Burnaby-class ferry

MV Queen of Burnaby
Class overview
Name: Burnaby class
Builders: Victoria Machinery Depot Victoria, BC
Operators: BC Ferries
Built: 1964–1965
Completed: 2
Active: 1

The Burnaby class are a class of two ferries in the BC Ferries' fleet, built between 1964 and 1965. They are MV Queen of Burnaby and MV Queen of Nanaimo.

Both are propelled by controllable-pitch propellers. Both were built with two Mirrlees National KVSSM, V-16, 4 stroke-cycle, diesel engines, each producing 3,000 brake horsepower (2,200 kW) at 320 revolutions per minute.

A total of seven Victoria-class ships were constructed between 1962 and 1965, and they were soon modified to increase vehicle capacity. The first change was the installation of platform decks or ramps; the second modification saw the ships sliced in half vertically across the beam for the insertion of a 26-metre (85 ft) midsection, which dramatically increased the car carrying capacity of the seven ships.

Later, five of the seven ships (excluding Queen of Burnaby and Queen of Nanaimo) were cut horizontally from bow to stern and lifted to have a new vehicle deck inserted. As a result, the two ships left without the new car deck were removed from the Victoria-class designation to become Burnaby-class vessels.

In 1994, Queen of Burnaby was temporarily leased to another provincial crown corporation called Victoria Line. The vessel was renamed Royal Victorian, had a $4.7 million refit, and operated a once-daily summer service between Victoria and Seattle.[1] After the demise of the Victoria Line, the vessel was purchased by Clipper Navigation, which operates the Victoria Clipper passenger-only service between Victoria and Seattle. The vessel was then renamed and repainted to become Princess Marguerite III, operating on the Victoria to Seattle route. In 2000, after Clipper Navigation also decided to end service on the route, the vessel was returned to the BC Ferries fleet under her original name, Queen of Burnaby.[2]

Queen of Burnaby was retired in May 2017, with the Queen of Nanaimo set to be retired in September 2017, to be replaced by two 145-car Salish-class ferries.[3] The larger Queen of New Westminster, which had a major refit of her passenger areas completed in 2009, is expected to see another ten to fifteen years of service and will be the sole survivor of the original seven ships.

References

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