(Halifax) Two Royal Canadian Navy ships set sail from Halifax Harbor to participate in a multinational Arctic mission.
Posted at 10:17 p.m.
The Arctic offshore patrol ship HMCS Margaret Brooke was joined Tuesday by the Kingston-class coastal defense ship HMCS Goose Bay. A third ship will complete the trio, the Arctic patrol ship HMCS Harry DeWolf.
The three ships are to take part in a two-month, Canadian-led deployment called Operation NANOOK. According to the Canadian Armed Forces, the vessels will sail and cooperate with allied vessels from the United States, Denmark and France.
The mission’s objectives include improving relations and coordination with northern communities, as well as conducting scientific experiments and patrolling the Northwest Passage to “respond effectively to security issues in the North”.
This will be the first true deployment of HMCS Margaret Brooke delivered to the Royal Navy in July 2021. This voyage will also mark the second stay in the Arctic for HMCS Harry DeWolf, the first-ever Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel built in Halifax shipyard.
This annual Arctic operation, which began in 2007, includes up to four deployments throughout the year.
The new deployment comes less than two months after Canada and Denmark agreed to end a more than 50-year-old dispute over a tiny island in the Arctic. On June 14, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly signed a historic agreement with her Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod under which the jurisdiction of the uninhabitable rock was divided in two between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.