ASTERIX
ASTERIX
The History of the ASTERIX
Formally designated MV ASTERIX, formerly MS Amorito, MS Neermoor and MS Cynthia, is a commercial container ship, purchased by Federal Fleet Services as part of Project Resolve, a project designed to convert a commercial container ship into an interim supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy. Intended to act as a stop-gap replacement while the future Protecteur-class auxiliary vessels are being built.
MV Asterix was orignally laid down on 21 October 2008 at the Nordic Yards Wismar in Wismar, Germany with the yard number 147. Launched as Cynthia on 27 January 2009, work was completed on 1 May 2010. The ship was later renamed Amorito in 2010, and shortly afterward renamed to Neermoor and began operating under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda while owned by Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co KG. In 2013, the ship was renamed Asterix.
Later, she changed ownership to Capital Ship Management of Greece and registered in Monrovia, Liberia, when she was identified as a candidate as an interim supply ship for the RCN. Asterix was then delivered to Quebec City in October 2015 for conversion by a pan-consortium comprising of Chantier Davie Canada, Aecon Pictou Shipyard of Pictou, Nova Scotia and NavTech, the conversion designer. The vessel was delivered to the RCN in December 2017 and put into service in March 2018.
The RCN plans to lease ASTERIX for approximately ten years. Manned by a merchant navy crew and augmented by RCN personnel, she will be in Canadian service well into the 2020s.
ASTERIX Statistical Data
- Pendant:
- Type: Auxiliary replenishment vessel
- Class: Resolve
- Displacement: 26,000 tonnes tonnes
- Length: 182.5 m (598 ft 9 in) ft
- Width: 25.2 m (82 ft 8 in) ft
- Draught: 7 m (23 ft 0 in) ft
- Speed: 22 kts
- Compliment: 150 Officers and Crew
- Arms: 1 x Phalanx 20 mm CIWS (provisioned but not fitted)
- Builder: Nordic Yards, Wismar Germany
- Keel Laid: 21-Oct-08
- Date Launched: 27-Jan-09
- Date Commissioned: N/A
- Paid off:
Remarks
Able to carry 2 x Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclones or 2 x Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters. One landing spot and 2 hangars fitted.