Hero rollout

The penultimate Hero class patrol boat rolled out of the Module Shop at Halifax Shipyard yesterday. Since the names of the boats were originally announced, there have been some changes in the actual names, and this craft is one of them. The namesake of Nitinat hereditary chief Martin Charles, was originally to have been named simply M.Charles however this was soon modified to correctly note that he was awarded the Medal of Bravery and the official name of the boat will be CCGS M.Charles M.B.

M.Charles M.B. sits on a crib work frame just outside the module ship. Construction machinery in the foreground is working on demolition of the old pipe shop foundation, and the start of the new shipbuilding hall. 

In fact seaman Charles was awarded two Medals of Bravery, one by the Canadian Coast Guard and one by the United States Coast Guard, for his efforts during a Search and Rescue mission in 1976. His boat, the Bamfield lifeboat, based on Vancouver Island went to the aid of a sunken fishing vessel and rescued two crew members. A USCG helicopter, which had rescued another crew man crashed nearby and the Bamfield boat turned back and rescued the USCG crew and the fishing boat survivor.   

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