Submarine

Canada’s Irving Shipbuilding has cited Thordon Bearings as one of a number of partners playing a pivotal role in ensuring the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) are capable of environmentally sustainable operations. The first two in a series of six twin-screw vessels entrusted to Irving Shipbuilding, have been put to water with Thordon’s COMPAC water lubricated propeller shaft bearings, which the shipbuilder says are “environmentally progressive” resulting in “zero risk of pollution”.

Thordon pursued the Halifax-class frigates throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, only to lose out to rubber, the dominant naval bearing at the time. When the rubber bearings could not meet the HMCS Halifax’s demands during sea trials, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) knew who to turn to. Thordon’s revolutionary COMPAC propeller shaft bearing design allowed for hydrodynamic operation at low shaft speeds and a low acoustic signature, passing sea trials very successfully. Thordon’s COMPAC tailshaft bearings went on to enjoy a 26-year wearlife run in the Halifax’s A-Brackets, three times the life of Thordon’s closest bearing competitor.