The Orca-class patrol vessels are a class of eight steel-hulled training and surveillance vessels in service with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) at Patrol Craft Training Unit (PCTU) Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt. Based on the Australian design, all of the Orca vessels were constructed by Victoria Shipyards between November 2004 and November 2008. In addition to carrying the RCN designation of patrol craft training (PCT), the Orca class are not formally commissioned in the RCN and as such do not possess the His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) prefix.

Design and description

In the early 2000s, the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM) began searching for a replacement for its aging 1950s-era wooden-hulled YAG 300 training tenders.

Based on the Australian Tenix Defence–designed Pacific-class , the Canadian-built Orca class shares the same hull design as the Australian vessel, but is 15 percent larger. Stretched to the maximum allowed by the contract, the Canadian Orca class was designed to allow for the hull to withstand any increase in the size and weight of future equipment. With the change in size, also came a change to the propulsion system, crew accommodations and bridge structure. and are constructed using CSA G40.21 50W/350WT high-strength structural steel.

Each Orca-class vessel shares the same dimensions of being long, Powered by two Caterpillar 3516B marine diesel engines, each rated for at 1,600 revolutions per minute, they are capable of , and have an endurance of at .

Construction

thumb|Orca undergoing its [[sea trials in Esquimalt Harbour, October 2006]]

During the early stages of the Second World War, the Canadian Government acquired fourteen large yachts from the United States and all were given animal names upon commissioning in the RCN. All but Orca and Raven perpetuate the names of those armed yachts and all have a connection to First Nations lore. Cougar, Moose, and Wolf are the third vessels to carry those names as they also perpetuate the names of Canadian Fairmile B motor launches used by the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve as training ships after the Second World War.

All eight Orca-class vessels were constructed by Victoria Shipyards at Victoria, British Columbia with the first in class Orca, was laid down in September 2005, launched in August 2006, and delivered to MARCOM in November 2006.

!Next refit

thumb|Cougar in Seattle in 2025

During Operation Podium, the Canadian Forces support of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, three Orcas were temporarily fitted with 12.7 mm machine guns for port security duties.

References

  • DND/CF page on the Orca-class vessels
  • Canadian American Strategic Review
  • CASR: Background — the Origins of the Orca-Class Patrol Craft, Training