Charlottetown is shipshape
Navy vessel completes successful rest and maintenance period
HMCS Charlottetown and its crew just completed a rest and maintenance (RAMP) period in Split, Croatia, to support its continued deployment overseas into the New Year.
The purpose of a RAMP for a deployed ship is two-fold – it provides the opportunity for members of the ship’s company to take mission leave and allows for the conduct of essential maintenance.
Ships need rest periods while deployed because there is some maintenance that can’t be done while machinery is operating. Some tasks require technical experts that are not part of the core crew of a deploying warship.
More than 30 support staff from Halifax, N.S., and a number of Croatian civilian contractors – hired through the Royal Canadian Navy – were present onboard to enable the completion of the major projects scheduled for the maintenance period.
According to Sub-Lt. Taylor Donovan, a marine systems engineer on board HMCS Charlottetown, one of the hardest parts of the RAMP was managing major projects with minimal ship staff ensuring that mem- bers were available to support the repair facility as required.
Overall, the maintenance period required co-ordination between multiple outside agencies in order to be successful. The weekly shipboard planning meetings to co-ordinate the RAMP started as early as August, just after the ship departed Halifax.
The most notable maintenance project was the replacement of diesel generator No. 1, one of four generators that comprise the power generation and distribution system on board the ship.
With the help of embarked support staff, HMCS Charlottetown’s engineering department also rebuilt a coupling of the ship’s cruising engine and the standby assembly.
In addition to the work completed during the maintenance period, the ship also had an opportunity to take advantage of the port visit to showcase the strength of Canadian-Croatian relations.
HMCS Charlottetown’s enhanced naval boarding party and dive teams both conducted cross-training with teams from the Croatian navy and members of the crew participated in the Croatian defence industry equipment demonstrations and presentations.