Canadian shipbuilder Irving Shipbuilding on May 3 hosted a ceremony to mark the official start of construction of the Royal Canadian Navy’s fourth arctic and offshore patrol ship (AOPS).

The fourth unit will be named after William Hall, a Victoria Cross recipient for heroism and support of the British Army during the relief of Lucknow (1857). Son of freed African-American slaves living in Nova Scotia, he is the first black person, first Nova Scotian, and third Canadian to have been awarded this honor.