The Kingston Class maritime coastal defence vessels are being built by Halifax Shipyards Ltd owned by Saint John Shipbuilding of Canada. The first of the twelve ships was launched in August 1995 and the twelfth is scheduled to be launched in 1998. The ships are named the Kingston, Glace Bay, Nanaimo, Edmonton, Shawinigan, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Goose Bay, Moncton, Saskatoon, Brandon and the Summerside. Six ships will be stationed on the east coast for operations on the Saint Lawrence and the Atlantic and six ships will be based on the Pacific Coast.
12 Kingston Class ships are being built to provide a single class of new vessels for multi-function use by the Canadian Naval Reserves. Canada is the second largest country in the world and has a coastline of 243,791 kilometres. The main roles of the ships are :
The vessels are capable of carrying two 20 feet ISO containers on the open deck aft. The decks are fitted with the necessary power cables ready to install the containers which are mission-specific operational payloads. The vessels are capable of carrying out operations worldwide using high reliability proven equipment and systems with built in redundancy.
The ship is equipped with a Bofors 40 millimetre rapid fire gun, model 60 Mk 5c and
two .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns. The machine guns are mounted one either
side at the front of the bridge deck. In a depressed position each machine gun fires
in an arc of fire of 118 degrees. The Bofors gun is mounted on the forecastle deck
and the arc of fire extends forwards by +/- 120 degrees.
MINE COUNTERMEASURES
The ship is equipped with one of three modular mine countermeasures systems which
are the deep sea mechanical mine sweeping system, MMS from Thomson CSF, the
route survey system and the Sutec remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mine inspection
system.
RADARS
The navigation equipment is a Kelvin Hughes I-band navigation radar and a global
positioning system. The surface search radar is the E to F-band Kelvin Hughes 6000.
The degaussing system from Power Magnetics and Electronic Systems of Rugely, Staffordshire (previously Thorn Automation) provides three dimensional control of the
magnetic signatures. The size arrangement and location of the degaussing coils are
based on finite element modelling of the ship structure and major equipment fits. The
finite element analysis carried out at the ship design stage allowed the degaussing
system to be installed and to meet the performance specification with the minimum
power budget and within strict weight penalties. The degaussing system consists of
a masthead magnetometer which controls the output of the system's power units and
the signature, four horizontal "M" coils, eight vertical "L" coils and 5 vertical
athwartships "A" coils.
DEGAUSSING SYSTEM
The vessels are capable of world-wide operation and of withstanding the extremes of
the Canadian climate which varies from temperate in the south to arctic in the north.
The vessels can function in ambient air temperatures from -40 to +48 degrees
Centigrade, sea water temperatures from -2 to +35 degrees Centigrade, wind speeds
up to 80 knots, and humidity to 95% at +30 degrees Centigrade. Air conditioning is
supplied to all accommodation spaces. The two smoke zones are fitted with
independent air supply and control.
PROPULSION
The ship is equipped with four main Wartsila UD 23V12 diesel motors and four alternators and two Jeumont electric motors (600 V DC). The two LIPS Z drive azimuth thrusters are fitted with fixed pitch reversing propellers. The propulsion system is equipped with a central control and monitoring system. There is one floor- standing main control console installed in the bridge together with two desk top bridge -wing control stations.
The propulsion system provides 15 knots maximum continuous speed. The range at the economical cruising speed of 9 knots using 2 engines is 5000 nautical miles with a 20% margin in tank capacity. Mechanical Minesweeping is carried out at 8 knots.
The crash stop length is 5 ship lengths from a speed of 15 knots. The parameter
which characterises the turning mobility of the ship is the tactical diameter/ length ratio
which is less than 2.8.
ACCOMMODATION
The total number of berths is 36, for 7 officers, 11 chiefs and petty officers and 18
non-commissioned members, with a maximum of 3 crew per cabin..
The ship achieves zero discharge levels by the use of holding tanks and complies with
the Canada Shipping Act Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Regulations. The
environmental systems installed include treated black water, treated grey water,
separated oily water and a garbage compactor.
The hull is a longitudinally framed structure and has been designed to minimise the
steel weight. The design was based on a hard chine hull form. The construction
involved initial production of partially outfitted steel block units which were assembled
into blocks and the blocks were integrated into the ship. The decks were assembled
upside down with pre-outfitting of the underside of the deck prior to installation on the
ship.
POLLUTION PREVENTION
HULL STRUCTURE
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Construction
Length, oa Length, bp Breadth, moulded focsle Depth to main deck at centre Depth to lower deck Draught Displacement Speed, coastal surveillance Speed mechanical minesweeping Range with 20% fuel reserve Propulsion Propellers Complement Armament |
steel hull
55.3 metres 49 metres 11.3 metres 5 metres 2 metres 3 metres 934 tons 15 knots 10 knots 5000 nautical miles 2 x 1150 kW D propulsion motors 2 x Z-drive, five bladed fixed pitch propellers 35 officers and ratings Bofors 40 millimetre rapid fire gun, model 60 M c 2 x .50 calibre (12.7 m) machine guns |
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