CCGS John G. Diefenbaker

Project history

Officially known as the Polar Class Icebreaker Project, the vessel's commissioned name was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a visit to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on 28 August 2008.

In early February 2011, STX Canada Marine was awarded the contract to design the new icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. Although the majority of the design work will take place in the Vancouver offices of STX Canada, the design team will also include the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic. The work should be complete by the end of 2013, after which the design will be provided to Seaspan/Vancouver Shipyards which will build the ship in Vancouver and deliver her to the Canadian Coast Guard in 2017. The ship will have a crew of approximately 100. She is estimated to be capable of carrying fuel and supplies to be self-sufficient for 270 days and be able of making constant progress through 2.5 metres (8 ft) of ice.

The C$720 million project was announced in the 27 February 2008 federal budget as a replacement for the nation's largest icebreaker and the flagship of the coast guard, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

The term "Polar Class" by the government and media is somewhat confusing as according to the International Association of Classification Societies, all vessels operating in sea ice must be assigned a Polar Class, with PC 1 being capable of "Year-round operation in all Polar waters" In addition, the United States Coast Guard refers to its large icebreakers as Polar-class icebreakers.

Minister of Defence Peter MacKay has stated that the icebreaker will be built in Canada. As of the award of the NSPS contracts, John G. Diefenbaker will be built by Seaspan in British Columbia. Former Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn announced the icebreaker will be homeported in his riding of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. He also stated that the vessel will be larger than Louis S. St-Laurent which she will be replacing.

On Friday, May 30, 2008, Chuck Strahl the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development wrote about the proposed icebreaker in a letter to the editor of the Windsor Star. Strahl wrote that the icebreaker would help protect the Arctic environment, and Canadian sovereignty. In addition he wrote that the Canadian Rangers would be expanded, and that a new Arctic research centre would be built in Resolute Bay.

Michael Byers, the Canada Research chair in global politics and international law at UBC, stated that "this icebreaker and new money for mapping is something that Arctic experts like myself have been calling for, for some years now. I hope it's real. I hope it's not just an election promise. We need it and we need it right now. But I'm still somewhat skeptical. This has been done before for cynical electoral politics."

The Canadian Coast Guard announced on 28 April 2010 that it is "currently in at the preliminary stages of conceptual design for the polar icebreaker. A “Request for Proposals” to undertake detailed design work will likely be ready mid-2011. Vessel construction is presently scheduled to begin in 2013 with completion of trials and final acceptance anticipated for late 2017."

In October 2012, a 1:25 scale model of John G. Diefenbaker was being evaluated in at the National Research Council's Institute for Ocean Technology in St. John's. Additional testing was carried out at Aker Arctic's ice tank in Finland.

In May 2013 the Vancouver Sun reported that the Harper government acknowledged that both John G. Diefenbaker and the Royal Canadian Navy's new Joint Support Ships faced a scheduling conflict. According to the Vancouver Sun, because both vessel were scheduled to be built in the same facility, the Harper government would have to choose which project had priority, and went first. The Canadian American Strategic Review argued that John G. Diefenbaker better served protecting Canadian sovereignty than the Joint Support Ships, and should therefore get built first. However, on 11 October 2013 the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) Secretariat announced that the Joint Support Ships would be built first, followed by John G. Diefenbaker. This means that the new polar icebreaker is delayed and the Canadian Coast Guard will have to start necessary measures to keep Louis S. St-Laurent in service until 2021–2022.

In November 2013, it was reported that the budget for John G. Diefenbaker was revised up to 1.3 billion Canadian dollars, almost twice the initial estimate. Melanie Carkner of the Canadian Coast Guard has said that part of the price increase was to cover future requirements for the ship.

General characteristics

John G. Diefenbaker will have an overall length of 150.1 metres (492 ft) and beam of 28 metres (92 ft). Drawing 10.5 metres (34 ft) of water, the icebreaker has a displacement of 23,500 metric tons. She is projected to have a core crew of 60 and accommodation for additional 40 project personnel. Her facilities include laboratories and modular mission spaces, a moon pool, general purpose cargo hold and garage, multiple cranes and a helideck and hangar for two medium-lift helicopters. In addition, she is capable of receiving and refueling larger helicopters.

John G. Diefenbaker will be classified by Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Her ice class is Polar Class 2, the second highest ice class according to the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Polar class rules. Furthermore, the class notation Icebreaker(+) will result in additional structural strengthening based on analysis of the vessel's operational profile potential ice loading scenarios. John G. Diefenbaker is one of the first vessels to hold this class notation.

Power and propulsion

John G. Diefenbaker will be fitted with a fully integrated diesel-electric propulsion system consisting of six diesel generating sets with a combined output of 39,600 kW. The power plant, divided into two separate engine rooms, provides power for all shipboard consumers from propulsion motors to lighting in the accommodation spaces.

Initially, two propulsion alternatives were proposed during the preliminary design: a traditional three-shaft configuration with a centerline rudder and a hybrid propulsion system consisting of two wing shafts and an azimuth thruster in the middle for improved maneuverability. Of these, the Canadian Coast Guard selected the latter with two 11 MW wing shafts and a 12 MW azimuth thruster. The combined shaft power, 34 MW, is almost the same as that of the Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach. This makes John G. Diefenbaker the most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker in the world and the third most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker after the two gas turbine-powered Polar-class icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. The icebreaker is also fitted with an air bubbling system that provides hull lubrication and reduces ice friction during icebreaking operations.

For maneuvering at ports as well as stationkeeping capability in Sea State 5 and currents of up to 3 knots in open water, she will also be fitted with two 1,900 kW bow thrusters.

Performance

John G. Diefenbaker is designed to break level ice with a thickness of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) and with a 30-centimetre (12 in) snow cover at over 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph). In terms of icebreaking capability, this ranks her just below the largest Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers. Her operational range at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) in Sea State 3 is projected to be over 26,200 nautical miles (48,500 km; 30,200 mi) and she can operate in 2.2-metre (7.2 ft) ice at full power for 25 days. The logistical endurance of the vessel will be 270 days.

The new icebreaker will be able to achieve a maximum speed of about 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) in open water, but her normal cruising speed is around 12 knots.