RCN uses Evac corrosion protection system
At 174 metres in length and with a design displacement of nearly 20,000 tonnes, the Protecteur-class vessel under construction at the Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards will be the largest naval ship by length ever built in Canada when it is completed in 2023.
As the ship has to be capable of reaching the Nanisvik Naval Facility on Baffin Island it is being installed with an ice-class ICCP system. “We have considerable experience in producing ice-class ICCP systems for both naval and commercial vessels,” said Andrew Gamble who supervised the project at Cathelco, an Evac Group company.
“Seawater in polar regions has a higher ‘resistivity’ than water in more temperate seas and therefore our ICCP systems operate at 50 volts to provide a higher driving force ensuring that the hull receives the optimum level of corrosion protection at all times,” he added.
The forward system comprises strengthened ice-breaker anodes and reference electrodes connected to a thyristor control panel. The aft arrangement is similar but features a Quantum master control panel enabling the whole system to be monitored and controlled from the stern.
