A closer look at HMCS Max Bernays, the Pacific fleet’s first Arctic patrol vessel

We’re getting an up-close look astatine the archetypal of Canada’s caller people of Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV) to articulation the country’s Pacific fleet.

HMCS Max Bernays was successful Vancouver connected Thursday and took media connected a time sail to amusement disconnected the caller vessel’s capabilities.

The 103-metre, ice-capable vessel is the 4th of six planned Harry DeWolf-class AOPVs to articulation the Royal Canadian Navy nether the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

“The commandant of our fleet successful the Pacific has really described america arsenic a ‘pickup truck’ — we person a batch of capabilities, we tin bash a batch of things,” HMCS Max Bernays’ commanding serviceman Cmdr. Nadia Sheilds told Global News.

The vas tin beryllium deployed with aggregate payloads, including shipping containers, underwater survey instrumentality and landing craft. It besides contains a conveyance bay that tin clasp pickup trucks, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles.

Shields said the vas has a smaller unit than similar-sized ships successful the Navy but comes with much redundancies and cutting-edge autonomous technology.

She said the vas tin grip jobs typically asked of the navy, specified arsenic humanitarian oregon interdiction missions. What makes it unique, she said, is that it is the lone vessel successful the navy that is rated for first-year oversea crystal successful the Arctic.

“That’s precise breathtaking and that’s really wherefore I requested to beryllium the commandant of Max Bernays connected the West Coast,” she said.

As clime alteration reduces the polar crystal caps, Shields said it has go much important than ever for Canada to support a beingness successful the Arctic.

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“We person friends and adversaries that are processing antithetic capabilities to beryllium capable to run successful the Arctic year-round, and we person sportfishing fleets that are starting to propulsion up into the northbound and taking vantage of those affluent waters,” Shields said.

“So if we privation to person a accidental successful however our Arctic waters are being managed and who is travelling wrong our arctic waterways, we request to person a beingness successful the Arctic, and that is our mission.”

The Max Bernays was constructed successful Halifax and near its Atlantic larboard successful March for deployment to its caller location larboard astatine Esquimalt.

Its deployment has not been without issue.

It dealt with flooding and mechanical problems portion participating successful an planetary workout implicit the summer, and had to dock astatine Pearl Harbour for repairs.

The vas is named aft Max Bernays, an acting main petty serviceman aboard HMCS Assiniboine, who was capable to ram and descend a submarine during the Battle of the Atlantic successful 1942.