HMCS Max Bernays arrives at the Esquimalt harbour

A new addition to Canada’s Pacific fleet arrived at CFB Esquimalt this week after making its way from Halifax.

The transfer crew who travelled from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, included a blend of 55 West and 43 East Coast Royal Canadian Navy fleet members.

“It’s amazing to be the first new ship on the West Coast in almost a quarter of a century and the amount of work that took our first East Coast crew and the West Coast crew to get here was amazing,” Cmdr. Collin Forsberg of HMCS Max Bernays said in an interview with CHEK News.

Max Bernays docked at CFB Esquimalt around 10:30 a.m. on Monday to a big crowd of family, friends and colleagues from the naval service.

“I’m waiting here for Max Bernays to pull in for my stepfather – he’s one of the coxswains there,” says Liam Hunter.

“I’m just here to support my wife coming back from crossing over from the west coast,” adds Seth Vaughter who is also serving in the Navy.

Named after a hero of the Second World War,HMCS Max Bernays is one of four new Harry Dewolf-Class vessels built in Halifax, two of those will be added to the existing five-frigate Canadian Pacific Fleet that calls Esquimalt home.

The second one, the Robert Hampton Gray, is currently being built and scheduled to arrive in 2026.

As an Arctic and offshore patrol vessel, HMCS Max Bernays is designed to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic’s Northwest Passage and on the West Coast, and also to support international operations.

“This is not a combatant, it’s a patrol vessel. But it’s an armed patrol vessel so this gives us a sixth haul that we can go out and do various operations on,” said Esquimalt Fleet Cmdr. David Mazur.

It’s only a matter of time before work begins again for the crew as Max Bernays will be commissioned to go into service on May 3.

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