CCGS Amundsen

CCGS Amundsen is a T1200 Class Medium Arctic icebreaker

Icebreaker

An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...

and Arctic research vessel

Research vessel

A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...

operated by the Canadian Coast Guard

Canadian Coast Guard

The Canadian Coast Guard is the coast guard of Canada. It is a federal agency responsible for providing maritime search and rescue , aids to navigation, marine pollution response, marine radio, and icebreaking...

CCGS Sir John Franklin

The vessel was built at Burrard Dry Dock

Burrard Dry Dock

Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia . Together with the neighboring North Van Ship Repair yard and the Yarrows Ltd...

, North Vancouver

North Vancouver, British Columbia

There are two municipalities in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, that use the name North Vancouver. These are:*The City of North Vancouver...

and commissioned into the Canadian Coast Guard

Canadian Coast Guard

as CCGS Sir John Franklin in 1979, in honour of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

.

A 1200-class Arctic icebreaker, she worked out of CCG Base Dartmouth and CCG Base Quebec City for most of the 1980s and 1990s, being tasked to winter icebreaking operations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence River and off Newfoundland.

During the summer season, Sir John Franklin was often tasked to support the annual Arctic Summer Sealift operation for escorting cargo ships to remote port communities in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Decommissioning

Following the 1995 transfer of the Canadian Coast Guard from the Department of Transport to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, CCGS Sir John Franklin was deemed surplus to the fleet in 1996.

That summer, she was contracted to Newfoundland-based shipping company Canship for use as an accommodations vessel during exploration work at a coastal nickel deposit at Voisey's Bay

Voisey's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador

Voisey's Bay Mine is a nickel mine in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, near the bay of the same name.- Nickel deposit :A large nickel deposit was discovered in hills along the western shore of the bay in September 1993 by Archean Inc., a prospecting firm hired by Diamond Fields...

in northern Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

.

She was subsequently decommissioned from the CCG in 2000 and placed in non-operational reserve.
CCGS Amundsen was christened CCGS Franklin in 1979 and renamed CCGS Sir John Franklin in 1981.

CCGS Sir John Franklin was given new life in August 2003 after a consortium of Canadian universities and research centres, in partnership with the federal government, received funding for a dedicated Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

research vessel.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation

Canada Foundation for Innovation

Created by the Government of Canada in 1997, the Canada Foundation for Innovation strives to build our nation’s capacity to undertake world-class research and technology development to benefit Canadians...

funded the conversion of the Sir John Franklin at a shipyard in Les Mechins, Quebec

Les Méchins, Quebec

Les Méchins is a municipality in Quebec....

which saw part of the vessel's storage holds transformed into laboratory space. The refit also included the addition of a moon pool

Moon pool

A moon pool is a feature of marine drilling platforms, drillships and diving support vessels, some marine research and underwater exploration or research vessels, and underwater habitats, in which it is also known as a wet porch...

, which enables scientists to lower scientific instruments from inside the hull without cutting a hole in the ice.

The vessel was recommissioned into the Canadian Coast Guard

Canadian Coast Guard

as CCGS Amundsen in honour of Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....

.

As part of the agreement with the educational and research institutions, the vessel is crewed by the Canadian Coast Guard which uses the ship in icebreaking service in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the winter months, after which she is free for research assignments from May–December.

The vessel will also be on the back of the new Canadian 50 Dollar polymer banknote

Polymer banknote

Polymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia , Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and The University of Melbourne and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene ...

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