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May 19th, 2015 
David Schulberg 
Canadian Navy technicians had to look for repair parts on eBay to fix one of its outdated supply ships, enabling it to hold out till it’s replaced with a modern one, briefing documents obtained by local media reveal.
According to navy
commander Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s notes, many parts at
‘Preserver’ – one of the two Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS)
– are “beyond acceptable limits.” Corrosion has
compromised the vessel’s structural integrity, he said according
to the Canadian Press.
“It will be very difficult to continue to confidently operate
her at sea until her planned divestment date in 18 months,”
the briefing concluded as quoted by the news agency.
Technicians sought to keep HMCS Preserver in service, but it
seems have been losing their battle.
Broken parts were repaired, but “once this was fixed, the
next question was which equipment or system would be the next to
fail.”
To fix the Preserver, Navy mechanics had to turn to eBay to find
spare parts: the original manufacturers had long-since ceased to
produce them.
The National Defense has been insisting on retirement of
Preserver and its sister ship HMCS Protecteur, both 45 years old.
After the May 9, 2014 briefing note the department was frustrated
that the ships had not been retired on schedule.
The Protecteur was formally retired; the Preserver is next in
line. But according to the new program, replacement ships will be
supplied only in eight years’ time.
For a long time the ships were in precarious shape and getting
worse but the briefing note on May 9, 2014, which was also sent
to the head of military procurement said, it “was no longer
viable to expend limited resources” to keep them going.
The Canadian Navy did have plans to replace both ships, but the
Conservative government refused to do that in August 2008 because
of high costs of industry proposals – that is why two outdated
vessels were not decommissioned.
Liberal MP Marc Garneau, a former naval officer and astronaut,
told the Canadian Press that it is “all driven by
politics.”
Garneau says the Canadian navy is in a deplorable state even
despite the multibillion-dollar upgrade to the Halifax-class
frigates.
Without supply ships and air defense destroyers, which also must
be retired in the nearest future, the Canadian Navy cannot carry
out military tasks without foreign support – for example, US
protection from long-range threats.
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Canadian Navy turns to eBay to fix troubled supply ships
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