Shipbuilders, members of the Royal Canadian Navy, the federal and provincial governments as well as the families of two Canadian naval heroes marked another shipbuilding milestone with the official naming of HMCS Margaret Brooke and HMCS Max Bernays. Both ships are part of the fleet of six (6) Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) being delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The naming of a ship is a steeped in history and naval tradition. Dating back centuries, this ritual is believed to bring good luck and safe travel to the vessel and crew.
The AOPS are warships of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) built by the Government of Canada Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) procurement projectThe Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships are large, ice-capable ships, more than 100 metres long, and designed to conduct a variety of missions in Canada’s waters, including in the Arctic. The vessels will be capable of conducting armed sea-borne surveillance, providing government situational awareness of activities and events in these regions. They will also be able to cooperate with partners in the Canadian Armed Forces and other government departments to assert and enforce Canadian sovereignty, when and where necessary.
AOPV 431 is named after Margaret Martha Brooke who enrolled as a Nursing Sister Dietician on March 9, 1942 at the rank of Sub-Lieutenant (SLt). She was promoted to the rank of Acting Lieutenant on July 1, 1946, then to Lieutenant (Navy) on January 1, 1948, and finally to Lieutenant-Commander on April 1, 1957. She served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1942 to 1962. AOPV 432 is named after Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Max Bernays, a Canadian naval hero who served as the Coxswain of His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Assiniboine during the Second World War’s Battle of the Atlantic.
The vessels’ design was initially intended to incorporate a conventional icebreaking bow for cruising, and would have proceeded backwards for breaking heavy ice. The vessels’ stern would have been designed for ice breaking and they would have employed azimuth thrusters for propulsion and for chewing through resistant ice. The propulsion would be provided by diesel-electric twin shafts with bolt-on propellers, similar to existing Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers. The vessels’ ice class is Polar Class 5, but the bow region is further strengthened to higher Polar Class 4 level. The vessels will have a hangar and flight deck capable of employing and maintaining the same maritime helicopters as the RCN’s other vessels: the CH-148 Cyclone and the CH-149 Cormorant.
