CCGS Sir William Alexander

Last updated

CCGS Sir William Alexander 2010 (2).JPG
CCGS Sir William Alexander near Halifax Harbour
History
Coastguard Flag of Canada.svgCanada
NameSir William Alexander
Namesake Sir William Alexander
Operator Canadian Coast Guard
Port of registry Ottawa, Ontario
Builder Marine Industries, Tracy, Quebec
Yard number451
Launched23 October 1986
Commissioned13 February 1987
In service1987–present
Refit1998
HomeportCCG Base Dartmouth (Maritime Region)
Identification
Statusin active service
General characteristics
Class and type Martha L. Black-class light icebreaker and buoy tender
Tonnage
  • 3,727.2  GT
  • 1,503  NT
Displacement4,662 long tons (4,737 t) full load
Length83 m (272 ft 4 in)
Beam16.2 m (53 ft 2 in)
Draft5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)
Ice class CASPPR Arctic Class 2
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Range6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 13.7 knots (25.4 km/h)
Endurance120 days
Complement26
Aircraft carriedOriginally 1 × MBB Bo 105 or Bell 206L helicopter, currently 1 × Bell 429 GlobalRanger or Bell 412EPI
Aviation facilitiesHelicopter flight deck and hangar

CCGS Sir William Alexander [lower-alpha 1] 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.

Contents

Description and design

Designed as a light icebreaker and buoy tender, Sir William Alexander and sister ship CCGS Edward Cornwallis differ from the rest of the class by having one less deck in the superstructure and their buoy-handling derricks mounted forward. Sir William Alexander had her derricks replaced by a crane in 1998. [1] Sir William Alexander displaces 4,662 long tons (4,737 t) fully loaded with a 3,727.2  gross tonnage  (GT) and a 1,503.0  net tonnage  (NT). The ship is 83.0 metres (272 ft 4 in) long overall with a beam of 16.2 metres (53 ft 2 in) and a draught of 5.8 metres (19 ft 0 in). [2] [3]

The vessel is powered by is propelled by two fixed pitch propellers and bow thrusters powered by three Alco 251F diesel-electric engines creating 8,847 horsepower (6,597 kW) and three Canadian GE generators producing 6 megawatts of AC power driving two Canadian GE motors creating 7,040 horsepower (5,250 kW). [2] [3] The ship is also equipped with one Caterpillar 3306 emergency generator. This gives the ship a maximum speed of 16 knots (30 km/h). Capable of carrying 784.0 long tons (796.6 t) of diesel fuel, Sir William Alexander has a maximum range of 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km) at a cruising speed of 13.7 knots (25.4 km/h) and can stay at sea for up to 120 days. The ship is certified as Arctic Class 2. [3]

The icebreaker is equipped with one Racal Decca Bridgemaster navigational radar operating on the I band. The vessel is equipped a 980 m3 (35,000 cu ft) cargo hold. Sir William Alexander has a flight deck and hangar which originally accommodated light helicopters of the MBB Bo 105 or Bell 206L types, but in the 2010s, the Bell 429 GlobalRanger and Bell 412EPI were acquired by the Canadian Coast Guard to replace the older helicopters. [4] The ship has a complement of 26, with 10 officers and 16 crew. Sir William Alexander has nine additional berths. [3]

Operational history

The ship was constructed by Marine Industries at their yard in Tracy, Quebec with the yard number 451. [5] Sir William Alexander was launched on 23 October 1986 and entered service on 13 February 1987. [2] [5] The ship is registered in Ottawa, Ontario, and homeported at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. [2] [3]

Hurricane Katrina relief mission

CCG Sir William Alexander.jpg
Crew of the CCG Sir William Alexander.jpg
CCGS Sir William Alexander assisting in New Orleans relief operations following Hurricane Katrina; mission crew shortly before arriving home.

On 6 September 2005, CCGS Sir William Alexander left Halifax Harbour, together with the Canadian warships Athabaskan, Ville de Québec and Toronto, [6] to participate in a humanitarian aid mission named Operation Unison, which provided relief to part of the devastated Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States following Hurricane Katrina. [7]

Sir William Alexander participated in the mission as a supply vessel, and also to effect repairs to aids to navigation (navaids). The decision to assign Sir William Alexander to the Operation Unison task force was unprecedented in Canadian Coast Guard history as no icebreaker from the service has operated for an extended period of time in southern tropical waters such as the Gulf of Mexico, aside from transiting the Panama Canal to and from British Columbia. [8]

On 19 September 2005, it was announced that the three warships were no longer needed in the Gulf of Mexico, given the massive U.S. military response as well as increasing civilian aid flowing into the region. Sir William Alexander was exempted from returning to Canada however, as her heavy lift capabilities were considered useful for ongoing repairs to aids to navigation which were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and later Hurricane Rita (23 September). [9] On 28 September, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans announced that Sir William Alexander was being retasked from relief efforts and navigation systems repair to assist the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in repairing the damaged network of weather buoys along the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic coasts. She returned to CCG Base Dartmouth from Operation Unison on 24 October 2005.[ citation needed ]

Post-Katrina operations

Sir William Alexander was involved in a fatal towing incident involving the fishing vessel L'Acadien II during the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt. [10] On 30 September 2014, a Canadian Armed Forces Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopter clipped Sir William Alexander's antenna during a training exercise in Mahone Bay. The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. [11] In February 2017, Sir William Alexander was dispatched to aid the merchant vessel Thorco Crown, which had caught fire in the Cabot Strait. The engine room fire was extinguished but the merchant was disabled. When a tugboat arrived to take Thorco Crown in tow, the tugboat was unable to secure the towline. Sir William Alexander then took Thorco Crown in tow during the night, transferring the tow to the tugboat in the morning. [12]

Related Research Articles

CCGS <i>Alexander Henry</i>

CCGS Alexander Henry is a former Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker and buoy tender that served on the Great Lakes from 1959 to 1984. In 1986, the vessel was handed over to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, Ontario for preservation as a museum ship. Previously, during the summer months the vessel was also operated as a bed and breakfast. In 2017, the ship was sold to the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society in Thunder Bay, Ontario and in June, was relocated to the Pool 6 site on the town's harbour front, where Alexander Henry continues as a museum ship.

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 <i>Amundsen</i>

CCGS Amundsen is a Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker and Arctic research vessel operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1979 as Franklin and was renamed Sir John Franklin in 1980 and served as such until 1996. Declared surplus, the vessel was used as an accommodation ship in Labrador in 1996 and placed in reserve in 2000. In 2003, the ship was reactivated and underwent conversion to an Arctic research vessel. The ship recommissioned as Amundsen.

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.

Canadian response to Hurricane Katrina

Canada was one of the countries to provide the most aid and relief for Hurricane Katrina. They provided ships, supplies, volunteers, search-and-rescue teams, and more. It has also accepted some evacuees to stay in Canada.

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>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 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 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>Ann Harvey</i>

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.

L'Acadien II was a Canadian-registered fishing vessel that capsized and sank on March 29, 2008. The vessel was being towed by Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Sir William Alexander off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia at the time of the incident. Two of the crew of six were rescued and four men died in the incident. Recovery efforts have not located the sunken trawler nor the missing crew member who is now presumed dead. Canadian authorities have launched independent investigations into the incident.

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 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 Simon Fraser 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.

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.

<i>Martha L. Black</i>-class icebreaker

The Martha L. Black-class icebreakers are a class of six light icebreaker and buoy tenders constructed for and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. Built in the 1980s, the class operates on both coasts of Canada and have been used for operations in the Arctic region, including the search for the ships of Franklin's lost expedition. They are rated as "high endurance multi-tasked vessels" under Canadian Coast Guard naming rules.

<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.

<i>Pierre Radisson</i>-class icebreaker

The Pierre Radisson-class icebreakers, also known as R-class icebreakers, are a class of four icebreakers constructed for and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The Canadian Coast Guard designates the four ships in the class as medium icebreakers. Built in two phases, the first three ships, Pierre Radisson, Franklin and Des Groseilliers, were built to a common design. The fourth, Henry Larsen was built to a modified design and is considered a subclass, the Improved R-class icebreaker. Franklin was later renamed Sir John Franklin before undergoing a re-design for use primarily as an Arctic research vessel. Upon the vessel's return to service, the ship was once again renamed Amundsen. All the vessels are named for people who sailed through Canada's northern waters. The class operates in the Arctic Ocean in the summer, patrolling, icebreaking and research missions.

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ↑ Maginley and Collin, p. 177
  2. 1 2 3 4 Saunders, p. 95
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "CCG Fleet: Vessel Details – Sir William Alexander". Canadian Coast Guard. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Johnson, Oliver (5 January 2018). "Better, Faster, Stronger: The Canadian Coast Guard's new helicopter fleet". Vertical Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Sir William Alexander (8320482)" . Miramar Ship Index . Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Weber, Terry (6 September 2005). "Martin praises Katrina relief efforts". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Tracy, p. 282
  8. ↑ Evanson, Christopher (April 2006). "Canadian Beacon-Operation Unison". Mariners Weather Log. Vol. 50, no. 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "Operation Unison Draws Down" (Press release). Department of National Defence. 18 September 2005. Archived from the original on 29 November 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "Report on the Events Related to the Capsizing and Sinking of L'ACADIEN II off the Coast of Cape Breton – 28 and 29 March 2008". Canadian Coast Guard. 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  11. ↑ Fairclough, Ian (30 September 2014). "Military chopper lands on island after clipping coast guard ship's antenna". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Coast Guard aids ship after fire". The Chronicle Herald. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.

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.