CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent
Encyclopedia
CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent is a 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...
Heavy 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...
.
Named after the twelfth Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, The Right Honourable
The Right Honourable
The Right Honourable is an honorific prefix that is traditionally applied to certain people in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Anglophone Caribbean and other Commonwealth Realms, and occasionally elsewhere...
Louis St. Laurent
Louis St. Laurent
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
, PC
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
CC
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
LLD DCL
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
LLL
Bachelor of Civil Law
Bachelor of Civil Law is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree...
BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
. The vessel is classed a "Heavy Arctic Icebreaker" and is the largest icebreaker and flagship of the CCG. It carries a polar class
Polar class
Polar class refers to the ice class assigned to a ship by a classification society. A Polar class ship refers to a ship for which a Polar class has been assigned....
of PC-1.
Built in 1969 by Canadian Vickers Ltd. in Montreal, Quebec, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent underwent an extensive and costly modernization at Halifax Shipyard Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
between 1988-1993 which saw her hull lengthened as well as new propulsion and navigation equipment installed.
The modernization program was controversial as the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
had initially proposed building a class of mega icebreakers (the Polar 8 Project) for promoting Canadian sovereignty in territorial waters claimed by Canada; the had made an unauthorized transit of Canada's Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
in 1985 early in Mulroney's administration, provoking a strong nationalist out-cry across the country. However, budget cuts in the late 1980s saw proposed expansions of the coast guard and armed forces scrapped. In compensation to the coast guard, the government opted to modernize the largest icebreaker in its fleet, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.
She was based at CCG Base Dartmouth in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...
for a large majority of her career, but has recently been transferred to St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador. The vessel's current operation tempo consists of summer voyages to Canada's Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
where she supports the annual Arctic sealift
Sealift
Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics and refers to the use of cargo ships for the deployment of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies...
to various coastal communities and carries out multi-disciplinary scientific expeditions. During the winter months, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent sometimes operates in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to aid ships in transiting to Montreal, Quebec, although she usually only serves this assignment during particularly heavy ice years. On 22 August 1994 Louis S. St-Laurent and USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11) became the first North American surface vessels to reach the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
.
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
The National broadcast from the Louis S. St-Laurent in a special series focused on climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
.
The vessel was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2000 however a refit extended the decommissioning date to 2017. In the February 26, 2008 federal budget, the Government of Canada announced it was funding a $721 million "Polar Class Icebreaker" (named CCGS John G. Diefenbaker) as a replacement vessel for CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.
CGS St. John's
Vessels at this base:- CCGS Pierre RadissonCCGS Pierre RadissonThe CCGS Pierre Radisson is a T1200 Class Medium Arctic and Gulf icebreaker of the Canadian Coast Guard.She is designated as a "Medium Gulf Icebreaker. Her winter home port is Quebec City at the mouth of the St Lawrence River in the Gulf of St...
- icebreaker - CCGS Leonard J. CowleyCCGS Leonard J. CowleyCCGS Leonard J. Cowley is a high endurance all weather, offshore ice strengthened multi patrol vessel of the Canadian Coast Guard.-Layout:...
- multi role - CCGS CygnusCCGS CygnusCanadian Coast Guard Ship Cygnus is a high endurance all weather, offshore ice strengthened multi patrol vessel of the Canadian Coast Guard....
- patrol vessel - CCGS Henry LarsenCCGS Henry LarsenCCGS Henry Larsen is a Canadian Coast Guard T1200 Class Medium Arctic icebreaker serving in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region and based in St John's, Newfoundland....
- icebreaker - CCGS George R. PearkesCCGS George R. PearkesThe CCGS George R. Pearkes is a light icebreaker and buoy support vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard.George R. Pearkes is a High Endurance Multi-Tasked Vessel Light Icebreaker and Buoy tender. She was built in 1986 by Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited of Vancouver, BCGeorge Pearkes' home port is St...
- icebreaker - CCGS Ann HarveyCCGS Ann HarveyCCGS 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....
- CCGS Sir Wilfred GrenfellCCGS Sir Wilfred GrenfellCCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell is a Canadian Coast Guard vessel based in St. John's, Newfoundland.An Offshore Ice Strength Multi Patrol Vessel, the vessel, is named after the medical missionary in Labrador, Sir Wilfred Grenfell....
- CCGS Terry FoxCCGS Terry FoxCCGS Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard Heavy Gulf icebreaker.Named after the late cancer research activist Terry Fox, the vessel was built in 1983 as MV Terry Fox by Burrard Yarrows Corporation in Vancouver, British Columbia. Terry Fox, along with her sister ship MV Arctic Kalvik supported Gulf...
- CCGS Wilfred TemplemanCCGS Wilfred TemplemanThe CCGS Wilfred Templeman is a Canadian Coast Guard research vessel.Built in 1981, the Wilfred Templeman is a Offshore Fishery Science Vessel that patrols the coast off Newfoundland and Labrador....