Protecteur-class auxiliary vessel

The Protecteur class of ships will be based on the Berlin-class replenishment ship
Class overview
Name:	Protecteur class
Builders:	Seaspan Marine Corporation
Operators:	Royal Canadian Navy
Preceded by:	Protecteur class
Planned:	2–3
General characteristics
Type:	Auxiliary vessel
Length:	173.7 m (569 ft 11 in)
Beam:	24 m (78 ft 9 in)
Height:	17.5 m (57 ft 5 in)
Draught:	7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Aircraft carried:	4 × Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone
Aviation facilities:	Hangar and flight deck

The Protecteur class (formerly known as the Queenston class) of naval auxiliaries for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) began as the Joint Support Ship Project, a Government of Canada procurement project for the RCN that is part of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. It will see the RCN acquire two multi-role vessels to replace the earlier Protecteur-class auxiliary oiler replenishment vessels that were operated by the RCN.

The project has suffered from considerable delays. Originally announced in 2004, a contract for the construction of these ships was to have been signed in 2009, which would have seen the first vessel available for operational service in 2012. In 2010 the federal government grouped the Joint Support Ship Project under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, which was finalized in October 2011. Currently the federal government is in contract negotiations with the winning proponent Seaspan Marine Corporation for building the Joint Support Ship Project and several other non-combat ships for the RCN and the Canadian Coast Guard.

On 2 June 2013, it was announced that ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada's Berlin-class replenishment ship was selected as the basis for the design of the Joint Support Ship Project. The Canadian vessels will be a variant of the Berlin class, as the design had to be optimized for Seaspan's yard in Victoria, British Columbia.

In order to speed construction of the Protecteur-class naval auxiliaries, the delivery of the new polar icebreaker, CCGS John G. Diefenbaker, will be delayed until the 2020s.

On 25 October 2013, the Minister of National Defence announced the JSS has been named Queenston class with two ships named, HMCS Queenston and HMCS Châteauguay. Their namesakes were to be the Battle of Queenston Heights and the Battle of Châteauguay, two battles during the War of 1812. A possible third ship in the class could be built, to be named HMCS Crysler's Farm, also named after a battle from the War of 1812. The option for the third vessel was dropped due to budget constraints. On 12 September 2017, the Canadian government announced the renaming of the class and vessels, taking the names of the ships of the class that they are to replace. Queenston became Protecteur and Châteauguay became Preserver. According to Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, this was due to the ties both serving and former Navy personnel had with the names.