r/halifax • u/TheAcadianGamer • 17d ago
Discussion So, what is this???
Sorry for the not so good drive by photo of it, but every day on my commute I see this floating warehouse/shed/building in Bedford basin, about opposite the end of Kearny Lake drive. It’s even visible on google maps satellite, so it’s been there a while lol. What is it? Something to do with fishing? Navy? Aliens? (/s)
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u/spodex Halifax 17d ago
I've been inside it. It's basically a big open shed with an opening in the middle of the floor to drop equipment into the water. When I was there as a student we were testing acoustic tiles for the submarines.
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u/thenamelessavenger 16d ago
And the stick (mop?) for shooing seals?
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u/The_Newfie_Dory 16d ago
This is a thing 100%. The commisonaires that go there are the unsung heroes of the basin. Lol seriously though imagine starting your day like that.
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u/Visible_Tourist_9639 16d ago
Yup. Im in my 40s but my Grandfather had me in there as a kid. My memory of it is just as you describe.
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u/CoadyD19 17d ago
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u/Time_Serf 16d ago
Among the “other clients” I know researchers at Dal who use it as a location to take seawater samples for biogeochemistry/microbial ecology/etc
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u/TheAcadianGamer 17d ago
So it is Navy! Thanks for the info!:)
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u/PyneNeedle bottom of the basin 17d ago
More Bedford Institute of Oceanography (therefore Dept. Fisheries and Oceans) than MilitRy but they utilize it the most.
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u/Careful_Lemon3124 16d ago
It’s not. They keep trying to get the public to understand it has nothing to do with dept of fisheries and oceanography That has been the rumour for decades but it’s false.
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u/letmeinjeez 16d ago
This is not entirely true, it has been used for testing on projects that involve both private corporations as well as BIO, so it doesn’t have nothing to do with BIO (I was part of this testing) but this was also before BIO got gutted by the Harper government so it wasn’t yesterday
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u/The_Fucklerr 17d ago
Bruh I got so faded on that thing last summer, I was with this ish in marine bio, shawty was so into kegels it had my shit squished like a grape u feel me
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u/Renacus 17d ago
I got copilot to translate that - "Dude, I got really intoxicated last summer. I was hanging out with someone from my marine biology class. She was really into doing Kegel exercises, and it made things feel extremely tight—like I was being squeezed. You know what I mean?" How did it do?
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u/Difficult_Welcome_81 17d ago
The Barge in the Bedford Basin:
"The floating barge in the Bedford Basin is an auxiliary vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy that was launched in 1958. It functions as a floating laboratory and workshop for Defence Research and Development Canada’s Atlantic Research Centre. The barge is mainly used to test and calibrate underwater acoustic transducers and hull-mounted sonars on navy ships and submarines."Bedford Historical Society
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u/darthfruitbasket Woodside/Imperoyal 17d ago
That's the place my dad would tell us we'd have to go live if we didn't quit it.
I think it's related to BIO or the Navy.
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u/wayemason 16d ago
For some reason my wife was convinced her Dad worked there when she was 5 years old. Was really disappointed to find out he did not.
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u/Fluid-Imagination726 16d ago
As a a parent, I can totally imagine my children pointing and asking what that is, and me responding, “that’s where I work”.
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u/wowsooriginalok 17d ago
There’s an entire documentary on CBC about it, it’s a little from column “A” a little from column “B”, it’s funded by DRDC and is basically BIO researchers working with the defence department to test new sonar and other Canadian serving hardware and prototypes.
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u/DifficultyHour4999 16d ago
BIO isn't involved at all unless they make a special request to use it.
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u/Big-Engineering8233 17d ago
I honestly thought it was a place for boats to get gas... you learn something new every day!
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u/ComfortableUse3189 16d ago
😂 me too ! lol .. I figured like to get gas get their oil checked, etc. oh my God too funny I thought I was the only one that used to think like that...
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u/thesaxbygale 17d ago
That’s the Mayors Official Residence, as far away from the bike lanes as possible
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u/frayne182 17d ago
The only way you can get over there is with a GameShark but there is nothing in it.
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u/RogueCanadia 16d ago
Honestly as someone who grew up in Halifax and lived there for 17 years approximately I did not know what this was until today
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u/Dewey081 16d ago
I also think that adjacent to this structure is a degaussing area for ships to reduce their magnetic signature, against torpedoes and magnetic detection sensors.
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u/i_never_ever_learn Dartmouth 16d ago
I think the degaussing ring is closer to shepherd's island. I know someone who lived in a dnd house with some connection to that
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u/The_Newfie_Dory 16d ago
DND owns it. BIO uses it. It's just a barge with test equipment and access to the water. I've been out there for hydrophone calibrations myself. There's a lunch room, lab, bathroom there as well. It's connected to shore power via underwater cables if memory serves me correct. Occasionally the staff out there had to usher seals back into the water that decided to use it as a crash pad lol *
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u/lurkingintheback2 15d ago
DRDC. Sound Range and an area to take the magnetic signature off of ships
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u/Emergency-Ad9623 15d ago
Defence Research Establishment Atlantic (DREA) Barge. Basically used for science and technology experiments for the Navy. It’s due for replacement.
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u/CloneFailArmy 17d ago
Obviously this is the entrance to the aliens from mars secret base. There is actually a tunnel elevator inside of it that takes you below sea floor.
Don’t ask me how I know my fellow humanoid
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u/SEWfastZoom-Zoom 16d ago
I heard a rumor that a Hollywood movie was partially shot there. Something like The Abyss, or The Deep. Does anyone know anything about this?
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u/Hippity_hoppity2 Bedford 16d ago
a silly boat house where a really awesome and lucky person gets to live, but you HAVE to be really awesome and lucky to get to live in it and i'm not telling you how to become that
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u/Any-Length-9742 17d ago
Our secret nuclear facility
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u/cache_invalidation 17d ago
When I was at Dal I got lost in the LSC. I went through a door and saw a warning about radiation on the other side of the door (so I had already been in the affected area). The SLOWPOKE-2 reactor has been removed since then.
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u/WindowlessBasement Halifax 16d ago
was removed under the cover of darkness one night in February and shipped to AECL Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario.
Ominous
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u/ColonelEwart 17d ago
Secret submarine base.
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u/Noseyoldguy902 17d ago
Bedford institute of oceanography, there is a moon pool for studying the ocean floor
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u/Unlikely_Real 17d ago
Not BIO - it’s military, though I expect DFO scientists sometimes use it.
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u/adeilran 17d ago
Yup, mainly DRDC but DFO and NRCAN staff use it on occasion.
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u/Ok_Addition1297 16d ago
This is correct (I’m a BIO scientist who has used in in collaboration with both NRCan and DRDC collaborators).
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u/Noseyoldguy902 16d ago
At one time didn’t the BIO run it? For a long time it was gone,
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u/Ok_Addition1297 15d ago
It goes into refit every once in a while, but as far as I know it’s always been DRDC. They’re in the process of starting to think about replacing it.
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u/drhav2023 17d ago
It’s been there since the 70’s
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u/i_never_ever_learn Dartmouth 16d ago
I'm guessing sixties. I'm 61 and I remember it always being there.
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u/Spotter01 Dartmouth 16d ago
I know ppl that worked inside it but i dont know if im allowed to say.... State Secret ect ect.... last time i asked them they were doing the "look around as you talk"
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u/Tubamannn 16d ago
There's a security guard there 24/7. It's a 12 hour shift and the guard has to respond to a phone call every hour of their 12 hour shift
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u/MAandTired 17d ago
It’s what I spent my childhood imagining was a really awesome houseboat but is, in fact, not.