| Career (Canada) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Cantiere Navale Apuania, Marine-Carrara, Italy |
| Launched: | 1965 |
| Christened: | Aspa Quarto |
| Acquired: | mid 1970s |
| Commissioned: | 1978 |
| Decommissioned: | 1997 |
| In service: | 1978-1997 |
| Out of service: | 1997 |
| Renamed: | Cormorant |
| Struck: | 1997 |
| Notes: | Carried the Pisces IV submersible or the SDL-1 submersible. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,350 tonnes (2,310 long tons) |
| Length: | 74.68 m (245 ft) |
| Beam: | 11.89 m (39 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.18 m (17 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel electric, 3 diesels @ 950 bhp (710 kW) each, 1 shaft, 2,100 shp (1,600 kW), |
| Speed: | 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 65 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
various search and wreck location sonars, sidescan |
HMCS Cormorant (ASL 20) was a diving support vessel that served in the Canadian Forces. She was equipped with either Pisces IV submersible or the SDL-1 submersible.
The vessel was built as the Italian-owned stern trawler Aspa Quarto. She was purchased in 1975 and commissioned into Maritime Command, becoming the second Canadian naval unit to bear this name.
| Career (Canada) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Birdland Boat Works. Midland, Ontario |
| Laid down: | 1997 |
| Launched: | 1956 |
| Commissioned: | 1956 |
| Decommissioned: | 1963 |
| In service: | 1956-63 |
| Out of service: | 1963 |
| Struck: | 1963 |
| Fate: | To be used as an under water diving wreck |
| Notes: | sold as mission ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Complement: | 65 |
HMCS Comorant (781) was a Bird-class patrol vessel built by Birdland Boat Works. Midland, Ontario in 1956 and served until 1963. It was sold to a religious mission, but the ship never sailed to the final destination.
She was decommissioned in 1997 and sold to United States owners for diving operations, although she has remained docked in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia alongside HMCS Fraser (DDH 233).
The Cormorant was purchased at auction by Neil Hjelle in September 2009 to be refit and used for research in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The ship's bell of HMCS Cormorant is currently on loan to a Navy League Cadet Corps in British Columbia. The Christening Bells Project at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum includes information from the ship's bell of HMCS Cormorant, which was used for baptism of babies onboard ship.[1]