First Render Of The Future Mid-Shore Multi-Mission Vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard
Noah Note
You guys have asked, and it seems there has been delivery. The folks over at Adaptive Marine Solutions have shown off their first renderings of the future Mid-Shore Multi-Mission Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard today.
I know many of you were eager to get your first looks at what these little guys would be, and luckily we ain't waiting long! Of course there was only ever gonna be so much. The Mid-Shore Multi-Mission Vessels are both complex and simple at the same time. They have a very expansive list of tasks and roles that the CCG expects them to be utilized in, while also being fairly basic utility vessels as far as their design is concerned.
To follow up for those who might have missed on what the Mid-Shore Multi-Mission Vessels are let's recap: The Mid-Shore Multi-Mission (MSMM) vessels will replace the three mid-shore science vessels (Limnos, Otter Bay, Vector) while also filling the future gap in CCGs medium-sized utility fleet, as many of the current fleet are being replaced by much different, much larger vessels. Six are planned to be acquired in total.
The MSMM are expected to be 45 to 50m in length and a tonnage of < 1000MT. They will have a range of up to 3000nm and an endurance of up to 17 days. The MSMM will also be Ice-Strengthened with the class expected to be rated at minimum Ice Class-1C per DNV standards.
Ice Class 1C signifies that a vessel is designed and strengthened to navigate in light ice conditions, specifically characterized by first-year ice with a thickness of up to 0.6 meters. Per DNV standards, this classification confirms that the ship's hull, propeller, and steering gear are reinforced to withstand the thermal and mechanical stresses of ice interaction.
The MSMM will operate year-round within the Canadian waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. On the Atlantic Coast it will be limited to as far as 60° North latitude during the summer months. The majority of the missions will be carried out in the mid-shore range.
The primary tasks for the MSMM fleet will include supporting Ecosystem and Marine Science, Hydrographic Surveys, supporting Aids to Navigation, and helping support SAR activities.
The fleet will also have several secondary tasks on top of these including Light Icebreaking, Maritime Security activities, Conservation and Protection Enforcement, Environmental Response, supporting the Vessels of Concern program, and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief.
Of course you can tell almost immediately that this is a Vanguard-family vessel. It would actually be one of the smallest we've seen yet from the many Vanguard concepts out there. It isn't the smallest that I have seen, though comes close.
The Vanguard family blends commercial shipbuilding standards with military-grade technology to drastically cut costs, aiming for about 50% less than traditional warships, while speeding up build times to as little as two years.
Vanguard features an open architecture designed to quickly integrate new capabilities without extensive refits. Larger variants of Vanguard feature a hangar optimised with both an elevator and integrated handling system in order to quickly swap payloads for various tasks, essentially able to utilize it as a Multi-Mission Bay.
MSMM of course does not have that given it's small size, but does feature an aft deck for modular payload as well as dedicated space for RHIB, Rescue Boats, etc. It's hard to say exactly how big it is in terms of space… the RFI did set out a requirement for at least 150-175 m² so that is a good starting point. There is nevertheless ample room for the MSMM to carry several payloads at a time. The crane as well I can't say for certain but very much in the 6-8t category.
Vanguard is very much focused around being a ‘plug-and-play' platform, relying on quick reconfiguring, containerization of systems, and a high degree of automation. This will be familiar to those of you following our coverage of the Vard Vigilance family. The two share remarkably similar concepts, with similar choices in how they're produced.
Overall I think she looks beautiful, especially for a vessel that many worried would becaue bloated and ungodly. Give credit to thr Norwegians, they certainly know how to design a vessel nicely.
As a Utility vessel playing that ‘pickup’ role? A multi-purpose vessel designed to dulfill a number of minor and complementarytasks to the soon-to-bo larger CCG fleet? I think the MSMM manages to pull off something very nice here. Its clean, sleek, and offers a design that managed to pull off a fair bit of modularity and potential out of it, despite the limitations placed on it by its design requirements.
Obviously this is only one image, so it is hard to really judge it just based off what we see. However as a first look into the future? I think this is a design I can be happy with. At least for now.
Could we expand on this fleet as a potential Orca replacement?
Well, since its April 2nd I guess its not supposed to be a joke, but it sure looks like one. Goofy looking and toy-like. Does it come with a Theodore Tugboat-like face and hat too?