Canadian navy to get supply ships

The Canadian government is going to go ahead with the purchase of three new support ships to replace HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver, the 1960's era steamships:

The federal government will proceed with a $2.1-billion plan to acquire three naval supply ships, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor announced Monday.

He made the announcement on the hangar deck of one of the navy's frigates — HMCS St. John's.

Four consortiums are bidding on the program, which was started under the previous Liberal government.

Irving Shipbuilding, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG, BAE Systems Ltd. and SNC Lavalin ProFac Inc. all expressed interest in building the 28,000-tonne vessels, which are meant to replace the navy's 1960s vintage support ships.

The winning bidder will also receive an $800-million contract to provide support and maintenance throughout the life of the ships.

This will be very welcome news to the navy: the glamour vessels may be the ones that fire the armament, but the real workhorses of the navy are the ones that replenish, refuel, and rearm the fighting ships. If you can't do that, your navy is less than half as effective as it could be.