Service history
Vigilant, described as the "first modern warship to be built in Canada", was acquired for patrol service on the Great Lakes to replace the aging CGS Petrel. The vessel was constructed by Polson Iron Works Limited at their shipyard in Toronto and was launched on 11 September 1904, and completed later in the year.
Vigilant was sometimes described as a "third class cruiser".Vigilant was credited at the time by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Louis-Philippe Brodeur as being the nucleus of the future Royal Canadian Navy. Upon entering service, the crew of the vessel wore naval-style uniforms, a first for Canada. The vessel entered service in 1904 as a fisheries patrol vessel. On 7 June 1905 Vigilant collided with the 12 gross register tons (GRT) fishing steamer Grace M.six miles (9.7 km) east of Middle Island in Lake Erie. Grace M sank and two of fishing vessel's crew drowned in the incident. [8] Vigilant remained on fisheries patrol until 1924, when the vessel was sold by the Department of Marine and Fisheries.
In 1926 Vigilant was chartered by the Customs Preventive Service for East Coast patrols to counter smuggling. Between 1927 and 1929, Vigilant patrolled Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast. The vessel was later converted to a barge and was scrapped in 1956 by Steel Co. in Hamilton, Ontario.
HMCS Galiano was a Canadian government fisheries patrol vessel pressed into service with the Royal Canadian Navy in 1917 during the First World War. Used for patrol and assessment duties on the West Coast of Canada, Galiano disappeared in a storm in October 1918 with 39 crew and one civilian, making her Canada's only warship lost during the First World War.
Gauss was a ship built in Germany specially for polar exploration, named after the mathematician and physical scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss. Purchased by Canada in 1904, the vessel was renamed CGS Arctic. As Arctic, the vessel made annual trips to the Canadian Arctic until 1925. The ship's fate is disputed among the sources, but all claim that by the mid-1920s, the vessel was out of service.
HMCS Arleux was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Entering service in 1918 near the end of the First World War, the vessel had a short career with the RCN, being transferred to the Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1922. Arleux was used for fisheries patrol off the east coast of Canada until 1939, when the ship was reacquired by the RCN at the onset of the Second World War. Used as a gate vessel during the war and designated Gate Vessel 16, the ship was sold for mercantile purposes following the war. The ship foundered in 1948 off the coast of Nova Scotia.
HMCS Armentières was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Armentières entered service in 1918 near the end of the First World War on the Atlantic coast of Canada. Following the war, the ship was transferred to the Department of Marine and Fisheries for a short period before reverting to RCN service in 1923 on the Pacific coast of Canada. The ship sank in 1925, was raised and re-entered service, remaining with the fleet through the Second World War as an examination vessel at Prince Rupert, British Columbia. After the end of the war, the vessel entered mercantile service becoming A.G. Garrish in 1947, later renamed Arctic Rover in 1958, Laforce in 1962 and Polaris in 1973. The ship's registry was deleted in 1991.
HMCS Givenchy was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War on the east coast. Following the war, the ship was transferred to the Department of Marine and Fisheries for use as a fisheries patrol vessel on the west coast. Givenchy reentered service with the RCN in 1939 as an accommodation ship during the Second World War and was recommissioned from 1940 to 1943. After the war the ship was sold and broken up in the United States in 1952.
CGS Canada was a patrol vessel, sometimes referred to as a cruiser, in the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada, an enforcement agency that was part of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. Canada is considered to be the nucleus of the Royal Canadian Navy for her role in training Canadian naval officers and asserting Canadian sovereignty. Canada saw service in the First World War and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Canada during that conflict. Following the war, the vessel was sold for commercial use and renamed MV Queen of Nassau. On the verge of being sold again, the ship sank in Straits of Florida on 2 July 1926.
HMCS Gulnare was a Canadian government ship that served as a patrol boat and guard vessel for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Acquired by the Canadian government in 1902, Gulnare was used for fisheries patrol and hydrographic survey duties until 1914. Following the war, Gulnare was used to intercept smugglers. Returned to government service in 1920, the vessel was converted to a lightship in 1925 and sold in 1937 to private interests. The vessel was broken up for scrap in the late 1940s.
HMCS Laurentian was a commissioned patrol vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy that served in the First World War and postwar until 1919. Prior to Canadian naval service, the ship was used by the Canada Customs Preventative Service. Following the war, Laurentian was transferred to the Department of Marine and Fisheries and used as a buoy tender and lighthouse supply vessel until taken out of service in 1946 and broken up for scrap in 1947.
HMCS Malaspina was a Canadian government fisheries patrol vessel pressed into service with the Royal Canadian Navy in 1917 and again in 1939 and which therefore saw service during the First World War and Second World War. The vessel was constructed in 1913 in Dublin, Ireland and patrolled the fisheries along the West Coast of Canada.
HMCS Constance was a commissioned minesweeper of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Originally built as a fisheries cruiser for the Department of Marine and Fisheries, upon completion she was transferred to the Department of Customs, and was used by the Customs Preventive Service. Constance spent the entire war as a patrol and examination vessel on the East Coast of Canada. Following the war, the vessel was sold in 1924.
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 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 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.
CGS Margaret was the first vessel to be built specifically for the Canadian Customs Preventive Service. Delivered in 1914, she was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and served as HMCS Margaret during the First World War. Following the war, Margaret was returned to the Customs Preventive Service spending most of the 1920s intercepting smugglers during American Prohibition. In 1932 the ship was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The ship was sold shortly thereafter, and was subsequently acquired by the Brazilian Navy and renamed Rio Branco, utilized as a hydrographic survey vessel. Rio Branco was discarded in 1958.
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.
CGS Acadia was a fisheries patrol vessel of the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries from 1885 to 1909. The ship began life as the yacht Yosemite, constructed in the United States in 1880. After being acquired in 1885 by Canada and renamed Acadia, the ship served in the Atlantic fisheries, enforcing fisheries regulations in Canadian waters. The ship was taken out of service in 1909 and sold for scrap and Acadia's registry was closed in 1910.
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.
CGS Petrel was a Canadian patrol vessel used primarily for fisheries protection on the upper Great Lakes from 1892 to 1904. In 1904, Petrel was sent to the East Coast of Canada for fisheries protection duties there. In 1912, Petrel was fitted for minesweeping and in 1914, was taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy for use as an examination vessel during the First World War. Following the war, Petrel was discarded.
CGS Kestrel was employed as a Government of Canada Fisheries Protection vessel on the Pacific Coast. Completed in 1899 by Alfred Wallace shipyards in Vancouver, British Columbia she entered into service in 1903 and remained in government service after the creation of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910 until she was sold in 1912. The vessel was broken up in 1931.
Canada