MV Asterix / Project Resolve - Design
The ship can go wherever the Canadian Armed Forces require it to go. Operationally it is able to perform an identical role to that of the potential future Joint Support Ships (now renamed the Protecteur Class). The ship is fitted with the same integrated navigational and tactical system and platform management system as the rest of the future surface fleet will have. Also significant measures were included in the rebuild of the ship to integrate the highest levels of redundancy and watertight integrity in case of damage. Asterix carries specialist insurance for coverage in war risk areas and operations in high risk scenarios.
While Asterix is innovative in many ways, the concept of converting a containership into a naval auxiliary ship is tried, tested and proven. In fact, the US Navy and (UK) Royal Navy have been doing it for years and those ships remain active today and have served in every combat operation of the past few decades. For example, the UK’s RFA Argus – another converted containership – served in the Gulf War, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and both Iraq wars. The US navy’s Algol Class – also a fleet of converted containerships – served in the very same combat operations.
Asterix meets all legacy requirements and exceeds it in many areas. It has more fuel capacity, larger helicopter deck, fully enclosed cargo deck allowing to move cargo fore and aft in a totally protected environment (under cover), as well as fully covered RAS winches and tensioners, etc. which are completely protected from the environment. The vessel can carry over 38 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) containers. It is equipped with a larger and more complete hospital and dental facility. It is faster and has more range, and is also fitted with state-of-the-art galley equipment. Furthermore, the ship can accommodate two Cyclone helicopters at the same time, it is double hulled and equipped with a retractable thruster and a bow thruster giving it dynamic positioning capability which is highly desirable for vessels operating in at-sea transfer situations.
Asterix has four RAS masts, as opposed to two in the JSS, which means the JSS will not be built in accordance with the applicable NATO regulations, called STANAG 1310. The four RAS posts allow the ship to readily fuel two vessels alongside thus doubling its refueling efficiency and capacity. Under NATO STANAG 1310, the minimum design criteria established for Replenishment at Sea aspects of new build vessels is a minimum of two stations per side. Asterix meets this requirement. The vessel can both refuel and provide solids to two ships simultaneously or refuel on both stations on a side for extra high-speed refueling operations. Each RAS mast in Asterix is fully independent of each other, which means that a failure in any mast hydraulics or winching systems has zero effect on the others. The JSS has none of this redundancy making it less versatile and higher risk as a fleet supply vessel.
The vessel has seven main vertical zones and innumerous sub divisional watertight and fire tight zones contained within each one. The vessel meets the highest standards of damage stability and has been checked and approved against over 2700 combinations of major, and progressive damage conditions, surviving all and staying within final floating equilibrium angles less than that required for a passenger ship evacuation.
To equal the potential future Joint Support Ship design in terms of self-defence, Asterix could be fitted with a Close-In Weapon System (or Phalanx). These bolt-on systems could be installed in a matter of days and dedicated areas onboard have already been hardened to accommodate them. Same as the Joint Support Ship, Asterix is designed and fitted for, but not with a Close-In Weapons System. It is the decision of the Crown, and only the Crown’s to provide weapons system. As for installation, all CIWS are bolted on and installation of such a system is very straight forward. This is a controlled good that is only installed by the RCN, at a naval dockyard.
Asterix is capable of sailing in the Arctic during summer and has ice strengthening. The vessel is designed and certified for unrestricted worldwide service. The JSS and Asterix are identically classed for Arctic operations. Neither has icebreaker capabilities, and they both can only operate in the Arctic in summer conditions. Neither has an advantage over the other.
Asterix is designed with full propulsion, machinery and steering redundancy, not only by means of two propulsion propellers located at sufficiently safe distance from each other, but also by means of two fully independent engine rooms, each fully autonomous in respect to each other, located in completely separate vessel zones, segregated by main watertight and fire division bulkheads. Generally, for a naval ship structure, the explosion required to cause uncontrollable flooding, total loss of propulsive power or loss of mission system effectiveness, is much less than that required to cause failure of a hull. Having twin propellers is of little benefit in the event of a strike, grounding or even fire occurring across the breadth of a main zone if both driving sets are sited within. Asterix is designed to withstand a total loss of either machinery or propeller compartments across the full zones. The vessel is fitted with a deployable, secured, in-hull type propulsion thruster which is infinitely steerable over a full 360o range and located safely forward providing damage separation and continued steering and propulsion in the event of the entire aft end zone becoming compromised for any reason.
Unlike the JSS, Asterix could lose propeller or have stern damage, and it will still be able to sail which is a far safer arrangement for operations. Modern retractable thruster systems were only in their infancy when the JSS (Berlin-Class) was designed decades ealrier. Asterix has double and triple redundancy in the electrical control systems using multiplex fibre optic cable systems providing equivalent or better reliability. Asterix has a fully redundant design in all major critical systems and in many cases triple redundancy when considering back-up control systems. This is achieved not only through duplication of equipment but also by means of a duplication of control systems, locations and levels, and in all cases with the ability to fall back to local operations on base level control in the event of the loss of remotely located control stations topside.
Asterix can carry 114 CAF and RCN member as crew, plus additional numbers for humanitarian missions – up to 350. The merchant navy compliment is 36 members of personnel. The DND requirement is 114.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
