CCGS Labrador |
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| Career (Canada) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMCS Labrador. CGS Labrador. CCGS Labrador. |
| Namesake: | Labrador, a region of the northeast Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. |
| Owner: | Government of Canada |
| Operator: | Royal Canadian Navy Department of Transport (Canadian Coast Guard) |
| Builder: | Marine Industries Limited, Sorel, Quebec |
| Yard number: | AW 50 |
| Laid down: | 1951 |
| Christened: | 1954 |
| Commissioned: | 08 July 1954. |
| Maiden voyage: | 23 July 1954. |
| In service: | 1954 |
| Out of service: | 1987 |
| Refit: | January 1955 |
| Homeport: | Halifax, NS |
| Identification: | 50 (RN) AW-50 (CCGS) |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap in 1987 |
| Status: | Broken up 1989 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Wind class |
| Type: | twin screw Heavy Icebreaker |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 82 m (269 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in) |
| Draught: | 9 m (29 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | |
| Ice class: | Wind class (Capable of breaking 13 foot ice) or Arctic Class 2-3 |
| Installed power: | 10,000 shp |
| Propulsion: | 6 x 2000 bhp 10-cylinder diesel engines powering 2 x 5000 hp electric propulsion motors. |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h) maximum, 12 knots (22 km/h) cruising |
| Complement: | 224 |
| Armament: | none fitted |
| Aircraft carried: |
2 Bell 47, or 2 Bell HTL-4 single-rotor helicopters, or 1 Piasecki HUP Retriever twin-rotor helicopter. |
CCGS Labrador was a Wind-class icebreaker. First commissioned on 8 July 1954 as Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Labrador (pennant number AW 50) in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Captain (CAPT) O.C.S. "Long Robbie" Robertson, RCN, Commanding. She was transferred to the Department of Transport (DOT) on 22 November 1957, and redesignated the Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Labrador. She was among the DOT fleet assigned to the nascent Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) when that organization was formed in 1962, and further redesignated the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Labrador. Then, Labrador's's illustrious career marked the beginning of the CCG's icebreaker operations which continue to this day. She extensively charted and documented the then-poorly-known Canadian Arctic, and was the first ship to circumnavigate North America in a single voyage.
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Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the Canadian government made limited exploration within the vast Arctic coast it laid claim to, largely because it lacked the capacity to make forays into much of this remote terrain. Labrador was conceived as Canada's first modern, powerful icebreaking vessel, which could help meet national defence needs in the high Arctic but also explore the vast area and its rich resources.
Labrador was built in the Marine Industries LTD yards in Sorel, Quebec between 1949 and 1954, using modified plans from the just-completed Wind-class icebreakers of the United States Coast Guard. She was modified to include then state-of-the-art scientific equipment changing her from a purely military patrol vessel to a self-sufficient explorer—an elaborately equipped floating laboratory, hospital, transport, rescue ship and school. Labrador also trained Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) cadets; with college instructors included in crew. At the time of her commissioning, she was the RCN's first fully diesel-electric vessel. When built Labrador was the worlds largest and most complex icebreaker. She was fitted with Denny Brown gyro stabilisers, and had full bridge control of her diesel engines - six each at 2000 SHP, two each at 5000 SHP. Labrador was equipped with starboard and port heeling tanks with 40,000 gallons per minute transfer capability, which facilitated icebreaking operations. On 10 July 1954 Labrador departed Sorel, Quebec, enroute to her new homeport in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Whilst underway she experienced engine troubles (lowered oil pressure), between Sorel and Quebec City, Quebec. Further difficulty was experienced in the Richilieu river, where she developed steering gear problems which were overcome by expert seamanship. Labrador arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 14 July 1954.
Labrador set sail on her maiden voyage on 23 July 1954 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, bound for the Labrador Sea. Over the next summer she worked her way through Canada's Arctic archipelago from east to west, conducting hydrographic soundings, resupplying RCMP outposts and deploying assorted scientific and geological teams. Her rendezvous with her American sister-ships USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282) and USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283) off the coast of Melville Island on 25 August 1954 marked the first time naval vessels had met in the Arctic from the east and west. During the rendezvous, the crews visited with one-another in good mateship. The three ships surveyed the Beaufort Sea together until the end of September 1954, at which point Labrador headed for the base of Canada's Pacific fleet at Esquimalt, British Columbia. Labrador then became the first large vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. Upon sailing down the west coast of the United States, through the Panama Canal and back to Halifax, Nova Scotia; Labrador also became the first ship to circumnavigate North America in a single voyage.
In January 1955 Labrador underwent refit. The remainder of Labrador's early career involved considerable work on the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) project. From June to September 1955, she led a task group of 14 Canadian and American ships delivering thousands of tons of supplies for Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line)) sites under construction in the Foxe Basin area of the eastern Arctic, and in following years continued to provide icebreaking and operational support.
In 1956, Captain (CAPT) T.C. Pullen RCN, sailed Labrador on an expedition through the Northwest Passage. Labrador sailed west through the Prince of Wales Strait, re-tracing the 1944 route of RCMPV St. Roch, which was commanded by Captain Henry A. Larsen, RCMP(GRC). Labrador then conducted extensive surveys in the areas of Prince of Wales Strait, including; Somerset Island, and Prince Regent Inlet. Labrador used her helicopters to establish triangulation points on the shore for the survey. During this voyage Labrador recovered a large anchor on "Fury Beach" of Somerset Island (Nunavut), which was left there in 1825 by the crew of HMS Fury. The Fury, with HMS Hecla, both commanded by Rear Admiral William Edward Parry, RN, FRS (who then held the rank of Commander, RN); left the anchor, stores, boats, and other useful items there, as Fury was beset and had to be abandoned. The gear was left there for future explorers to use, and because there was no space in Hecala for the equipment. The cache left by Hecala did indeed prove useful to mariners years later. The anchor remained as a landmark for navigators for 136 years. Labrador transported the artifact to Halifax NS, and it was placed in the Maritime Command Museum (1961). In 1972 Fury's anchor was moved to CCG Base Dartmouth Nova Scotia. In 1981 the anchor was removed to the Canadian Coast Guard College at Sydney Nova Scotia, in 1991 the relic was "spiffied-up", and remains a popular exhibit.
Labrador was transferred to civilian control in 1957, and operated within the Department of Transport (DOT) during the four years before the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) was formally established. She continued to serve the CCG for 29 years, before being sold for scrap in 1987.
1. CANADA AVIATION MUSEUM AIRCRAFT. PIASECKI (VERTOL) HUP-3 (RETRIEVER). ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY (RCN). http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/assets/pdf/e_PiaseckiHUP-3.pdf
2. Charles D. "Doug" Maginley. The Canadian Coast Guard 1962-2002. St Catherines, ON. Vanwell Publishing, LTD. 2003. ISBN 1-55125-092-6.
3. My Royal Canadian Navy. http://myrcn.ca/18labrador/labrador.html
4. Icebreakers in the North. University of Calgary. http://www.ucalgary.ca/arcticexpedition/icebreakers/hmcs-labrador
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