HMCS Sackville gets $3.5M in federal funding for 'extensive' repairs

The federal government is committing up to $3.5 million to repair one of Canada's oldest warships,HMCS Sackville.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Treasury Board presidentScott Brison and DartmouthCole Harbour MP Darren Fisher announced Friday the funding will be given to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust for "extensive repairs" to the ship.

A recent survey of the ship found some problems with the hull's integrity, but exactly what needs to be done will be determined once the hull is opened up in dry dock. The last time the ship was dry docked was about 10 years ago.

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The Defence Department estimates thelatest repairs will add eight to 10 years to the ship's life.

The ship's commanding officer from 2003 to 2012, Cmdr.WendallBrown, said repairs are likely to include replacing thesteel hull that's thinning and corroding after 77 years ofservice.

TheCanadian Naval Memorial Trust has beenthe guardian of theSackvillesince 1983, and Brown, 77, now serves as the chair of the board of the trust.

'A precise manoeuvre'

Brown said in early February the plan is to move the ship "in a precise manoeuvre."A platform fitted with woodenblocks contoured to fit the hull will be loweredunderneath the ship's bottomand then lifted out of the water.

It will then be moved along rails and wheeled into the submarine shed at the Halifax Dockyard.

Brown said the multimillion-dollar repair job is necessary to preserve the ship's history, and is owed to its sailors.

Tours and visits will be discontinued until repairs are finished sometime this summer.

Commissioned in 1941, the ship is the last of 123corvettes that were built during the Second World War for Canada.It is one of Canada's oldest fighting warships. It was in active service for more than 40 years.

'It wasn't Love Boat'

The ship was built for a crew of 35, butthe navy carried 66 or more people on board, who would keep watch 24/7 during the worst weather in the North Atlantic, "so it wasn'tLove Boat," Brown said.

Last year, 25,000 people toured the vessel,including schoolchildrenand the children and grandchildren of sailors.

"It's a very, very emotional visit for a lot of people as they get into the engine room and see the machinery there around the gun," he said.

The federal governmenttransferred ownership of HMCSSackville to thenon-profit Canadian Naval Memorial Trust in 1983.

In 1988, the vessel was designateda National Historic Site of Canada to honourCanadian sailors who have died at sea.