The Royal Canadian Navy estimates it will cost $3 million to repair damage caused to HMCS Algonquin in a collision during a training exercise.
Algonquin and supply ship HMCS Protecteur were conducting a towing exercise when the ships collided off Vancouver Island on Aug. 30.
Protecteur sustained cosmetic damage to its bow, said Lt. Paul Pendergast, a navy public affairs officer, and was back at sea a week later. Algonquin bore the brunt of the damage, with a large gash to the hangar along the port, or left, side of the ship.
Since the incident, the 40-year-old Iroquois-class destroyer has remained in port at CFB Esquimalt. Algonquin is one of three destroyers in the Canadian Navy’s fleet and the only one stationed on the West Coast.
Pendergast said that while some early stages of work on the ship’s port hangar have been done, repairs are on hold until sometime next year “due to a variety of other priorities.”
Repairs are required to the side plating to the port hangar, ventilation trunking in the hangar, as well as some wiring and cable damage, he said.
A board of inquiry was convened to provide a damage assessment and investigate the cause of the collision. Its findings will be made public once the information has been reviewed.
