Polar 8

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Career
Polar 8 design
Operator:	Canadian Coast Guard
Cost:	C$700 million
Fate:	Project cancelled 1990
General characteristics (as designed)
Displacement:	37,000 tons
Length:	167 m (547 ft 11 in)
Beam:	35 m (114 ft 10 in)
Draft:	10 m (32 ft 10 in)–12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Ice class:	+100 A1
Propulsion:	Diesel electric, 101,000 hp
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h)
Range:	6,500 nmi (12,000 km)
Complement:	100+
Aircraft carried:	2 helicopters, probably Sikorsky S-61

Polar 8 was the project name for a proposed class of 167-metre, 101,000-horsepower, diesel-electric powered high endurance icebreakers (polar class PC 1) intended for the Canadian Coast Guard to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic Ocean^[1].

It was proposed to Parliament in 1985 by the new Conservative administration of Brian Mulroney in response to the unauthorized transit through the Northwest Passage by the USCGC Polar Sea, a United States Coast Guard icebreaker.

The Polar 8 project was originally designed to be nuclear-powered, however this was subsequently down-graded to a conventional diesel-electric power plant. The ship would be equipped with two transport helicopters, 2 LST (auxiliary landing vessels), 4 life rafts, and possibly 2 hovercraft.

1 Project cancellation
2 2007 Arctic Patrol Ship project
3 2008 budget announcement
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Project cancellation

The massive 1989 federal budget cuts saw funding for the project reduced and eventually it was cancelled in 1990, only two months before construction was scheduled to begin. The ships were to have been built at Versatile Pacific Shipyards in British Columbia at a cost of $700 million CAD each.

The CCG had delayed critical modernization upgrades that had been planned for its Gulf-class icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent during the late 1980s while the Polar 8 project was underway. Following the Polar 8 project cancellation, CCG funded the modernization overhaul and hull extension of the Louis S. St-Laurent in order to maintain a strategic presence in the Arctic Ocean. CCG has also purchased a former commercial icebreaker, the CCGS Terry Fox, during the late 1980s.

[edit] 2007 Arctic Patrol Ship project

In 2007, the administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that it would purchase a fleet of 8 light icebreaker patrol ships for the Canadian Forces, which would serve in Maritime Command. The Armed (Naval) Heavy Icebreakers or Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships are based on a Norwegian patrol boat design that is used in the Barents Sea. They will have a polar class of PC 5, thus they will be significantly smaller and less capable than what was envisioned in the Polar 8 project, which would have extended the already legendary capabilities of the Canadian Coast Guard's operations in the Arctic Ocean.

[edit] 2008 budget announcement

The following announcement was made in the 2008 federal budget:

The Canadian Coast Guard’s most capable Arctic icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2017. As such, the Government will replace this vessel with a new polar class icebreaker that has greater icebreaking capabilities. Budget 2008 provides $720 million for the procurement of this vessel.[1]

The term "polar class icebreaker" is a confusing misnomer, as all vessels classed by a classification society as being capable of operating in sea ice must have a polar class which can range from PC 1 through PC 7. Since the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent is classed PC 1, it is quite likely that her replacement will be similarly classed.

It should be noted that the original $700 million per vessel pricetag of a Polar 8 icebreaker in 1985, when adjusted for inflation to 2008, would be approximately $1.3 billion, therefore it is quite likely that the replacement for the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will be a much smaller vessel, albeit larger than the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.[2]

For further information, please consult the article entitled CCG Polar Class icebreaker.