CCGS Earl Grey

Last updated

Clearing a path - panoramio.jpg
Earl Grey in 2015
History
Coastguard Flag of Canada.svgCanada
NameEarl Grey
Namesake Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada
Owner Government of Canada
Operator Canadian Coast Guard
Port of registry Ottawa, Ontario
Ordered1983
Builder Pictou Shipyards Limited, Pictou, Nova Scotia
Yard number218
Commissioned30 May 1986
In service1986–present
HomeportCCG Base at Charlottetown (Maritime Region)
Identification
StatusIn active service
General characteristics
Class and type Samuel Risley-class light icebreaker/buoy tender
Tonnage
  • 1,988  GT
  • 642  NT
Displacement2,935 long tons (2,982 t)
Length69.73 m (228 ft 9 in)
Beam13.7 m (44 ft 11 in)
Draught5.2 m (17 ft 1 in)
Ice class CASPPR Arctic Class 2
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) maximum
Range18,000 nmi (33,000 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Endurance58 days
Complement24

CCGS Earl Grey [note 1] 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. [1]

Contents

Design and description

The design of the vessel is based on offshore supply-tugboat designs, with strengthened chines. [2] The vessel has a tall foredeck, and a long low quarterdeck, for carrying buoys, where a crane with a capability of lifting 15 long tons (15 t) is permanently mounted. The crane is motion stabilized. [3] Earl Grey is 69.7 metres (228 ft 8 in) long overall with a beam of 13.7 metres (44 ft 11 in). The icebreaker has a draught of 5.2 metres (17 ft 1 in). Earl Grey displaces 2,935 long tons (2,982 t) and has a 1,988  gross tonnage  (GT) and a 642  net tonnage  (NT). [4] [5]

The ship is powered by four Deutz 4SA 9-cylinder diesel-electric engines driving two controllable pitch propellers that create 8,836 horsepower (6,589 kW). This gives the vessel a maximum speed of 15 knots (28 km/h). The vessel has a capacity of 634 m3 (139,000 imp gal) of diesel fuel that gives Earl Grey a range of 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km) at 11 knots (20 km/h) and the vessel can stay at sea for up to 58 days. The ship is equipped with one Caterpillar 3306 emergency generator. [4] [5]

The vessel is equipped with two Racal Decca navigational radars using the I band. [5] Earl Grey is a light icebreaker and has an ice class of Arctic Class 2, which certifies that the ship has the capability to break ice up to 2 feet (0.61 m) thick. The vessel has a complement of 24, with 9 officers and 15 crew. [4]

In 2023, the vessel received an upgraded wastewater treatment system to filter suspended solids and heavy metals. [6]

Career

Ordered in 1983, the ship was constructed by Pictou Shipyard Ltd at their yard in Pictou, Nova Scotia with the yard number 218. [1] [4] [7] The vessel was completed on 30 May 1986. [5] [7] The vessel is registered in Ottawa, Ontario and home ported at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. [4]

The ship took part in fall 1998 in assisting in the recovery of wreckage from the crash of Swissair Flight 111. Earl Grey and CCGS Mary Hichens recovered wreckage from the plane, while transferring human remains to HMCS Preserver. [8] On 7–8 December 1989, two cargo vessels, Capitaine Torres and Johanna B, sank in the Cabot Strait. Earl Grey was among the units dispatched to search for survivors, but they failed to find any. [9] In 1996, the ship assisted in the recovery and raising of the wrecked oil barge Irving Whale which had been carrying bunker oil that had been salvaged from another sunken ship from the sea floor. [10]

On 21 March 2001, CCGS Earl Grey, CCGC Sambro, CFAV Firebird, HMCS Moncton, HMCS Goose Bay, CCGS Sir William Alexander and the commercial oceangoing salvage tugboat Ryan Leet all tried to render assistance to the container ship Kitano which had caught fire off Chebucto Head. [11] [12] In the 2009 budget for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Canadian Coast Guard, requested funds to refit Earl Grey and some of the CCG's other large vessels. [13] The contract to refit Earl Grey was awarded to Davie Shipbuilding, announced on 12 March 2015. [14] In January 2017 Earl Grey was sent to monitor the tanker Arca 1 which ran aground off the coast of Nova Scotia. [15]

Predecessor

The first Earl Grey, sold to Russia in 1914. SS Earl Grey (1910).jpg
The first Earl Grey, sold to Russia in 1914.

In 1909 the Government of Canada ordered an icebreaking passenger steamship for service in the Northumberland Strait to connect the ports of Charlottetown and Georgetown on Prince Edward Island with the mainland port of Pictou. She was commissioned in 1910 by then Governor General, Albert Grey as CGS Earl Grey (Canadian Government Ship Earl Grey). She was sold in 1914 to Imperial Russia, an ally during World War I. The ship, christened Kanada and later Fyodor Litke, operated in the Arctic until 1958. [16]

Related Research Articles

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>Samuel Risley</i> Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker and buoy tender

CCGS Samuel Risley is a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker and buoy tender assigned to the Great Lakes area. Lead ship of her class, the vessel is named after Samuel Risley, the 19th century maritime inspector and first head of Board of Steamship Inspectors for Upper Canada and Ontario. Based in the Great Lakes, CCGS Samuel Risley is responsible for keeping an ice-free passage between Port Colborne, Ontario and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

CCGS Cape Roger is the lead ship of the Cape Roger-class fisheries patrol vessels operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship entered service in 1977 and was assigned to monitor the Atlantic fisheries. During the Turbot War, Cape Roger took part in the detainment of the Spanish fishing trawler Estai. The ship is currently in service.

CCGS <i>Labrador</i>

CCGS Labrador was a Wind-class icebreaker. First commissioned on 8 July 1954 as Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Labrador in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Captain O.C.S. "Long Robbie" Robertson, GM, RCN, in command. She was transferred to the Department of Transport (DOT) on 22 November 1957, and re-designated Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Labrador. She was among the DOT fleet assigned to the nascent Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) when that organization was formed in 1962, and further re-designated Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Labrador. Her career marked the beginning of the CCG's icebreaker operations which continue to this day. She extensively charted and documented the then-poorly-known Canadian Arctic, and as HMCS Labrador was the first ship to circumnavigate North America in a single voyage. The ship was taken out of service in 1987 and broken up for scrap in 1989.

CCGS <i>Bartlett</i>

CCGS Bartlett is a Provo Wallis-class buoy tender in operation by the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1969 and was modernized in 1988. In 1982, the ship commanded the recovery efforts following the Ocean Ranger sinking off the coast of Newfoundland. The vessel is assigned to the Pacific Region and is based at Victoria, British Columbia.

CCGS <i>Sir William Alexander</i>

CCGS Sir William Alexander is a Martha L. Black-class light icebreaker. Entering service in 1987, the vessel is currently assigned to CCG Maritimes Region and is homeported at CCG Base Dartmouth, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The vessel is named after Scottish explorer Sir William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, who was an early colonizer of Nova Scotia.

CCGS <i>Alfred Needler</i>

CCGS Alfred Needler is an offshore fishery science vessel formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1982 with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, stationed at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In 1995, in order to reduce the number of ships and combine tasks, the Fisheries and Oceans fleet and the Canadian Coast Guard fleets were merged under the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship was decommissioned from Canadian Coast Guard service in 2023.

CCGS <i>John A. Macdonald</i>

CCGS John A. Macdonald was a Canadian Coast Guard heavy icebreaker. She was named after The Right Honourable, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. The ship was commissioned into the Canadian Department of Transport's Marine Service in 1960 using the prefix "Canadian Government Ship" (CGS). The vessel was transferred in 1962 into the newly created Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and served with distinction until being decommissioned in 1991, and replaced by the then-chartered CCGS Terry Fox.

CCGS <i>N.B. McLean</i> Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker

CCGS N.B. McLean was a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker. Constructed in 1930 at Halifax Shipyards, she entered service as CGS N.B. MacLean and served in the Department of Transport's Marine Service, using the prefix "Canadian Government Ship". The ship was transferred into the newly created Canadian Coast Guard in 1962. She served in the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence until she was decommissioned in 1979, and taken to Taiwan to be scrapped in 1989. She was replaced by CCGS Pierre Radisson.

CCGS <i>Tupper</i>

CCGS Tupper was a Canadian Coast Guard ice-strengthened buoy tender that served from 1959 to 1998. The vessel spent her entire career on the East Coast of Canada. Following her Canadian service, Tupper was sold to private interests with the intention of converting her to a yacht, but the conversion never happened and the vessel moved about Halifax Harbour, suffering a fire in 2008 before being sold for scrap in 2011. The vessel was not scrapped and the Canadian Coast Guard was forced to address the pollution concerns of the abandoned vessel in 2021.

CFAV <i>Firebird</i> (YTR 561)

CFAV Firebird was a Fire-class fireboat in the Royal Canadian Navy designed by Robert Allan Ltd. Firebird was based in CFB Halifax, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her sister ship CFAV Firebrand is based in CFB Esquimalt.

Kitano was a Japanese container ship. She was delivered in Japan in 1990 to Japanese container line NYK and scrapped in China in November 2011.

CCGS <i>Sambro</i>

CCGS Sambro is a Canadian Coast Guard motor lifeboat homeported in Sambro, Nova Scotia.

CCGS <i>Ann Harvey</i> Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender and SAR ship

CCGS Ann Harvey is a Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender and SAR vessel with light icebreaker duties. She was constructed in 1987 by Halifax Dartmouth Industries, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The vessel was named after Ann Harvey, the daughter of a local Newfoundland fisherman who helped rescue 185 people during her lifetime. Ann Harvey's home port is St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and is stationed there with other Coast Guard ships.

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 Wilfred Templeman was a Canadian Coast Guard fisheries research vessel that entered service 1981 with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In 1995 the Fisheries and Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard fleets were amalgamated and Wilfred Templeman joined the Canadian Coast Guard. The research vessel patrolled the coast off Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2011, the vessel was taken out of service, sold to commercial interests and renamed Blain M.

CCGS <i>Sir Humphrey Gilbert</i> Icebreaker launched in 1959

CCGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert is a former Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker and buoy tender that was later sold to a private owner and renamed Polar Prince. The ship entered service with the Department of Transport Marine Service in 1959 and transferred to the newly created Canadian Coast Guard in 1962, active until 2001. The icebreaker was sold to private interests in Newfoundland and renamed Polar Prince, sitting mostly idle until resold in 2009 to GTX Technology Canada Limited for service in the Arctic Ocean as a commercial icebreaker. In 2017, the vessel was temporarily rechristened Canada C3 and used for a high-profile voyage around Canada's three maritime coasts as part of the nation's 150th anniversary. In November 2021, the ship was purchased by Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Service Ltd, a joint venture between Horizon Maritime and the Miawpukek First Nation and chartered for educational and research expedition use.

CCGS <i>Kopit Hopson 1752</i> Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker

CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752, formerly CCGS Edward Cornwallis, is a Martha L. Black-class icebreaker of the Canadian Coast Guard. She serves as a light icebreaker and buoy tender on the East Coast of Canada. Entering service in 1986, the vessel is homeported at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The vessel was originally named after Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis, a British Army officer and founding governor of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Due to the controversial history of the vessel's initial namesake, the ship was renamed in consultation with indigenous peoples, to commemorate Jean-Baptiste Cope under his Mi'kmaq name, British Governor Peregrine Hopson, and the year of the peace and friendship treaty created by former Governor Edward Cornwallis.

CGS <i>Stanley</i> Canadian icebreaker

CGS Stanley has been described as Canada's first effective icebreaker. She was launched in 1888, and remained in service until 1935. Constructed in the United Kingdom, Stanley was deployed along the East Coast of Canada for use as a ferry and lighthouse and buoy supply vessel and was used for icebreaking during winter months.

<i>Samuel Risley</i>-class icebreaker

The Samuel Risley-class icebreakers are a class of two icebreakers and buoy tenders constructed for and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The two ships are based on offshore supply tugboat design and entered service in the 1980s. Samuel Risley is deployed to the Central Region, operating mainly on the Great Lakes of North America, while Earl Grey is posted to Atlantic Canada, working off the east coast of Canada.

References

Notes

Citations

  1. 1 2 Maginley and Collin, p. 175
  2. ↑ Maginley, p. 66
  3. ↑ Maginley, p. 70
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "CCG Fleet: Vessel Details – CCGS Earl Grey". Canadian Coast Guard. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Saunders, p. 96
  6. ↑ Canadian Coast Guard (6 June 2023). "Canadian Coast Guard introduces First Clean and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment System on Canadian Coast Guard Ship Earl Grey". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Earl Grey (8412340)" . Miramar Ship Index . Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Maginley, p. 199
  9. ↑ Maginley, p. 150
  10. ↑ Maginley, pp. 175–176
  11. ↑ "Marine Investigation Report, Container Fire, Container Vessel Kitano, Off Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia, 22 March 2001" (PDF). Transportation Safety Board of Canada. 28 January 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2008. The three SAR aircraft were forced to return to their base to await improved weather conditions, the CFAV Firebird could only proceed as far as Maughers Beach while the CCGS Earl Grey and the CCGC Sambro were forced to heave to and monitor the situation.
  12. ↑ "Marine Investigation Report, Container Fire, Container Vessel Kitano, Off Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia, 22 March 2001: Summary". Transportation Safety Board of Canada. 28 January 2003. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2008. The wind and sea conditions stopped the fire tug CFAV Firebird from proceeding beyond the middle harbour and prevented the other surface SAR vessels from getting alongside the vessel for any length of time to assist.
  13. ↑ "Canadian Coast Guard Ship Earl Grey – Refit". Canadian Coast Guard. 2009. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Davie Awarded Vessel Life Extension Program for Canadian Coast Guard Ship CCGS Earl Grey". Your Shipbuilding News. 12 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Patil, Anjuli (8 January 2017). "Rescue workers scoop crew from tanker stranded off Cape Breton". CBC News. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  16. ↑ "Ships of the CCG 1850–1967". Canadian Coast Guard. 31 March 2008. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009.

Sources

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.