Scott Taylor: All eyes on the Arctic as case is made for amphibious-class warships |
In a year-end interview with the CBC, Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee floated the notion of the Royal Canadian Navy acquiring a Canadian-built amphibious support ship.
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While many allied navies operate such a class of naval vessels, what Topshee envisions would be the only such craft specifically designed and built to be ice capable and therefore able to operate in the Arctic.
While still at the purely conceptual stage, preliminary discussions have been had with Davie shipyard in Quebec and Seaspan Shipyard in British Columbia. Both of these firms are currently contracted to build the Canadian Coast Guard’s new fleet of icebreakers as part of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy initiative.
“We talked to a couple of our shipbuilders, and they’ve said that theoretically a Polar Class 2 amphibious ship would be possible,” Topshee told CBC News.
“The key value proposition of an amphibious ship is it can deliver capability from sea to shore without prepared port infrastructure, and that describes our North perfectly.”
For those not familiar with the term amphibious-class warship, the name may be somewhat misleading as the vessel........