The Irving shipyard in Halifax is cutting steel for Canada鈥檚 new destroyers, though the navy says it will be about a decade before the first 8,000-tonne vessel joins military operations.

At an announcement today in Halifax, the 15 warships received their official designation as River class destroyers, named after the warships Canada used during the Second World War.

On Thursday, federal procurement officials said the final, detailed contracts for the first three destroyers haven鈥檛 been signed yet with Irving 鈥� and won鈥檛 be formally awarded until late 2024 or early 2025.

The final design of the ships isn鈥檛 complete but early production of steel plates has begun in order to keep the project moving ahead.

Officials predicted that the first ship would be launched by 鈥渢he early 2030s鈥� but likely wouldn鈥檛 be part of Royal Canadian Navy operations until 2035, after testing and trials at sea.

They also said the first nine ships are expected by 2040, with the full fleet to be delivered by 2050.

Government and Royal Canadian Navy officials said Thursday that the costs for the warship program will rise from earlier estimates of roughly $60 billion, but they didn鈥檛 confirm a 2022 report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the price will be a little more than $80 billion.

Officials said the Halifax shipyard has begun producing what鈥檚 referred to as 鈥渢hin-steel鈥� plates, which will be used in the destroyers. The steel is less thick than the materials in the Arctic patrol vessels under construction at the yard.

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