The Naval Large Tugboat is a class of naval

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

operated by the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

. Four Naval Large Tugboats (NLT) are being built by Ocean Industries Inc. of

L'Isle-aux-Coudres L'Isle-aux-Coudres (), is a municipality located on island aux Coudres, in the St. Lawrence River, in Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, Capitale-Nationale region, Quebec, Canada. Variations of the official name are: La Baleine, L'Île-aux- ...

under the

National Shipbuilding Strategy The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), formerly the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS), is a Government of Canada program operated by the Department of Public Works and Government Services. The NSS was developed under the Stephe ...

. The first two tugboats will be based at

CFB Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt (CFB Esquimalt) is the Royal Canadian Navy's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters. , 4,411 military personnel and 2,762 civilians ...

, and last two will be based at

CFB Halifax Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax is Canada's east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), that forms part of the formation (military), formation Maritime Forces At ...

. The steel cutting for the first NLT commenced in September 2020 and the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

, CFAV ''Haro'', was launched on 15 July 2022.

Design and description

The Naval Large Tugs, prefixed Canadian Forces Auxiliary Vessel (CFAV), will replace the five s and the fire and rescue boat which were brought into service in the mid-1970s. The Glen-class tugs which the NLTs are replacing have a bollard pull of and on each side. The NLTs have much increased power at of bollard pull and Azimuth stern drive propulsion with per side. The NLTs will measure

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

with a moulded beam of and a draught of . They will be powered by a two MAN 12V175D-MM

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s. They will have a maximum speed of and have a crew of six.

Ships in class

* CFAV ''Haro'' (YTB 650) * CFAV ''Barkerville'' (YTB 651) * CFAV ''Canso'' * CFAV ''Stella Maris''

Construction and career

On 29 April 2019, Groupe Ocean was awarded a $102 million contract for four tugboats to be built at their shipyard at

as part of the

. The build cost of the four NLTs later rose to $121 million. In December 2021, the Government of Canada announced the names for the four ships, ''Haro'', ''Barkerville'', ''Canso'', and ''Stella Maris''. Two of the ships, ''Haro'' and ''Canso'' commemorate important

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

s in Canadian waters while ''Barkerville'' and ''Stella Maris'' commemorate tugboats that were lost or damaged in service in Canadian waters. The steel cutting for the first NLT commenced in September 2020, with main construction beginning in November. They were initially expected to completed in 2022, however, supply chain issues delayed their completion. The

, CFAV ''Haro'', was launched on 15 July 2022. Upon completion, two of the ships, ''Haro'' and ''Barkerville'', will serve on the west coast and ''Canso'' and ''Stella Maris'' will operate on the east coast.

References

{{Reflist Tugboats of the Royal Canadian Navy Ships built in Quebec Fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy