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Protecteur-class auxiliary vessel
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<p>The <i>Protecteur</i> class (formerly known as the <i>Queenston</i> class) of <a href="/facts/Auxiliary_vessel/PI6Rdc8H">naval auxiliaries</a> for the <a href="/facts/Royal_Canadian_Navy/eSRkBetN">Royal Canadian Navy</a> (RCN) began as the Joint Support Ship Project, a <a href="/facts/Government_of_Canada/EpXkkVFc">Government of Canada</a> procurement project for the RCN that is part of the <a href="/facts/National_Shipbuilding_Procurement_Strategy/KG68YxU3">National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy</a>. It will see the RCN acquire two multi-role vessels to replace the earlier <a href="/facts/Protecteur-class_replenishment_oiler/M8hN9rSE"><i>Protecteur</i>-class</a> <a href="/facts/Replenishment_oiler/v9KsqGuJ">auxiliary oiler replenishment</a> vessels. It is expected that the first of the two ships will be delivered and commissioned into the RCN in late 2025 and the second delivered by 2026. </p><p>The project has suffered from considerable delays. Originally announced in 2004, a contract for the construction of these ships was planned to be signed in 2009, with the first vessel available for operational service in 2012. In 2010, the federal government incorporated the project into the <a href="/facts/National_Shipbuilding_Strategy/KG68YxU3">National Shipbuilding Strategy</a>. </p><p>On 2 June 2013, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada's <a href="/facts/Berlin-class_replenishment_ship/IT7LCkp2"><i>Berlin</i>-class</a> replenishment ship was selected. The Canadian vessels will be a variant of the <i>Berlin</i> class, built at Seaspan's yard in <a href="/facts/North_Vancouver_(city)/ImYcnEhV">North Vancouver, British Columbia</a>. </p><p>Initial construction work began in 2018, but a formal contract for the construction of both ships was only signed in June 2020. </p><p>In order to speed construction of the <i>Protecteur</i>-class naval auxiliaries, the delivery of the first of the new class of polar icebreakers, <a href="/facts/CCGS_Arpatuuq/o2T1tKRA">CCGS <i>Arpatuuq</i></a>, will be delayed until at least 2030. </p>