CCGS ''John P. Tully''CCGS stands for Canadian Coast Guard Ship is an offshore oceanographic science vessel in the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) 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 Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

operating out of Pacific Region at CGS Base Patricia Bay in

Sidney, British Columbia Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. It is one of the thirteen Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,583. Sidney ...

. Prior to 1995, the ship was assigned to

Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; ) is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland ...

. The vessel entered service in June 1985 with the

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; ) is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland ...

on the

West Coast of Canada The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the pr ...

. In 1995, the fleets of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard were merged under Canadian Coast Guard command and ''John P. Tully'' became a Coast Guard vessel.

Design and description

''John P. Tully'' is

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

long between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

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 *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . The ship has a fully loaded displacement of with a and a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 638. The ship has two Deutz 628 geared

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s powering three

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

C18 generators driving one controllable-pitch

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

and stern and bow thrusters creating . This gives the vessel a maximum speed of . The ship can carry of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

and has a range of at . The research vessel is equipped with

Sperry Sperry may refer to: Places In the United States: * Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County * Sperry, Missouri *Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County * Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana * Sperry Glaci ...

Bridgemaster navigational radar operating on the X and S-bands. ''John P. Tully'' has a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on 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 helicopters ...

situated between the

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

and the forward

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. The ship can operate one light helicopter of 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 ...

or Bell 206L types from the flight deck but is not equipped with a

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 ...

for storage. The ship has a complement of 21, comprising 7 officers and 14 crew. There are also 20 spare berths aboard the vessel.

Operational history

''John P. Tully'' was constructed by Bel-Air Shipyard in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

with the yard number 302 and was launched in December 1984. The ship was completed and entered service with the

in June 1985. In 1995 the fleets of Fisheries and Oceans and the

were merged under Canadian Coast Guard command and ''John P. Tully'' was given the prefix CCGS. The research vessel was named for the

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

John P. Tully and is based at the

Institute of Ocean Sciences The Institute of Ocean Sciences is operated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is one of the largest marine research centres in Canada. It is located on Patricia Bay and the former British Columbia Highway 17A in Sidney, British Columbia on Va ...

. ''John P. Tully'' has been employed on joint research voyages with a variety of United States agencies, including the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

. On 25 October 2001, the research vessel responded to a distress call from the fishing vessel ''Kella-Lee'' north of Cape Scott,

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

. Due to a violent storm with winds reaching , the Coast Guard vessel could not reach the site until the next morning. ''John P. Tully'' recovered two survivors from the four crew. In October 2016, after the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

''Nathan E. Stewart'' sank near

Bella Bella, British Columbia Bella Bella, also known as Waglisla, is the home of the Heiltsuk and is an unincorporated community and Indian reserve community located within Bella Bella Indian Reserve No. 1 on the east coast of Campbell Island (British Columbia), Campbell ...

and began to leak oil, ''John P. Tully'' and were deployed to help contain the spill.

References

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Citations

Sources