CCGS Captain Molly Kool

Last updated

CCGS Captain Molly Cool (tight).jpg
Docked in St. John's Harbour in 2023
History
Flag of Sweden.svgSweden
NameVidar Viking
Owner Trans Viking Icebreaking & Offshore
Port of registry
Builder Havyard Leirvik, Leirvik, Norway
Yard number284 [2]
Laid down14 December 1999 [2]
Launched25 November 2000 [2]
Completed16 February 2001 [2]
In service2001–2018
FateSold to Canada in 2018
Coastguard Flag of Canada.svgCanada
NameCCGS Captain Molly Kool
Namesake Molly Kool
Owner Canadian Coast Guard
Acquired14 December 2018
Commissioned30 May 2019
In service2019–present
HomeportCCG Base St John's (Newfoundland and Labrador Region)
Identification
StatusIn service
General characteristics (as built) [2]
Type Icebreaker, Anchor handling tug supply vessel
Tonnage
Displacement6,872 tons (maximum)
Length83.7 m (275 ft)
Beam18 m (59 ft)
Draught
  • 6.5 m (21 ft) (icebreaking)
  • 7.22 m (24 ft) (maximum)
Depth8.5 m (28 ft)
Ice class DNV ICE-10 Icebreaker
Installed power
  • 2 ×  MaK 8M32 (2 × 3,840 kW)
  • 2 × MaK 6M32 (2 × 2,880 kW) [3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) (maximum)
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (service) [3]
  • 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) in 1 m (3 ft) level ice
Crew23
General characteristics (after conversion) [4] [5] [6]
TypeMedium icebreaker (CCG)
Ice class
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) (service)
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km; 13,000 mi)
Endurance42 days
Crew19 (9 officers, 10 crew)
NotesOtherwise same as above

CCGS Captain Molly Kool is a Canadian Coast Guard converted medium class icebreaker. [8] She was originally built as an icebreaking anchor handling tug Vidar Viking for Trans Viking Icebreaking & Offshore in 2001. [9] [10] The vessel was acquired by the Canadian Coast Guard in August 2018 and was commissioned in May of the next year after refit. [11] She is named after the Canadian sailor, Molly Kool.

Contents

CCGS Captain Molly Kool has two sister vessels, CCGS Jean Goodwill and CCGS Vincent Massey, both of which are converted offshore vessels.

Design

CCGS Captain Molly Kool is 83.7 metres (275 ft) long overall and 77.77 metres (255 ft) between perpendiculars. Her hull has a beam of 18 metres (59 ft) and moulded depth of 8.5 metres (28 ft). At design draught, she draws 6.5 metres (21 ft) of water, but can be loaded to a maximum draught of 7.22 metres (24 ft) which corresponds to a displacement of 6,872 tons. [3] Originally built to DNV ice class "ICE-10 Icebreaker", her hull structures and propulsion system will be upgraded to Polar Class 4 level [7] and the vessel will be rated as Arctic Class 2 in Canadian service.[ citation needed ] Originally she was served by a crew of 23, but this has been reduced to 19 (9 officers and 10 crew) when the vessel was acquired by the Canadian Coast Guard. [2] [6]

CCGS Captain Molly Kool has four medium-speed diesel engines geared to two controllable pitch propellers in nozzles. She has two eight-cylinder MaK 8M32 and two six-cylinder MaK 6M32 diesel engines rated at 3,840 kW (5,150 hp) and 2,880 kW (3,860 hp) each. With a total propulsion power of 13,440 kW (18,020 hp), she can achieve a maximum speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) in open water and break 1-metre (3.3 ft) ice at a continuous speed of 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph). In addition, she has two bow thrusters (one fixed, one retractable and azimuthing) and one transverse stern thruster for maneuvering and dynamic positioning. [2]

Career

Vidar Viking (2001–2018)

In 2004, Vidar Viking acted as the drillship for the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) in the high Arctic. The vessel remained on location in the multi-year polar ice pack for nine days while being supported by the Swedish icebreaker Oden and the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz . [12] During the expedition, the ship stopped at the North Pole. [13]

Vidar Viking in Kristiansund, Norway, May 2005 Vidar Viking side.JPG
Vidar Viking in Kristiansund, Norway, May 2005

In late January 2010, the Swedish Maritime Administration called for Vidar Viking and Tor Viking to serve as icebreakers in the Baltic Sea. [14] The vessels were chartered on a contingency basis — where Trans Viking's parent company, Transatlantic, receives a basic flat fee for the vessels to be available within ten days, without regard to whether they were used. Their previous usage was in 2007. The contract expired in 2015.

In February 2010 Balder Viking, Vidar Viking and Loke Viking were chartered by Edinburgh-based oil company Cairn Energy for four months, starting in June 2010, for drilling operations in Baffin Bay. [15]

In 2012, the Swedish Maritime Administration agreed to end the charter for Vidar Viking prematurely for the 2011–2012 Baltic Sea icebreaking season and all subsequent seasons. The vessel then provided icebreaking services for the Estonian Maritime Administration for one winter season before heading to Sakhalin where she provided icebreaking, supply and anchor handling services starting from summer 2012 for Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Limited. After six months, she was reflagged to Russia and her crew changed to Russians. [16] [17] Vidar Viking was reflagged to Danish International Register of Shipping in 2016 and to Norway in 2017.

CCGS Captain Molly Kool (2018–present)

In 2016, Chantier Davie Canada began offering Vidar Viking and her sister ships as a replacement to the ageing Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers under the moniker Project Resolute. [18] In addition to the three Swedish icebreaking offshore vessels, the offer also included a fourth slightly bigger and more powerful vessel, the US-flagged Aiviq. [19] In August 2018, Chantier Davie Canada was awarded a Can$610 million dollar contract for the acquisition and refitting of the three vessels. [20] On 10 August 2018, Viking Supply Ships announced the sale of its three vessels to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada for a profit of $274 million. [21] [22] Once retrofitted at Davie Shipbuilding, the vessels are expected to remain in service in the Canadian Coast Guard for 15 to 25 years. [23] [24]

Captain Molly Kool in St. John's, Canada, in July 2023 CCGS Captain Molly Kool (profile).jpg
Captain Molly Kool in St. John's, Canada, in July 2023

The vessel was the first to be ready to undertake Coast Guard missions. [25] She had been repainted in Coast Guard livery on 13 November 2018. Some of the modifications the Coast Guard plans for the vessel, and her sister ships, were deferred, so that she could be employed ice-breaking in the St Lawrence estuary during the winter of 2019. [26] In particular, one highly visible deferred item will be the addition of a landing pad and hangar for a light utility helicopter.

CCGS Captain Molly Kool was named after Captain Molly Kool (1916–2009), born in Alma, New Brunswick, who was the first female licensed ship captain in North America. She was also the first female deep sea Captain in North America. At the time, she was only the second woman in the world to hold that achievement. Having grown up spending her summers sailing with her father in waters in and around the Bay of Fundy, Molly learned about life at sea and became an accomplished sailor. After high school, Molly convinced the Merchant Marine School in Saint John, New Brunswick to admit her as a student. She would obtain her Mate's certificate in 1937. In 1939, she obtained her coastal Master's Certificate and graduated from the Merchant Marine Institute in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. [6]

On 22 March 2019, Captain Molly Kool and CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent were dispatched to aid the tanker Jana Desgagnes which had damaged a rudder in heavy ice 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) southwest of Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. Captain Molly Kool towed the vessel further out to sea to await the arrival of a tugboat, which would take the tanker to Sydney, Nova Scotia for repairs. [27] During the operation, Captain Molly Kool used her towing notch, a feature not present in other CCG icebreakers currently in service, to escort the stricken tanker through the ice. [28]

CCGS Captain Molly Kool was officially commissioned into Canadian Coast Guard fleet on 30 May 2019. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icebreaker</span> Ship that is able to navigate through ice-covered waters

An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels, such as the icebreaking boats that were once used on the canals of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Coast Guard</span> Government agency

The Canadian Coast Guard is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and icebreaking, marine pollution response, and support for other Canadian government initiatives. The Coast Guard operates 119 vessels of varying sizes and 23 helicopters, along with a variety of smaller craft. The CCG is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, and is a special operating agency within Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

CCGS <i>Henry Larsen</i>

CCGS Henry Larsen is a Canadian Coast Guard Improved Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker serving in the Newfoundland and Labrador region and based in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Entering service in 1988, Henry Larsen is the fourth ship and of an improved design over the rest of the ships in her class. The ship operates in the Arctic Ocean during summer months.

CCGS <i>Terry Fox</i> Canadian Coast Guard heavy icebreaker

CCGS Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard heavy icebreaker. She was originally built by Burrard-Yarrows Corporation in Canada in 1983 as part of an Arctic drilling system developed by BeauDril, the drilling subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources. After the offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea ended in the early 1990s, she was first leased and then sold to the Canadian Coast Guard.

CCGS <i>Louis S. St-Laurent</i>

CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent is a Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) heavy icebreaker. Louis S. St-Laurent's home port is St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the largest icebreaker and flagship of the CCG.

CCGS <i>Des Groseilliers</i>

CCGS Des Groseilliers is a Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker in the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel is named after Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1669) a close associate of Pierre-Esprit Radisson in explorations west of the Great Lakes and the founding of the British Hudson's Bay Company. The ship entered service in 1982. The vessel has participated in a number of research voyages, including Ice Station SHEBA. As part of the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean experiment conducted in the Arctic Ocean from October 1997 to October 1998 to provide polar input to global climate models, Des Groseilliers was allowed to be frozen into the ice for the Arctic winter, to serve as a base for scientific researchers.

CCGS <i>DIberville</i>

CCGS D'Iberville was a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that was in service from 1952 to 1983 and was Canada's first modern icebreaker. The ship commissioned as CGS D'Iberville for the Department of Transport's Marine Service, using the prefix "Canadian Government Ship", D'Iberville was transferred into the newly-created Canadian Coast Guard in 1962. When launched, she was the largest icebreaker in use by Canada post-World War II until CCGS John A. Macdonald was put in service. In 1984, the icebreaker was renamed Phillip O'Hara before returning to her old name in 1988. In 1989 the vessel was sold for scrap and broken up at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

CCGS <i>John G. Diefenbaker</i> Canadian Heavy Polar Icebreaker

CCGS John G. Diefenbaker is the name for a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that had been expected to join the fleet by 2017 but has been significantly delayed. Her namesake, John G. Diefenbaker, was Canada's 13th prime minister. It was Diefenbaker's government that founded the Canadian Coast Guard in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polar Class</span> Ice class

Polar Class (PC) refers to the ice class assigned to a ship by a classification society based on the Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). Seven Polar Classes are defined in the rules, ranging from PC 1 for year-round operation in all polar waters to PC 7 for summer and autumn operation in thin first-year ice.

CCGS <i>Pierre Radisson</i>

CCGS Pierre Radisson is the lead ship of her class of icebreakers. Constructed and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, the vessel is based at Quebec City on the Saint Lawrence River. The ship was constructed in British Columbia in the 1970s and has been in service ever since. The vessel is named for Pierre-Esprit Radisson, a 17th-century French fur trader and explorer.

CCGS <i>Earl Grey</i> Ship built in 1986

CCGS Earl Grey is a Samuel Risley-class light icebreaker and buoy tender in the Canadian Coast Guard. Constructed in 1986, the vessel serves a variety of roles, including light ice-breaking and buoy tending, as well as being strengthened for navigation in ice to perform tasking along the shores off the Atlantic coast of Canada. Like her sister ship, CCGS Samuel Risley, she carries a large and powerful crane on her long low afterdeck for manipulating buoys. Earl Grey is the second icebreaker in Canadian service to carry the name.

CCGS <i>Jean Goodwill</i> Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker

CCGS Jean Goodwill is an icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) converted to a medium class icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. She was originally built as Balder Viking for Trans Viking Icebreaking & Offshore AS in 2000. The vessel was sold to Canada in 2018 and was initially expected to enter service in late 2019 following a refit. However, due to delays the conversion of the vessel was not completed until November 2020.

CCGS <i>Vincent Massey</i> Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker

CCGS Vincent Massey is an icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) converted to a medium class icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. She was originally built as Tor Viking for Trans Viking Icebreaking & Offshore AS in 2000 and has also traded under the name Tor Viking II. The vessel was sold to Canada in 2018 and was initially expected to enter service in summer 2020 following a refit. However, the conversion work was delayed and the vessel was delivered to the Canadian Coast Guard in October 2022 and dedicated to service in September 2023.

<i>Vladimir Ignatyuk</i> (icebreaker)

Vladimir Ignatyuk is a Russian icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel. She was built by Burrard-Yarrows Corporation in Canada in 1983 as Kalvik as part of an Arctic drilling system developed by BeauDril, the drilling subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources. After the offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea ended in the early 1990s, she was sold to the Canadian shipping company Fednav in 1997 and renamed Arctic Kalvik. In 2003, she was purchased by Murmansk Shipping Company and transferred to Russia.

The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), formerly the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS), is a Government of Canada program operated by the Department of Public Works and Government Services. The NSS was developed under the Stephen Harper Government in an effort to renew the fleets of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). The strategy was broken into three sections; the combat package, the non-combat package and the smaller vessel package. The companies who won the bids for the larger ships were not permitted to bid on the smaller vessel package. In 2019 the Trudeau Government decided to add a third shipyard to the NSS specializing in the construction of icebreakers for the Coast Guard. The agreement to incorporate Davie as a third shipyard within the NSS was finally signed in April 2023.

<i>Aiviq</i> American tug supply vessel

Aiviq is an American icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) owned by Offshore Surface Vessels LLC, part of Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO). The $200 million vessel was built in 2012 by North American Shipbuilding Company in Larose, Louisiana and LaShip in Houma, Louisiana. She was initially chartered by Royal Dutch Shell to support oil exploration and drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska where the primary task of the vessel was towing and laying anchors for drilling rigs, and oil spill response.

Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di is a Chinese icebreaker owned by the Sun Yat-sen University. She was built in 1983 as an icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) Ikaluk for BeauDril, the drilling subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources, to support offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea. In the 1990s, the vessel was acquired by Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar) and renamed Canmar Ikaluk. In 1998, she was purchased by Smit International and served in the Sakhalin oil fields as Smit Sibu. In 2009, she was acquired by FEMCO Management and in 2012 given back her original name. Ikaluk was sold to China in February 2018 and renamed Beijing Ocean Leader. In late 2021, the vessel was acquired by its current owner.

CCGS Judy LaMarsh is a Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker. Built in 2010 as a shallow-draught icebreaking tug Mangystau-2 for the Caspian Sea oil fields, the vessel was acquired by Canada as an interim solution while the existing fleet undergoes service life extension and maintenance.

References

  1. ↑ "Vidar Viking (9199646)" . Equasis. French Ministry for Transport . Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Captain Molly Kool (21805)". DNV Vessel Register. DNV . Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Vidar Viking (9199646)" . Sea-web. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Icebreakers Backgrounder". Canada.ca. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "Project RESOLUTE Briefing" (PDF). Davie.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 "CCGS Captain Molly Kool". Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Feature: A Canadian Coast Guard upgrade". Drydock. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  8. ↑ Coast Guard takes possession of new icebreaker named after pioneer Molly Kool CTV News 14 December 2018. Retrieved2018-12-15.
  9. ↑ "AHTS/Icebreaker Vidar Viking - Main Characteristics". Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  10. ↑ "Vidar Viking". Arctic Logistics Information And Support. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  11. ↑ Canada's Icebreakers Ships Monthly March 2019 page 6
  12. ↑ "Expedition 302 Arctic Coring". European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  13. ↑ "North Pole: The Latest Tourist Trap". MarineLink. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "TransAtlantic's icebreakers are called in for icebreaking in Baltic Sea". PR Inside. 29 January 2010. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. TransAtlantic has a long-term contract with the SMA, which entails that the vessels must be available during the first quarter of the year as required and within ten days for icebreaking in the Baltic Sea. In return, Transatlantic receives an annual basic fee, regardless of whether icebreaking is conducted or not. If icebreaking is conducted, the fee is increased. The contract expires in 2015, with an option to extend for an additional 15 years.
  15. ↑ "TransAtlantic signs contract for three of its offshore vessels". Trading Markets. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
  16. ↑ Russia: Sakhalin Energy Hires Vidar Viking AHTS. Offshore Energy Today, 26 December 2011. Retrieved21 July 2018.
  17. ↑ Viking Supply Ships and Sakhalin Energy start cooperation. Viking Supply Ships, 30 April 2012. Retrieved21 July 2018.
  18. ↑ Pierre LeBlanc (2 January 2018). "An Out-of-the-Blue Icebreaker Opportunity". Maritime Executive . Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018. Although counter-intuitive, the need for more icebreaker when there is less ice is because the Arctic ice starts moving around early and throughout the shipping season causing largely unpredictable ice dams. This is already reported by the Coast Guard and the marine companies resupplying the Canadian Arctic communities.
  19. ↑ "Project Resolute" (PDF). Davie Shipbuilding. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Icebreakers". Government of Canada, Canadian Coast Guard. December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  21. ↑ "Sale of ships including write down of certain book values in Q2 and guiding of an expected loss in H2". www.vikingsupply.com. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  22. ↑ Blenkey, Nick (13 August 2018). "Viking Supply confirms sale of icebreaking AHTS trio to Canada". MarineLog. Simmons-Boardman. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  23. ↑ "Canada Buys Commercial Icebreakers for its Coast Guard". Maritime Executive . 13 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018. On Monday, Norwegian harsh-environment OSV operator Viking Supply Ships announced that it has sold three icebreaking anchor handlers to the government of Canada, which will retrofit them for use by the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG).
  24. ↑ "Canada to Use Interim Icebreakers for Around 20 Years". Maritime Executive . 23 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018. The Canadian Press reports that there are no immediate plans to replace the Coast Guard's existing vessels which are on average more than 35 years old.
  25. ↑ Ian Keddie (26 November 2018). "Canadian Coast Guard prepares for first Chantier Davie icebreaker". Jane's Defence Weekly . Toronto . Retrieved 28 November 2018. The ex-Vidar Viking icebreaker was floated out of Davie's Champlain drydock on 13 November with a fresh coat of paint in CCG colours.
  26. ↑ Vincent Groizeleau (20 November 2018). "Le brise-glace Vidar Viking aux couleurs de la Garde Cotiere Canadienne" [Davie: Vidar Viking Icebreaker in Canadian Coast Guard Colors]. Mer et Marine (in French). Archived from the original on 28 November 2018.
  27. ↑ "Coast guard helping adrift tanker carrying 8M litres of fuel near southwest Newfoundland". CBC News. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  28. ↑ @CoastGuardCAN (22 March 2019). "4/4 #CCGLive: CCGS Captain Molly Kool used its unique towing notch configuration to keep Jana Desgagnes safe while awaiting commercial tug assistance. This is an example of our renewal efforts in action to modernize the fleet and bringing new capabilities to the Coast Guard" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. ↑ "Canadian Coast Guard welcomes first Coast Guard icebreaker in 25 years, CCGS Captain Molly Kool" (Press release). Canadian Coast Guard. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.