CCGS Simon Fraser

Last updated

History
Coastguard Flag of Canada.svgCanada
NameSimon Fraser
Namesake Simon Fraser
Owner Government of Canada
Operator
Port of registry Ottawa, Ontario
Builder Burrard Dry Dock, North Vancouver
Way number306
Launched18 August 1959
CommissionedFebruary 1960
DecommissionedMarch 2001
Refit1986
Identification
FateSold 2006
General characteristics
Type Buoy tender
Tonnage1,358  GRT
Displacement1,876 long tons (1,906 t)
Length62.4 m (204 ft 9 in)
Beam12.8 m (42 ft 0 in)
Draught4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Installed power2,900 shp (2,200 kW)
Propulsion Diesel-electric
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Range5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance20 days
Aircraft carried1 × helicopter
Aviation facilities Flight deck and hangar

CCGS Simon Fraser [lower-alpha 1] was a buoy tender operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1960 with the Department of Transport's Marine Fleet, before being transferred to the newly formed Canadian Coast Guard in 1962. The buoy tender served on both coasts of Canada and was used for search and rescue duties along the West Coast of Canada. The ship was loaned to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2000 and transited the Northwest Passage, circumnavigating North America in the process. The ship was taken out of service in 2001 and sold to private interests. In 2006, the vessel reappeared as a yacht using the same name.

Contents

Design and description

Simon Fraser and sister ship Tupper were 62.4 m (204 ft 9 in) long overall with a beam of 12.8 m (42 ft 0 in) and a draught of 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in). The vessel had a fully loaded displacement of 1,876 long tons (1,906 t) and a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 1,358. [1] [2] The vessels were powered by a diesel-electric system (DC/DC) driving two fixed-pitch screws creating 2,900 shaft horsepower (2,200 kW). This gave the vessels a maximum speed of 14 knots (26 km/h). [2] [3] The ship carried 200.00 m3 (43,990 imp gal) of diesel fuel, had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) and could stay at sea for up to 20 days. [3] The ships were fitted with a flight deck and a telescopic hangar and were capable of operating one helicopter. [1] [4]

Service history

The vessel was constructed by Burrard Dry Dock at their yard in Vancouver, British Columbia with the yard number 306. [5] Simon Fraser was launched on 18 August 1959, named after a Scottish explorer who charted much of what became known as British Columbia. [5] [6] The ship entered service with the Department of Transport in February 1960. [2] [5] In 1962 the Department of Transport's Marine Service fleet was merged into the newly formed Canadian Coast Guard and Simon Fraser was given the new prefix CCGS. [7] The vessel was registered in Ottawa, Ontario. [5]

Simon Fraser was initially assigned to duties in the Western Region, working in the Pacific Ocean. In 1986, the vessel was converted for search and rescue duties and transferred to the Laurentian Region in Eastern Canada. Towards the end of her career, Simon Fraser returned to buoy tending duties in the Maritimes Region, based at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. [1] [3] She played a role in searching for wreckage that could show the cause of the crash of Swissair Flight 111. [8] In May 2000 Simon Fraser was loaned to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) support group. Travelling from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, the vessel transited the Panama Canal. From there, the Coast Guard ship escorted the RCMP vessel Nadon on a transit of the Northwest Passage, which was recreating the historic 1940–1942 transit of RCMP St Roch. In doing so, Simon Fraser circumnavigated North America. [1] This was Simon Fraser's last voyage prior to her decommissioning. [9]

Simon Fraser was taken out of service in 2001 and renamed 2001–07. In 2006 she was sold to Quay Marine Associates Inc., reverted to her original name and registered in Livorno, Italy, where she was taken for conversion to a yacht and charter vessel. [5] [9]

Related Research Articles

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>Cygnus</i>

CCGS Cygnus is a Cape Roger-class fisheries patrol vessel of the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship entered service in 1981 and is used to monitor the fisheries along the Atlantic coast of Canada. During the Turbot War, Cygnus was among the Coast Guard vessels sent to monitor the European fishing fleet on the Grand Banks.

CCGS <i>Limnos</i>

CCGS Limnos is a Canadian Coast Guard coastal research and survey vessel and it is named after the Greek island of Limnos which itself derived from "limni", the Greek word for lake. The ship entered service in 1968 and is currently active. The ship is based on the Great Lakes at the Coast Guard Base in Burlington, Ontario and is used for hydrographic and limnological research.

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 Brant was a Canadian Coast Guard vessel in service between 1928 and 1966. Stationed on the East Coast of Canada, Brant was deployed as a navigation aids tender. Brant was the last coal-burning vessel in Canadian government service.

CCGS C.P. Edwards was a Canadian Coast Guard ship. Entering into service as a coastal freighter in 1946 with the name Ottawa Mayhill, it was commissioned in 1947 as CGS C.P. Edwards for the Department of Transport's Marine Service, serving as a light vessel. C.P. Edwards was transferred into the newly created Canadian Coast Guard in 1962, and was decommissioned in 1972. The vessel was sold to private interests that year. An engine was acquired by Canadian Science and Technology Museum in 1976. The Canadian registry of the vessel was closed in 1979 and the ship was sold to U.S. interests.

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.

CCGS <i>Simcoe</i>

CCGS Simcoe was a Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender and light icebreaker. The second vessel of the name in Canadian government service, Simcoe was in service from 1962 to 2007 based out of the Coast Guard base at Prescott, Ontario working the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway. In 2008 the ship was sold to commercial interests.

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 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 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.

CGS <i>Simcoe</i> (1909)

CGS Simcoe was a lighthouse supply and buoy vessel of the Canadian government acquired for service on the Great Lakes. Entering service in 1909, Simcoe was active until 1917 when the vessel foundered while transiting to Saint John, New Brunswick with the loss of 44 persons.

CCGS <i>Sir Humphrey Gilbert</i>

CCGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert was a Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker and buoy tender and now a privately owned Arctic icebreaker 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 1986. The icebreaker was sold to private interests in Newfoundland and the ship sat idle after 2001 until resold in 2009 to GTX Technology Canada Limited and renamed Polar Prince. Rebuilt, the icebreaker is now plying the waters of the Arctic Ocean. 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.

CCGS Provo Wallis is a Provo Wallis-class buoy tender that served with the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1969 and was classed as a Medium-endurance Multi-tasked Vessel. Provo Wallis spent the majority of her career on the Atlantic Coast of Canada before transferring to the West Coast. Ice-strengthened, the ship was used mainly for maintaining navaids in shipping lanes. The vessel was taken out of service in 2011 and laid up.

CCGS J.E. Bernier was a Canadian Coast Guard medium Arctic icebreaker with a steel hull. The vessel was in service from 1967 to 2006. The ship was initially based at Quebec City but finished her career at St. John's. The ship was named for Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, captain of CGS Arctic which explored and monitored the eastern Arctic for the Government of Canada in the early 20th century. The vessel was sold in 2006 to private interests.

<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 3 4 Maginley & Collin 2001, p. 179.
  2. 1 2 3 Moore 1981, p. 88.
  3. 1 2 3 "CCG Fleet: Vessel Details – CCGS Simon Fraser". Canadian Coast Guard. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Maginley 2003, p. 79.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Miramar Ship Index.
  6. ↑ Maginley 2003, p. 255.
  7. ↑ Maginley 2003, p. 13.
  8. ↑ "Media Advisory: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Canadian Coast Guard Coast Guard support for Swiss Air Flight 111 investigation continues". Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 6 September 1998. Archived from the original on 25 December 2002.
  9. 1 2 Peters, Tom (17 April 2006). "New Life for Old Vessels". Canadian Sailings. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.

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.