A diesel generator failure has forced HMCS Harry DeWolf to divert back to Halifax while en route to join a two-month, multinational mission to the Arctic.
The offshore patrol vessel, which was welcomed into active service last year, left Halifax on Aug. 15 to join the maritime task component of Operation Nanook.
According to a series of tweets from the Royal Canadian Navy, while en route to the mission, the vessel suffered a failure in one of its four main diesel generators two days later and was forced to return to Halifax.
The ship is still on its way to the port city and is expected to arrive late Sunday or early Monday.
The navy said the failure was an “isolated incident and did not affect any of the ship’s crew members or outside systems.”
“The ship will undergo an immediate assessment and repairs,” the Twitter thread said.
“There is no operational impact to the ongoing Operation NANOOK. The Canadian Maritime Task Group remains on station in the Canadian Arctic, conducting presence patrols and conducting community visits.”
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HMCS Harry DeWolf was supposed to join Arctic patrol ship HMCS Margaret Brooke and HMCS Goose Bay, a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel. Those ships set sail from Halifax on Aug. 2.
Among other things, Operation Nanook calls for community relations in the Far North and for scientific trials and patrols along the Northwest Passage to promote Arctic security.
The voyage would have marked the second trip to the Arctic for HMCS Harry DeWolf, the first Arctic offshore patrol ship built at the Halifax Shipyard as part of Canada’s national shipbuilding strategy.
Lt. (Navy) Rudee Gaudet, public affairs officer for Maritime Forces Atlantic, said when it returns to Halifax, the ship will be assessed to determine the extent of the failure, and if they can repair it in time for the ship to rejoin the mission.
She said while there was an issue earlier this month with the ship’s fire suppression system, it has since been resolved and is unrelated to the generator failure.
Ship providing ‘exceptional service’
Capt. (Navy) Sheldon Gillis, maritime task group commander for Operation Nanook, said HMCS Harry DeWolf was about 150 to 200 miles north of St. John’s, N.L., before it turned around.
In a phone interview from HMCS Margaret Brooke, north of Baffin Island, Gillis said the other two ships are completing the objectives of the mission, but the team is looking forward to the arrival of HMCS Harry DeWolf.
“The Arctic is large, there’s a lot of water space to cover, and the more ships, the better,” he said. “Once the repairs are done, our intention is to send Harry DeWolf back to the north to rejoin us.”
The mission is expected to run until the end of September, he said.
This is not the first issue aboard the relatively new ship. In addition to the problem with the fire suppression system earlier this month, it experienced a breakdown in October 2020 during a training exercise.
However, Gillis said so far the ship has provided “exceptional service” thus far — becoming the first Canadian Navy ship in more than 60 years to sail through the Northwest Passage in its entirety last year, and assisting with Operation Caribbe, a multinational campaign to fight drug smuggling in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
“This is all a natural part of bringing a new piece of machinery online,” GIllis said.
“There will be challenges, but we’re working closely with all our partners — including in-service support, our headquarters in Halifax, British Columbia, and in Ottawa — to ensure that the platforms will be able to achieve their missions.”
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