HMCS Preserver paid off after 46 years of service

DND Press Release

HMCS Preserver concluded its service to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) on Friday. The Auxiliary Oilier Replenishment (AOR) was officially "paid off", receiving a final salute from current and former sailors, soldiers, airmen, and airwomen during a ceremony at HMC Dockyard Halifax. The paying-off ceremony signals the end of the ship’s service to the Royal Canadian Navy.

According to RAdm J. Newton, Commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic, the Protecteur-class ships set the standard in modern navies for safe and expedient replenishment at sea. The essential but inherently difficult and dangerous task of resupplying ships at sea with food, fuel, munitions, and spare parts was executed by Preserver, and sister ship Protecteur, for 46 years. To accomplish this task, the ships travelled in the North Atlantic, across the wide Pacific, and into Canada’s Arctic waters.

First of class, HMCS Protecteur was commissioned in 1969, and HMCS Preserver was commissioned a year later in August 1970. The RCN intended to operate the ships until 2017. Protecteur suffered a serious engine room fire in 2014 and was sold for scrap metal in 2015, and corrosion problems were identified on Preserver, which contributed to her early retirement and today's paying off ceremony.

Canada intends to build two new auxilliary vessels, the Queenston-class joint support ship, at Seaspan shipyards in the Vancouver area, however, those will not be complete before 2019.

In a stop-gap measure, the RCN’s replenishment requirements are currently being addressed through leasing arrangements with Spain and Chile. The Spanish replenishment ship ESPS Patino is currently supporting the Atlantic Fleet.

In another answer to the serious capability gap left by the Protecteur-class AORs, the Government of Canada signed a contract in August 2015 (Project Resolve) with Davie Shipyard of Quebec to convert a German commercial container ship (built in 2010) to take on the resupply role for the RCN. The conversion was expected to be completed and the ship active in service by 2017.

Quick Facts

The term “paying off” refers to the British age-of-sail practice of paying a crew their wages once a ship has completed its voyage. In the RCN, the tradition continues with the term paying off referring to the formal ceremony where the naval jack, ensign, and commissioning pennant are hauled down, the crew departs a ship for the last time, and the ship is then no longer referred to as HMCS (Her Majesty's Canadian Ship).

HMCS Preserver has participated in numerous missions and operations, including the United Nations peacekeeping effort in Cyprus and the enforcing of sanctions on the former Yugoslavia, as well as Operations DELIVERANCE, APPOLLO, CARIBBE, among others.

Over the course of HMCS Preserver’s 46 years of service, it is estimated that more than 8,000 sailors have been part of its crew.

Over the course of its lifespan, Preserver has used/delivered over 800,000,000 litres of fuel since commissioning or 800,000 m3. This is equal to filling up a standard car 13.5 million times.

HMCS Preserver is 546 feet long, 76 feet wide, and displaces 22,100 tons. Engine power is 21,000 SHP and the maximum speed is 20 knots. It normally has a complement of 270 officers and non-commissioned members.

The disposal method for HMCS Preserver will be determined in due course, with careful attention paid to environmental, safety, and financial considerations. Disposal options include selling or donating the vessel, or dismantling it for scrap material.

HMCS Preserver to be paid off in ceremony Oct. 21

By: David Pugliese,

HMCS Preserver is currently being used for a “Harbour Replenishment Role.” But in May, the RCN confirmed to Defence Watch it intended to pay off the ship in the coming months. “The RCN’s intent is to pay off HMCS Preserver later in 2016, with an exact date yet to be determined,” Royal Canadian Navy spokesman Lt(N) Kelly Boyden said at the time. “Until such time, Preserver will continue its role of supporting the Atlantic Fleet by conducting alongside replenishment.”

Now Halifax Shipping News has more details. It says the ceremony will be held on Friday, October 21, 2016. The date for the paying off ceremony was revealed in the Halifax city council agenda as a request for a flypast, it reported.

The Royal Canadian Navy has also confirmed with Defence Watch on the Oct. 21 date. The event will happen at 1 p.m. As for the flypast, the RCN says those details are still being worked out. Defence Watch will update once more info becomes available.

HMCS Preserver to be Paid-off in 2016

By: David Pugliese,

HMCS Preserver is currently is being used for a “Harbour Replenishment Role.”

“The RCN’s intent is to pay off HMCS Preserver later in 2016, with an exact date yet to be determined,” Royal Canadian Navy spokesman Lt(N) Kelly Boyden told Defence Watch. “Until such time, Preserver will continue its role of supporting the Atlantic Fleet by conducting alongside replenishment.”

HMCS Preserver is pushed by tugs in Halifax harbour on Oct. 19, 2011. Photo by the Canadian Press.

Here, courtesy of the RCN, is the history of the ship.

Commissioned at Saint John on 30 July 1970, she was selected to carry Governor-General Roland Michener on a visit to the Netherlands and Belgium in 1971. On this trip she twice hosted royalty, on 16 April Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, and on the 22nd, King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium. That June she carried out the first-ever replenishment of a hydrofoil at sea, the recipient being HMCS Bras d’Or. In 1974-75 Preserver served as supply ship for Canadian troops stationed in Cyprus as part of a UN peacekeeping force. On 7 April 1993, she returned to Halifax from duty off Somalia. Between 18 October and 23 November she served in Operation Forward Action (UN sanctions against Haiti). Preserver next departed on 27 January 1994, to join the multinational force carrying out sanctions against the former Yugoslavia. She operated there again from May to June 1995. She was another of the fleet units that participated in the Swissair disaster off Nova Scotia in September 1998. She departed Halifax on 17 October 2001, with Charlottetown and Iroquois, to support Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led response to the terrorist destruction of the Twin Trade Towers, New York City, on September 11. She returned to Halifax on 27 April 2002.

Over the next decade Preserver continued to serve as the east coast tanker, but with increasing challenges to ensure the mechanical availability of the ship for operations. She participated in TGEX 6/07 in November 2007, the largest fleet activity in recent years, and was the coordinating unit for a major multinational sail-past of the Quebec Citadel on 01 June 2008 marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city. Following a major refit in 2010-11, her return to operational status was delayed by a jetty collision in Halifax on 04 November 2011. Preserver returned to high readiness, represented Canada at the War of 1812 Bicentennial celebration in Boston in July 2012 before a deployment to the Caribbean 14 August – 03 October 2012 to participate in Operation CARIBBE and UNITAS 53-12. In 2013 Preserver continued a successful operational cycle, with major deployments including the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group work-ups off the Virginia Capes and Exercise Joint Warrior 13-1 in the North Sea. Preserver’s last operational deployment was again to the Caribbean 23 August – 24 October 2013 participating in Operation CARIBBE and UNITAS LANT 54-13. While on deployment Preserver was successful at interdiction operations and despite its size, captured a go-fast transporting narcotics in the region – a remarkable feat for a vessel of its kind! Preserver commenced 2014 participating in TGEX 2-14 in the North Atlantic 24 February – 13 March 2014 operating with the Canadian Task Group and the German BERLIN-Class replenishment ship FGS Bonn. This exercise marked the final operational time at sea for Preserver, and in September 2014 the ship entered Extended Readiness.

Navy used eBay to keep HMCS Preserver operational

The Ottawa Citizen's Defence Watch learned recently that Royal Canadian Navy personnel went to extreme lengths to keep HMCS Preserver operational over the last few years. 

The Canadian Press, who supplied the information to Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Mark Norman showed that technicians were fighting a loosing battle to keep Preserver on duty. 

Despite the fact that the Canadian Armed Forces announced in 2014 that Preserver  and her sister ship Protecteur would be retired in 2015, personnel fought to keep them operational as long as possible, in several cases even using eBay to purchased used parts to repair the ship. 

This extreme step was taken as the original manufacturers long ago stopped making spare parts - which led to a disproportionate amount of time being used to find replacements. In many cases when the military requires a part that is no longer produced, they upgrade the equipment in question, or find a manufacturer to produce a specified amount of the required part for the remaining lifespan of the equipment. In the Navy's case - for Preserver that was not an option because of its impending retirement. 

An exact date for Preserver`s "Paying Off" (retirement) has not been set. 

Many critics are calling for an interim solution to be found for the Royal Canadian Navy's supply gap - construction on the new supply vessels are not set to begin until 2017 - and will not be ready before 2019/2020. 

HMCS Algonquin, Preserver, and Protecteur all Retiring from Service

The state of the Royal Canadian Navy has been deteriorating over the past number of decades, and its future is looking more and more uncertain. 2015 will leave its mark on the already shrunken Naval Force, with four of its flag ships being 'paid off' or otherwise known as retiring from service.

Last week I posted about HMCS Iroquois' retirement after 43 years of service on May 1, 2015. The Royal Canadian Navy has since confirmed the dates of its other destroyer and two supply ships.

The HMCS Algonguin  will be retired on Thursday June 11, 2015, at CFB Esquimalt, the ships home since 1994. It was commissioned November 3 1973, and began her career in Halifax. The Algonquin has served the Royal Canadian Navy for 41 spectacular years. It saw deployments to the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic Task Group, to the Gulf of Oman for OP APOLLO, the Eastern Pacific, and numerous deployments to OP CARIBBE.

HMCS Algonquin. File Image (2004) 

The HMCS Protecteur will be retired May 14, 2015 at CFB Esquimalt after 46 years of Service to the Royal Canadian Navy. It was one of the RCN's auxiliary oiler replenishment ships. Protecteur was commission August 30, 1969 and began her career in the Atlantic before being transferred to the Pacific Coast. Her deployment honours include participation in Operation Desert Shield in 1991, Hurricane Andrew Relief in 1992, and part of the multinational task force to assist East Timor from 1999 to 2000, as well as OP APOLLO.  She will be largely remembered for her humanitarian efforts around the world. 

HMCS Protecteur. File Image (2009)

HMCS Preserver, the sister ship of Protecteur  was scheduled to be retired at around the same time as her sister, but DND and the RCN has delayed announcing her retirement date. Preserver  has served the RCN for more than 40 years, and while no longer serving as an active at-sea replenishment vessel, she continues to act as a fueling service for the Atlantic Fleet in Halifax. She was commissioned on the 7 August 1970. She served on Operation DELIVERANCE, off the coast of the former Yugoslavia, search for Swiss Air flight 111, and OP APOLLO. Corrosion was found on her hull in 2014, and she has been off active duty since. She will be retired either later in 2015 or early 2016. 

HMCS Preserver. File Image (2009)

   

The RCN's replacement supply ships (Queenston-Class auxiliary vessels) based on the German Berlin-Class are currently planned for service in 2019/2020. The RCN would like to acquire 3 of these vessels, but the final number has yet to be decided. The minimum would be two. 

The Canadian Surface Combatant fleet (a planned 15 vessels) will eventually replace all of Canada's frigates as well as its destroyers. None have yet even begun construction, and the first is not planned to be ready well into 2018 (a generous estimate) with the likelihood being more like 2020. The entire fleet was supposed to be ready by 2020, and that is looking more and more like the late 2020s.