CCGS Sir William Alexander
CCGS Sir William Alexander near Halifax Harbour
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History | |
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Canada | |
Name | Sir William Alexander |
Namesake | Sir William Alexander |
Operator | Canadian Coast Guard |
Port of registry | Ottawa |
Builder | Sorel |
Yard number | 451 |
Launched | 23 October 1986 |
Commissioned | 13 February 1987 |
In service | 1987–present |
Refit | 1998 |
Homeport | CCG Base Dartmouth (Maritime Region) |
Identification |
|
Status | in active service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Martha L. Black-class light icebreaker and buoy tender |
Tonnage | |
Displacement | 4,662 long tons (4,737 t) full load |
Length | 83 m (272 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 16.2 m (53 ft 2 in) |
Draft | 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in) |
Ice class | CASPPR Arctic Class 2 |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
Range | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 13.7 knots (25.4 km/h) |
Endurance | 120 days |
Complement | 26 |
Aircraft carried | Originally 1 × Bell 429 GlobalRanger or Bell 412 EPI |
Aviation facilities | Helicopter flight deck and hangar |
CCGS Sir William Alexander
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
The icebreaker is equipped with one
Operational history
The ship was constructed by
Hurricane Katrina relief mission
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
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]
References
Notes
- Canadian Coast Guard Ship
Citations
- ^ Maginley and Collin, p. 177
- ^ a b c d Saunders, p. 95
- ^ a b c d e "CCG Fleet: Vessel Details – Sir William Alexander". Canadian Coast Guard. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "Sir William Alexander (8320482)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ Weber, Terry (6 September 2005). "Martin praises Katrina relief efforts". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
- ^ Tracy, p. 282
- ^ Evanson, Christopher (April 2006). "Canadian Beacon-Operation Unison". Mariners Weather Log. Vol. 50, no. 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Fairclough, Ian (30 September 2014). "Military chopper lands on island after clipping coast guard ship's antenna". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ "Coast Guard aids ship after fire". The Chronicle Herald. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
Sources
- Maginley, Charles D.; Collin, Bernard (2001). The Ships of Canada's Marine Services. St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-55125-070-5.
- Saunders, Stephen, ed. (2004). Jane's Fighting Ships 2004–2005. Alexandria, Virginia: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0-7106-2623-1.
- Tracy, Nicholas (2012). A Two-Edged Sword: The Navy as an Instrument of Canadian Foreign Policy. Montreal, Quebec and Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queens University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-4051-4.