The federal government is pitching in $3.5 million to repair HMCS Sackville, Canada’s oldest warship and the sole remaining Flower-class corvette.
The announcement was made on Friday on the Halifax waterfront, where the Sackville is based.
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The funding is a contribution to the non-profit Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, which owns and operates the Sackville seasonally as a museum ship.
According to the government, the money will be used for extensive repairs, which will mostly be completed at the Halifax dockyard.
Repairs are expected to begin this summer, pending an assessment. At that point, tours and visits to HMCS Sackville will be discontinued until the repairs are complete.
The ship was commissioned in 1941 and escorted allied ships during the Battle of the Atlantic. The Sackville was decommissioned in 1946, but returned to service in the 1950s as a federal fisheries vessel.
In 1988, the ship was declared a National Historic Site.
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The federal government says the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust and the Department of National Defence will develop a long-term plan on how to preserve HMCS Sackville.