More Ford

 The USS Gerald R. Ford remained at anchor today, October 31, its last full day in port. Various attendant craft shuttled back and forth with passengers, goods and (ahem) "refuse". There were still curious onlookers on shore, but not nearly as many as there were on the weekend. 

Passenger transfers were taking place from the stern of the ship, where there is apparently some form of boarding ramp. I noted also that the Kawartha Spirit was back in service yesterday and today, so the grounding damage incurred October 26 (see previous post) must have been repaired pretty quickly by CME in Sambro.

There were any number of other small vessels licensed for passengers in service as ferries. I was  not able to identify most of them from a distance, but it appeared that Captains Pride was one and possibly Olivia Margaret from Peggy's Cove.

The veteran tug/workboat Roseway was shuttling one of Dominion Diving's former RCN lighters - either Water Dog or Honey Wagon from the Ford to Dartmouth Cove. Fleetmate Dominion Rumbler had the other alongside.

When the ship sails tomorrow morning, its absence will certainly be noted as it monopolizes the view from many vantage points.

 

Centre of Attraction

 Thanks to widespread media coverage of the visit of USS Gerald R. Ford to the port of Halifax, thousands of residents and visitors flocked to the waterfront yesterday and today (October 30) to see the ship. All vantage points were crowded with hundreds of cameras and cell phones capturing the sight. (Selfies seemed to be a popular form of view.)

To add to those gazillion images I did manage to take one or two to add to my own collection [none were selfies]. The late afternoon sun and the ship's position in anchorage Number One gave an ideal angle from the Tall Ships Quay.

The barge Irving Cedar alongside with refuse containers marred the ship's waterline somewhat, but the huge sponsons to the flight deck were clearly visible.

Numerous small craft either on security patrol or working as "liberty boats" buzzed about the ship.

When the inbound container ship NYK Rigel came along it passed west of George's Island, giving a close up look (it would normally have passed through number one anchorage and on the eastern side of George's Island.)

The "visiting" tug Atlantic Cedar is forward and the Atlantic Fir is aft. (Atlantic Cedar brought the barge Irving Beaver from Saint John and the tugs Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver are in Saint John to work an LNG tanker.)  The other regular Halifax tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Oak are also on harbour duty. The "outside" tug Atlantic Elm is also in Halifax en route from its summer duties at Baker Lake, NU.

The Islander VIII has been brought in from Lunenburg for "ferry" service to the carrier.

Among the official craft in view were the Canada Border Services Agency's patrol boat (a 2019 Rosborough Roughwater) which carries the unofficial name Bob Anand. (The 14.99 gt boat is registered by number only: C29624NS). It seems to have accompnaied the NYK Rigel through to Bedford Basin, although it was traveling much faster than necessary.

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USS Gerald R. Ford

 The newest aircraft carrier in the United States Navy arrived in Halifax this morning on its first deployment. USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78 is the lead ship of its class and as usual with such huge and sophisticated vessels it has been a long time coming into service. Actual construction (following several years of pre-build componenent construction) started in 2000, with launch in 2013 and delivery in 2017 by Newport News Shipbuilding. Commissioning also took place in 2017, but the ship was not declared "fully delivered" until last month.

It sailed from its home port of Norfolk on October 4 and has been exercising with its own destroyer squadron and many units the NATO navies -  most of which also arrived in Halifax today. Due to its size the ship took two Halifax harbour pilots, who boarded the ship by helicopter at the outer pilot boarding ground.

The 100,000 tonne (approximate) displacement ship can accommodated 4,539 persons and approximately 75 aircraft fully deployed. This is all contained in an overall length of 337m (1,106 ft) and hull breadth of 41m (134 ft) at the waterline. The breadth at the flight deck is 78m (256 ft). There is considerable published data on the ship's weapons, systems and aircraft which are presumably state of the art. Its nuclear power plant can speed the ship along far in excess of the published 30 knots.

Circumstances beyond our control prevented Shipfax from actually photographing the ship today. If photos becomer available in subsequent days they may be added to this post or will be published in a new post.

As stated above the Gerald R. Ford arrived with a nice bevy of US and NATO vessels, mostly frigates, and many new to Halifax.(Once again - sorry - no photos available.):

USS Normandy CG-60, USS Ramage DDG-61, HMNLS De Seven Provincien F 802, HMNLS Van Amstel F 831, FGS Hessen F 221, HDMC Peter Willemoes F 362 and ESP Alvaro de Bazan F101. Civilian tugs and civilian pilots were busy berthing these ships well into the afternoon, while Canadian navy tugs were presumably handling RCN ships (sorry no names available.)

Once the Gerald R. Ford was brought up at anchor the usual array of harbourcraft flocked round to carry out several chores.

To transport prople to and from shore the harbour ferry Rita Joe and harbour tour boat Harbour Queen I were joined by the Eastern Points from Lunenburg. (The usual harbour craft Kawartha Spirit was not available due to a grounding the other day, which caused it to be sent to Sambro for survey and repairs.)

There was also considerable waste removal of various sorts including compostable and recyclable, which was discharged to the barge Irving Cedar which had been fitted out with special containers. I assume some of the waste would have to be incinerated as does all international garbage from cruise ships. Dominion Diving's tug/workboats Dominion Rumbler, Halmar and Dominion Warrior were noted alongside, likely with smaller barges or "camels".

Numerous other patrol craft - unidentifiable by name or number - were controlling an exclusion zone around the ship as well. On line photos have shown them to be heavily armed.

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