Orca class patrol vessel

Patrol Craft Training Orca
Class overview
Name:	Orca class
Builders:	Victoria Shipyards, Esquimalt, BC
Operators:	Royal Canadian Navy
Preceded by:	YAG 300
Cost:	C$90.7 million (entire project)
Built:	November 2004 – October 2008
In service:	17 November 2006 – present
Completed:	8
Active:	8
General characteristics
Type:	Training tender and patrol boat
Displacement:	210 tons
Length:	33 m (108 ft)
Beam:	8.34 m (27.4 ft)
Draught:	2.0 m (6.6 ft)
Propulsion:	2 x Caterpillar 3516B diesel engines, 2,500 hp each at 1,600 rpm
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) governed
Range:	660 nmi (1,220 km; 760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	4 (minimum); 24 (maximum)
Armament:	None. Foredeck is strengthened to accept a 12.7 mm M2 machine gun.

The Orca class is a class of eight steel-hulled Royal Canadian Navy training tenders. Based on the Australian-designed Pacific-class patrol boat, the Orca class was constructed by Victoria Shipyards between November 2004 and November 2008, at a total project cost of C$90.7 million. All are in service at CFB Esquimalt in British Columbia. They replaced the YAG 300 class and operate as training platforms and surveillance craft. These ships are not commissioned and as such do not receive the prefix Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS).

During the early 2000s, the Canadian Forces Maritime Command, (MARCOM) began searching for a replacement for the 1950s-era wooden-hulled YAG 300 class training tenders. Training aboard these outdated vessels while useful, was less relevant as MARCOM moved the initial training of ship operators to modern land-based simulators that more accurately replicated the conditions aboard the Navy's capital ships. On 8 November 2004, the Department of National Defence announced a C$69.7 million contract for six new ships, with an option for two more, for a total budget of C$90.7 million.

The Orca-class ships are based on the Australian training vessel Seahorse Mercator, itself a derivative of the Australian-designed Pacific-class patrol boat. Though the two designs share a geometrically similar hull shape, much about the Orca-class design is different from its forebear. The Orca class has a 15% increase in hull displacement due to the requirement of the Royal Canadian Navy that the hull be able to withstand any increase in the size and weight of future equipment. This size change led to a change in the propulsion system, the system on Seahorse Mercator no longer providing the necessary speed. Other changes were made accommodation and bridge structure.