Canada’s defence policy – Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE) – committed to the acquisition of six Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). Designated the Harry DeWolf - class in honour of Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf, a Canadian wartime naval hero, the vessels are being delivered through the AOPS project, under the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

The AOPS are able to perform a wide variety of tasks, such as:

Provide increased presence and conduct surveillance operations throughout Canada’s waters, including in the Arctic;
Support Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) sovereignty operations;
Participate in a wide variety of international operations, such as anti-smuggling, anti-piracy or international security and stability;
Contribute to humanitarian assistance, emergency response and disaster relief domestically or internationally;
Conduct Search and Rescue (SAR) and facilitate communications among other ships;
Support CAF core missions including capacity building in support of other nations; and
Support other government departments in their ability to enforce their respective mandates.
Since 2021, the AOPS operate in the Arctic between June and October, providing a greater, and longer, CAF presence in the north. They will be capable of operating in first-year ice of 120-centimetre thickness. This will allow the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to have unescorted access to areas of the Arctic that were previously inaccessible to RCN ships.

The Harry DeWolf - class ships have the ability to sustain operations up to four month when resupplied, either from shore or by sea.

The AOPS project is also acquiring integrated logistics support products and jetty infrastructures in Halifax and Esquimalt. In addition to the six ships to being built and delivered to the RCN, two AOPS will be delivered to the Canadian Coast Guard.

On July 31, 2020, the RCN welcomed its first new AOPS, HMCS Harry DeWolf. HMCS Harry DeWolf was subsequently commissioned into service in June 2021, and completed its first operational tour – the circumnavigation of North America – from August to December 2021, which included a transit through the Northwest Passage.

The RCN formally accepted delivery of its second ship, HMCS Margaret Brooke, on July 15, 2021. The ship completed on its first operational deployment on Operation NANOOK from August 2022 to December 2022.

The third AOPS, HMCS Max Bernays, delivered to the RCN on September 2, 2022.

Ships four, five and six are currently in various stages of production.