In commission 2001– Completed 3 | Planned 5-6 | |
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Builders Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft
Seaspan Marine Corporation(future) Operators German Navy
Royal Canadian Navy (future) Preceded by Protecteur class (Canada) | ||
The Type 702 Berlin class replenishment ship is a series of multi-product replenishment oilers, originally designed and built for service in the German Navy (Deutsche Marine). Besides the three ships built for German Navy, the design has been selected as the design for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) as a replacement for the two Protecteur-class auxiliary oiler replenishment (AOR) vessels retired in 2014.
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German service
The Berlin-class replenishment ships are the largest vessels of the German Navy. In German, this type of ship is called Einsatzgruppenversorger which can be translated as task force supplier though the official translation in English is combat support ship, or in military parlance, a replenishment oiler.
They are intended to support German naval units away from their home ports. The ships carry fuel, provisions, ammunition and other matériel and also provide medical services. The ships are named after German cities where German parliaments were placed.
The initial requirement of the German Navy was for two ships of this class, built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft. A third unit was built by a consortium of several German shipyards and was launched in 2011. On 13 September 2013, Bonn was commissioned into service by the German Navy at Wilhelmshaven.
Royal Canadian Navy
Two ships will be procured to replace the two Protecteur-class vessels currently operated by the RCN under the Joint Support Ship Project. The ships will be built by Seaspan Marine Corporation at the Vancouver Shipyards facility located in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The design was chosen over a design by BMT Technology. At the time, the option for a third was still possible.
The two ships will be named Queenston and Chateauguay, for battles from the War of 1812. Canadian sailors previewed Bonn in order to make themselves familiar with the design.