WWJD?

Vincent J. Curtis

6 Mar 21

HMS Dreadnaught was the first modern battleship.  Laid down on October 2^nd, 1905, Dreadnaught was launched on February 10^th, 1906, and commissioned on December 2^nd, 1906.  She had a length of 527 feet, a beam of 82 feet, and a draught of 30 feet.  Driven by 23,000 shaft horsepower, Dreadnaught had a top speed of 21 kt and a range of 6620 nautical miles.  She cost £1.8 Million.  She was the first all big gun battleship, bearing ten 12” guns in five double turrets.  Dreadnaught made all previous battleship obsolete.

Dreadnaught was the brain-child of First Sea Lord Admiral “Jacky” Fisher.  He ordered her construction to demonstrate to the Germans that Britain could build anything bigger and faster than they could.

Canada doesn’t have a Jacky Fisher.  Canada’s new surface combatant ship, the Type 26 frigate, was conceived in 2011, with acquisition to begin in 2017.  Of course, that never happened.  The outgoing president of Irving Shipbuilding Kevin McCoy, said that the production timeline of a Type 26 is seven and a half years, two years longer than had been originally planned.  Program costs ballooned from an original estimate of $26 billion in 2008 to $82 Billion presently. The current plan is for construction of the first ship to begin in 2023-24, first delivery in 2031, and for the fifteenth ship to be delivered in 2044-45.  But if construction begins in 2027-28, then the final ship will be delivered in 2048-49.

Ever desirous of gilding a lily, Canada’s version of the Type 26 is going to be loaded with “pretty much every single weapon that you can think of for a modern, high-end combatant” said Timothy Choi, a researcher and observer of the RCN.  The ship has packed on 900 tons over the original projected displacement.  Canada’s Type 26 would be 495 feet long, 68 feet across the beam, a draught of 26 feet, displace 9400 tons, have a top speed of 26 kt, and a range of 7000 nautical miles.  The Parliamentary Budget Office presently estimates the cost of a single unit to be $5.46 Billion.

I have long advocated for an off the shelf purchase of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer as Canada’s primary surface combatant.  An Arleigh Burke also displaces 9400 tons, is 14 feet longer, and two feet narrower than a Canadian 26, a draught of 31 feet, a top speed of over 30 kt,, a range of 4400 nautical miles, and a unit cost of US$1.85 Billion.  The U.S. is still constructing this class of vessel, with, at present 6 under construction, 3 more on order, and a further 12 to complete the construction program.

Dimensionally, there’s not much difference between a Type 26 and an Arleigh Burke, but the difference in unit cost is enormous.  The cost versus capability question hasn’t escaped the attention of outside naval experts.  Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. submarine officer and a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute, observed “…a reasonable way forward is to go with a ship with a proven design and cost associated with it….If you’re Canada do you need to be on the leading, bleeding edge of technology development?  Or do you go with something that is proven – modern, but proven and modern but maybe isn’t the next generation of ship?...I’d say you’re better off maybe going with a proven hull design, but ensure it’s got sufficient modularity that you can upgrade it over time.”

The SCS program is part of a larger strategy to create a stable shipbuilding industry that avoids boom and bust cycles.  If the ships are built quickly, as the Halifax class of frigates were, there’s nothing left for the shipyards to do for twenty years, and they lose capability.  But build them slowly, and inflation ruins the budget.

So, what then is the purpose of the CSC program – to provide Canada with fighting ships or provide a corporate welfare program for Irving Shipbuilding?

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