On 28 June 2024, construction was initiated of the first Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC), a new class of destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy.
The River-class project is the largest and most complex shipbuilding initiative in Canada since the Second World War and a key part of the country’s National Shipbuilding Programme.
The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, joined by Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and Dirk Lesko, President of Irving Shipbuilding Inc celebrated the start of construction at the shipyard in Halifax.
Speaking at the time, Minister Blair announced that the new fleet of warships will be known as River-class destroyers, and the first three ships will be named His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Fraser, Saint-Laurent, and Mackenzie. Delivery of the first River-class destroyer, HMCS Fraser, is expected in the early 2030s, with the final ship expected by 2050.
The project will equip the Royal Canadian Navy with new, state-of-the-art warships to bolster Canada’s naval capabilities at home and abroad. The new vessels will be Canada’s major component of maritime combat power, enabling the Royal Canadian Navy to continue to monitor and defend coastal waters and contribute to international naval operations alongside allies. The vessels will undertake a range of missions with North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), 5-Eyes nations, NATO, coalition partners, and with other Canadian government departments and agencies.
The June event marked the start of construction of the production test module (PTM), through which the Government of Canada and Irving Shipbuilding will be able to test and streamline processes and implement lessons learned into the build process, to enable the start of full rate production in 2025.
In addition to being a major component of Canada’s naval recapitalisation, the CSC project will support growth in Canada’s marine supply chain and the build phase will create and/or maintain approximately 10,800 jobs annually throughout the 25-year construction period across the country.
The design phase of the project will create and/or maintain approximately 5,000 Canadian jobs annually across the economy. In total, this project will generate at least C$40 billion in cumulative gross domestic product.
