Canada begins work on heavy polar icebreaker to protect its high-Arctic sovereignty
How the new icebreaker could look. (Image: Seaspan)
The vessel, made under the auspices of the country’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, will be the first heavy icebreaker built in Canada for over six decades.
Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan has begun construction of the country’s new heavy polar icebreaker vessel.
The first steel for the new Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) vessel was cut on 3 April in North Vancouver. Seaspan said the vessel, when commissioned, would be “one of the most advanced conventional polar icebreakers ever to be built”.
The Polar Class 2 vessel will be 158m long and 28m wide, and has been designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic the whole year round.
When it becomes part of the CCG's fleet, it will help the service work more than 162,000km of Arctic coastline.
Among
Already have an account? Log in
Want to keep reading this article?
More from Naval Warfare
-
![Hanwha Ocean and TKMS are firming up their Canadian next-gen submarine proposals]()
Hanwha Ocean and TKMS are firming up their Canadian next-gen submarine proposals
CPSP competitors are proposing platforms fitted with advanced, next-generation capabilities to be built and sustained in cooperation with the Canadian industry.
-
![Uncrewed fleets emerge as AUKUS nations’ answer to capability interval]()
Uncrewed fleets emerge as AUKUS nations’ answer to capability interval
While their multibillion-dollar nuclear submarine ambitions move forward at a glacial industrial pace, all three countries are making a swifter bet: fleets of uncrewed vessels that can be built, deployed and iterated in years rather than decades.
-
![UK’s $1 billion AUKUS support request signals strong ongoing US collaboration]()
UK’s $1 billion AUKUS support request signals strong ongoing US collaboration
The latest foreign military sales request from the UK has implications for the future of the programme and collaboration between the three nations.
