Canada Celebrates Keel-Laying of First River-Class Destroyer

Last week, Irving Shipbuilding celebrated the formal keel-laying ceremony for the first of its long-awaited River-class destroyer project, the largest and most complex shipbuilding effort undertaken in Canada since the Second World War. It is the centerpiece of the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), a multi-decade procurement program that has divided up orders between a handful if major shipyards in an effort to strengthen the industrial base.

“Today’s keel laying reflects the strong partnership between National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Canadian Coast Guard. As we modernize our fleets together – from the AOPV to next?generation combatants – we are building complementary capabilities that strengthen Canada’s maritime readiness, enabling our personnel to continue to protect our waters, and serve Canadians across every region," said senior deputy defense official Kevin Brosseau in a statement.

The River-class is a derivative of the BAE Type 26 frigate design, originally created for the Royal Navy. While it will have a comparable size to the British frigate parent design, the River-class' capabilities are better suited to the "destroyer" label, according to Canada's defense minister. It will replace the service's Cold War-era Iroquois-class destroyers (long since decommissioned) and Halifax-class frigates (all about 30 years old).

The first River-class destroyer will be named HMCS Fraser River, and will be joined by at least two sister ships. The Canadian government has contracted with Irving Shipbuilding for the first three hulls for about US$6 billion, but Canada's budget watchdog expects that the total cost to construct and deliver this initial tranche is expected to approach US$16 billion - more than US$5 billion each, about twice the cost of a full-size Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built at Bath Iron Works or Ingalls Shipbuilding. The overall cost for all 15 vessels in the series is estimated to be in the range of US$55 billion.

Cost issues aside, the Royal Canadian Navy is interested in getting the River-class built and out on the water. "The world’s a pretty uncertain place right now,," said top RCN officer Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, speaking to Global News. "We’ve already retired the four destroyers that this is part of the replacement for. The faster we can get warships back out on the waters, the modern ships Canada needs, the better off we’re going to be."

An additional program to built shorter-ranged, heavily-armed corvettes - smaller and less expensive vessels for coastal patrol - is in the preparatory stages. The Royal Canadian Navy is said to be interested in buying 16-20 of them, according to the Ottawa Citizen.