CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

CCGS ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' () is a Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) heavy icebreaker. ''Louis S. St-Laurent''s home port is St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the largest icebreaker and flagship of the CCG.

The ship is named after Louis St. Laurent, who served as the 12th prime minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957.

Operations

''Louis S. St-Laurent'' is based at CCG Base St. John's in St. John's, Newfoundland. The vessel's current operation tempo consists of summer voyages to Canada's Arctic where she supports the annual Arctic sealift to various coastal communities and carries out multi-disciplinary scientific expeditions. During the winter months, ''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.

Since entering service in 1969, the icebreaker has been compelled to go through several refits in order to keep her in service. In November 2020 the federal government announced that it would endeavour to keep the vessel in service through the 2020s. Refits were planned to take place at the Davie Shipyard over three 5-month dry-docking periods in 2022, 2024 and 2027 respectively, with an alongside work period in 2023.

History

''Louis S. St. Laurent'' was launched 3 December 1966 by Canadian Vickers Limited at Montreal, Quebec, and commissioned in October 1969.

From 8–22 September 1969 ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' sailed on the expedition in the Northwest Passage. She was assisted by and the United States Coast Guard vessels and .

During 1976 ''Louis S. St-Laurent'', Captain Paul M. Fournier in command, made a partial transit of the Northwest Passage travelling from east to west, through Lancaster Sound, Peel Sound, and Victoria Strait.

In 1979 ''Louis S. St-Laurent'', Captain George Burdock in command, made a full east to west transit of the Northwest Passage. She assisted CCGS ''Franklin'', and circumnavigated North America.

''Louis S. St-Laurent'' underwent an extensive and costly modernization at Halifax Shipyard Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, between 1988 and 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 had initially proposed building a class of mega icebreakers (the Polar 8 Project) for promoting Canadian sovereignty in territorial waters claimed by Canada; had made an unauthorized transit of Canada's Northwest Passage 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, ''Louis S. St-Laurent''.

On 22 August 1994 ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' and USCGC ''Polar Sea'' became the first North American surface vessels to reach the North Pole.

In the summer of 2006, CBC TV's '' The National'' broadcast from ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' in a special series focused on climate change.

The vessel was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2000 however a refit extended the decommissioning date to 2017. In the 26 February 2008 federal budget, the Government of Canada announced it was funding a $721 million "Polar Class Icebreaker" (later named ) as a replacement vessel for ''Louis S. St-Laurent''.
However, this mooted replacement vessel has been continually delayed compelling the life of ''Louis St. Laurent'' to be significantly extended.

In 2014, with , ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' performed a cruise to the Arctic to map the undersea continental shelf. The two vessels were slowed by thick ice.

At 1:30 a.m. on 2 April 2015, ''Louis S. St-Laurent'', arrived near Burgeo, Newfoundland and Labrador, to take the damaged Canadian Coast Guard vessel under tow. ''Ann Harvey'', which had run aground near Burgeo, was already being towed by the lifeboat CCGS ''W.G. George'' when the icebreaker arrived. ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' took over the tow and brought ''Ann Harvey'' into Connoire Bay where Royal Canadian Navy divers could inspect the ship.

In 2016 ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' was deployed to the Arctic carrying an international team of scientists mapping the sea floor. The first leg of the mission was a voyage to Norway mapping the Atlantic. This was to be followed by a 47-day leg to the North Pole. Travelling with the Swedish icebreaker ''Oden'', ''Louis S. St-Laurent''s mission to the Arctic was the last of three performed in order to define Canada's claim to the Arctic continental shelf. While mapping during transit to the north, the scientists aboard the ship discovered a chain of 25–30 undersea volcanoes off the coast of Greenland.

On 22 March 2019, and ''Louis S. St-Laurent'' were dispatched to aid the tanker which had damaged a rudder in heavy ice and lost steering southwest of Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. ''Captain Molly Kool'' towed the vessel further out to sea to await the arrival of a tugboat, which would take the tanker to Sydney, Nova Scotia, for repairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis S. St-Laurent, CCGS
Icebreakers of the Canadian Coast Guard
Ships built in Montreal
1966 ships