Keel-laying marks next step for AOPS project

The traditional keel-laying for the future HMCS Margaret Brooke was held at Irving’s Halifax Shipyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where a coin was placed on the ship’s keel by Olivia Strowbridge, the first woman in a trade supervisory role in the shipyard and its first female certified ship spray painter. In shipbuilding tradition, the coin will remain within the ship’s structure for its entire life and will invite good luck to the vessel and crew throughout its service. Photos by Mona Ghiz, MARLANT PA

Ryan Melanson, Trident ~

The second of the planned Harry DeWolf class Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) recently passed an important date in a ship’s life, with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Irving Shipbuilding holding a keel-laying ceremony for the future HMCS Margaret Brooke. The small gathering took place at Irving’s Halifax Shipyard Assembly Hall on May 29.

The ceremony involves placing a coin on the keel of the ship, which will remain in place throughout its years in service, and is meant to bring good luck to all those who sail in it. The coin placed on the future Margaret Brooke may bring extra good luck, thanks to the four-leaf clover depicted on it.

The ship is named after LCdr Margaret Brooke, an RCN Nursing Sister decorated for gallantry during the Second World War, who was known to carry two four-leaf clovers in a silver locket for good luck following her survival of the sinking of the ferry SS Caribou off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942.

LCdr Brooke was named a Member (Military Division) of the Order of the British Empire for her bravery and attempts to help others during that deadly wreck.

She died in early 2016 in Victoria, and it was recently announced that her niece, Margaret Elizabeth Brooke, will be the sponsor of the ship that bears her aunt’s name.

RAdm John Newton, Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic, who attended the ceremony along with Formation Chief, CPO1 Pierre Auger, said the navy couldn’t have chosen a more fitting individual to honour.

Adding to the significance of the event, the group was joined by Cdr Michele Tessier, who has been appointed the first Commanding Officer of HMCS Margaret Brooke, and the first female Commanding Officer of a Harry Dewolf class ship.

On hand to perform the duties of the shipbuilder during the ceremony was Olivia Strowbridge, a certified ship spray painter and the first woman in a trade supervisory role at Halifax Shipyard.

Strowbridge placed the coin on the keel of the ship, completing the naval tradition.

Kevin McCoy, President of Irving Shipbuilding, said the ceremony marks another milestone for Halifax Shipyard, with the new class of ships now in serial production. Thanks to lessons learned from the first vessel, he said construction on Margaret Brooke is well ahead of where Harry DeWolf was at the same stage, with the keel module, plus pipes, valves and pumps, about 80 percent complete.

“There’s been significant learning for us here at the shipyard, and I think it shows we’re heading in the right direction,” McCoy said.

The RCN is anticipating the delivery of Harry DeWolf in 2018, with Margaret Brooke to follow soon after; the final ships of the class are expected to be in service by 2021 and 2022.

RAdm Newton highlighted the importance of the new capability that will come with the AOPS project, allowing a warship to serve Canada in the Arctic in a way other vessels haven’t been able to, and allowing the RCN to be a stronger partner to the Canadian Coast Guard and to Indigenous communities in the North.

“At the same time, I have no doubt this ship will sail around the world, in the most dangerous oceans,” he said. “Whether it’s dealing with drugs, refugee patrols, or working on NATO’s Northern plank or in the deep Pacific, we have real, new capability coming.”