Construction
HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400) was the third vessel to bear that name (see below) and was built at Marine Industries Limited (MIL) in Sorel, Quebec, the primary contractor being de Havilland Canada, an aircraft company. The Principal Naval Overseer was Commander Donald Clark, CD, RCN, who initiated the project on completion and launch of HMCS Nipigon (DDH 266) in 1964. The hull was built upside down out of aluminum and rotated on 22 January 1966 when it was complete. The foil system was constructed from maraging steel.
The Bras d'Or flew on a set of surface-piercing foils in a canard configuration (a small foil forward and a larger load-bearing foil aft). The foils were made of maraging steel coated in neoprene to prevent corrosion. However, the neoprene coating did not work adequately and the foils still suffered corrosion.
The main foils featured several parts: two anhedral foils, two anhedral tips, two dihedral foils, and a centre high-speed foil. The steerable front foil featured two anhedral sections and two dihedral sections with a strut down the middle, resulting in a diamond shape.
The Bras d'Or had two propulsion systems: one for foilborne operation and one for hullborne operation, which included four engines. Foilborne power was provided by a FT4A-2 gas turbine developing 25,500 horsepower (19.0 MW) at 21,500 rpm through General Electric gearboxes to a pair of three-bladed supercavitating propellers. Hullborne propulsion was driven by a Davey Paxman Ventura 16YJCM sixteen-cylinder diesel engine to a pair of variable-pitch propellers. Auxiliary power and electrical power while foilborne was provided by an ST6A-53 gas turbine powering an auxiliary gearbox. Both of the P&W turbines were built by United Aircraft of Canada. There was also a GTCP85-291 gas turbine for essential ship requirements in emergencies.
On 5 November 1966, a de Havilland employee was in the main engine room with the ST6 running when a hydraulic fluid leak ignited on a hot joint in the ST6's exhaust stack, resulting in a flash fire. The technician responsible for the fire-suppression system rescued the employee, but as a result did not have time to activate the fire-suppression system.
The fire was put out one and a half hours later by the Sorel fire department. This delayed the ship's launch to 12 July 1968 and cost $5.7 million.
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