Canadian Coast Guard Ship ''Griffon'' is a

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...

(CCG) high endurance multi-tasked vessel and light

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to sma ...

stationed in Prescott,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. Completed in 1970, ''Griffon'' provides icebreaking services along eastern

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

and upriver along the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Design and description

A Type 1100

buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

, ''Griffon'' displaces fully loaded, with a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

of 2,212 and a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, pro ...

of 786 tons. The ship is long overall and with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of and a draught of .Saunders, p. 96 The ship is propelled by two shafts powered by four Fairbanks-Morse 38D8-1/8 8 cylinder diesel-electric generators that generate sustained driving two motors creating . This gives the ship a maximum speed of and a range of at . The ship is rated as Arctic Class 2, and has an endurance of 90 days. The ship has a crew of 25. The ship has a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopt ...

to land

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

s, but unlike larger Canadian Coast Guard vessels she has no

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

. The ship is capable of operating either the

MBB Bo 105 The Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105 is a light, twin-engine, multi-purpose helicopter developed by Bölkow of Ottobrunn, West Germany. It was the first light twin-engine helicopter in the world, and the first rotorcraft that could perform ae ...

Bell 206B The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter progr ...

helicopters.

History

Named after the sailing vessel ''Le Griffon'', the ship's

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in B ...

was laid by

Davie Shipbuilding Davie Shipbuilding is a historic shipbuilding company located in Lauzon, Quebec, Canada. The facility is now operating as Chantier Davie Canada Inc. and is the oldest continually operating shipbuilder in North America. History The Davie shipyard ...

Lauzon, Quebec Lauzon is a former city in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Lévis. Founded in 1867 as a village it became a town in 1910, Lauzon had a population of about 14,500 when it merged with Lévis in 1989. The the ...

. The ship was launched on 26 September 1969 and completed in April 1970. ''Griffon'' entered service in December 1970 as the last of the first group of diesel-electric vessels to enter service with the Canadian Coast Guard.Maginley and Collin, p. 174 The ship was deployed to the Great Lakes region, however has sailed as far as

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

. In 1976, the Norwegian merchant vessel ''King Star'' engines failed on the Canadian side of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

. With gale force winds blowing the ship was unable to anchor due to frozen

hawser Hawser () is a nautical term for a thick cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship. A hawser passes through a hawsehole, also known as a cat hole, located on the hawse.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition ...

. ''Griffon'' was dispatch and towed the Norwegian merchant vessel to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

. In February 1977, a late winter Canadian

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

convoy of three

tankers Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanke ...

was created to deliver much-needed fuel oil and chemical supplies to sites on

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh w ...

. ''Griffon'' was deployed to break ice for the convoy. However, the ship was not equal to the task as the ice proved thicker than ''Griffon'' was designed to break. While ''en route'' to

Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie is a cross-border region of Canada and the United States located on St. Marys River, which drains Lake Superior into Lake Huron. Founded as a single settlement in 1668, Sault Ste. Marie was divided in 1817 by the establishment of ...

and

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its populatio ...

, ''Griffon'' got stuck in the ice at the mouth of

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

. This then required the intervention of the US icebreaker , which took eight hours to free the Canadian ships. In March 1987, the ship was one of six icebreakers deployed from both US and Canadian coast guards in an effort to break the ice damming the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron in ...

, which drains

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Straits of Ma ...

into

Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...

. The ice had grown thick enough that the river had been closed to all commercial maritime traffic until the operation was completed. In December 1989, ''Griffon'' was deployed to the Great Lakes to aid several vessels that became stuck in ice following an unusually extreme cold period. On 18 March 1991, while operating off

Long Point, Ontario Long Point is a sand spit and medium-sized hamlet on the north shore of Lake Erie, part of Norfolk County in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is about long and is about across at its widest point. Lake Erie lies to the south of Long Poi ...

, in Lake Erie, ''Griffon'' collided with the fishing trawler ''Captain K'' of

Port Dover, Ontario Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is the site of the recurring Friday the 13th motorcycle rally. Prior to the War of 1812, this community ...

. The fishing vessel sank almost immediately, and the three crew aboard died. Their bodies were recovered. In the

Transportation Safety Board of Canada The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB, french: Bureau de la sécurité des transports du Canada, BST), officially the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board (french: link=no, Bureau canadien d'enquête sur les ...

review of the incident, it was found that both vessels were at fault for the collision. In 2004, ''Griffon'' and were ordered to Lake Erie to search for the remains of a Cessna plane carrying 10 people that crashed into the lake. The search took place off

Pelee Island Pelee may refer to: * Île Pelée, an island off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France * Pelee, Ontario, an island in Lake Erie, Canada * Point Pelee National Park, a park in Ontario, Canada *Mount Pelée, a volcano in Martinique *Peleus, who may be referre ...

as the plane was bound for

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

. On 13 February 2009, the vessel broke ice at the mouth of the Grand River that had caused a flood in the small towns of

Dunnville Dunnville is an unincorporated community located near the mouth of the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada near the historic Talbot Trail. It was formerly an incorporated town encompassing the surrounding area with a total popula ...

and

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada *Cayuga, Ontario United States *Cayuga, Illinois ...

. In February 2015, ''Griffon'', working with ''Samuel Risley'', freed the US merchant vessel which had been trapped in ice on Lake Erie for five days near

Conneaut, Ohio Conneaut ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of Conneaut Creek northeast of Cleveland. The population was 12,841 at the 2010 Census. Conneaut is located at the far northeastern corner of the state. ...

. On 15 July 2015, the Government of Canada announced that a contract was awarded to Heddle Marine Service Incorporated for $2.7 million to perform a refit for ''Griffon''. On 26 August 2020, the Government of Canada announced that a contract was awarded to Heddle Marine Service Incorporated for $4 million to perform a refit for ''Griffon''.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

CCGS Griffon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffon 1969 ships Icebreakers of the Canadian Coast Guard Ships built in Quebec