House July 15, 2017 from Irving Shipbuilding.
To celebrate this milestone, Irving Shipbuilding opened the doors to Halifax Shipyard, the most modern shipbuilding facility in North America, for an open house on July 15th.
More than 4,000 employees, Canadian Armed Forces members, and Nova Scotians attended the open house to get an up-close look at our progress building Canada’s future naval fleet. Visitors enjoyed touring our world-class facility, live music from Nova Scotia Youth Ambassadors, a BBQ, cake, ice cream, and children’s activities.
For many employees, the open house offered them the opportunity to show their family and friends the results of their ongoing hard work proudly building ships for Canada.
Formal remarks were delivered by Kevin McCoy, President of Irving Shipbuilding Inc., Hon. Scott Brison, MP for Kings-Hants and President of the Treasury Board, Vice Admiral Ron Lloyd, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, Hon. Iain Rankin, MLA for Timberlea-Prospect and Nova Scotia Minister of Environment, Jerry Dias, National President of Unifor, and Mr. J.D. Irving, Co-CEO, J.D. Irving, Limited.
With two AOPS mega-blocks moved to land level and an open house attended by more than 4,000 visitors, it is a great time to be a shipbuilder!
