Halifax Shipyard Tests Steel-Cutting Methods as First New Destroyer Expected by 2035

Shipbuilders look at Lockheed Martin Canada's design of 15 new Canadian Surface Combatants to be built at Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax shipyard in Halifax on Feb. 8, 2019. The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese

The Irving shipyard is testing methods to cut steel for Canada’s new destroyers, though the navy says it will be about a decade before the first vessel joins military operations.

Standing before hundreds of hard-hatted Halifax shipbuilders on June 28, Defence Minister Bill Blair also announced that the 15 upcoming warships are officially designated as River class destroyers. They’re named in recognition of Canadian warships that gained fame during the Second World War, and the waterways that lead to Canada’s coastlines.