CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent

Since her relocation to St. John's in 2009, CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent is no longer a common sight in Halifax, and it has been several years since I last managed to take photos of her at all, let along underway in the harbour. Currently hard at work in the Cabot Strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Louis had to pop into Halifax for fuel and possibly supplies and a crew change. Although disappointed on Monday when she headed straight to the Irving wharf to refuel, we got lucky on Tuesday as her up-harbour transit coincided with both sunrise and our ferry ride.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

Launched in 1966 and commissioned in 1969, the Louis is second in age in the Canadian Coast Guard fleet to only the CCGS Hudson. Originally built with a somewhat inefficient turbo-electric (steam) powerplant driving three shafts, intended to provided necessary experience to CCG crews in the event that Canada subsequently procured a nuclear-powered icebreaker, Louis received an extensive refit in Halifax between 1988 and 1993 that converted her to diesel-electric propulsion and provided her with a new, lengthened, bow with an air bubbler system.

This makes 2019 her 50th anniversary of beginning service in the CCG fleet.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

Louis was showing off with her starboard bubblers (the port ones didn't seem to be active) during her transit (either that or the bow thrusters which I believe she also has). I'd like to think it was solely for my benefit to make for more impressive photos, but they were probably just exercising the system. The bubbler system is used during ice breaking operations to reduce the friction between the hull and the ice being broken.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent meets the future HMC Ships Harry Dewolf and Margaret Brooke for what I believe may be the first time.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent.

Classed as an "Arctic Class 4" or "Heavy Gulf" icebreaker, the Louis S. St. Laurent is currently Canada's largest and heaviest icebreaker (the smaller CCGS Terry Fox, also an "Arctic Class 4" vessel, was taken up in the 1990s from commercial service). She is due to be replaced by the "Polar Class 2" icebreaker CCGS John G. Diefenbaker sometime in the 2020s. Only time will tell if the Louis reaches 60 years of service before being replaced or otherwise taken out of service due to her age and condition.

Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Navy is getting back into the Arctic business. Seen in some of the photos above are the first two Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV), the future HMC Ships Harry Dewolf and Margaret Brooke. These "Polar Class 5" vessels carry a much lighter polar rating than the CCG ships, and will likely be limited to summer service in the Arctic. They will also carry out offshore patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For more background on these ships, check out the March edition of Warships IFR magazine, for my article starting on Page 37 (probably available at Atlantic News or Chapters sometime in early April). The cover appears below.

Coast Guard ship traffic last week

Transits of two different coast guard vessels coincided with my ferry travels this week, one USCG and the other CCG. First, on Tuesday, the veteran fisheries science vessel CCGS Alfred Needler:

CCGS Alfred Needler.

Built in Pictou at Ferguson Industries Limited in 1982, Alfred Needler is showing her age and is probably due for replacement.

CCGS Alfred Needler.

CCGS Alfred Needler.

Photography of early morning ship traffic like this, before sunrise, usually benefits from nice colours in the sky (when it isn't overcast, of course).

Friday saw the arrival of the USCGC Seneca (WMEC 906), a Bear or Famous class medium endurance cutter. Laid down in 1982 and commissioned in 1984, Seneca isn't young either. The entire class of ships has apparently benefited from inherited equipment from retired USN Perry class frigates, to extend their lives into the 2030s. After 35 years of service in the USCG, though, Seneca looks to be in fairly good shape externally, and well taken care of. She went alongside in HMC Dockyard, and will probably stay until at least Monday morning. 

The US and Canadian Coast Guards differ in mission and manning - while the CCG is a civilian organization tasked with missions such as search and rescue, maintenance of aids to navigation, and icebreaking, the USCG is an armed service which does these missions as well as patrol the territorial waters of the United States. 

USCGC Seneca.

USCGC Seneca.

USCGC Seneca.

USCGC Seneca.

USCGC Seneca.

USCGC Seneca.

The first member of this class, USCGC Bear, is named after an earlier Bear - USRC Bear (AG-29).  The earlier Bear (retold here by Andrew Toppan) lived an exciting life, and eventually sank off Nova Scotia in the tow of Irving Birch while on her way to Philadelphia. 

For no better reason than that I haven't shown them here yet, the CCG lifeboat Courtenay Bay also made an appearance, but back in early February. Based in Saint John, Courtenay Bay is a member of the British-designed Arun class of search and rescue boats. 

Built in 1994, these boats are gradually being replaced with the newer, larger, and more capable lifeboats designed by Robert Allen Limited and based on the British Severn class lifeboat. 

A good comparison of the Arun-adapted Cap-aux-Meules (left) and the larger Severn-adapted Baie de Plaisance on the right, taken in the Magdalen Islands in August 2018.

It is my understanding that both of these classes are preferred over the USCG-adapted Cape-class lifeboats introduced in the early 2000s. 

Harbour Traffic this week

I was lucky the last few weeks in that my daily commute on the ferry coincided with some harbour traffic over the course of several days. In all cases this week, the vessels in question were large container ships. 

Maersk Palermo.

Starting with a bit of an outlier on February 25th, I caught Maersk Palermo sneaking into the harbour behind Georges Island. The setting sun was illuminating the clouds of a passing snow squall, hence the nice warm background.

This week, I managed to catch not one, but two, of ACL's new con-ros - Atlantic Sail was arriving on March 5, and Atlantic Sun was departing on March 7.

Atlantic Sail arriving, sailing inside of Georges Island.

When I am lucky, ships sail inside (west of) Georges Island, which lets me get head-on images with either the McNab's Island lighthouse, or just unencumbered horizon, in the background.

Atlantic Sail.

ACL uses the Ceres container terminal in Fairview, and Atlantic Sail therefore sailed right on past Halterm, so I was able to get the latter's container cranes in the background.

Atlantic Sail with the Halifax skyline as a background.

On my walk to work two days later (March 7), I could see another ACL ship passing southbound through the harbour narrows as I came down over the hill to the ferry terminal. This meant I was only able to catch Atlantic Sun's retreating figure when I finally boarded the ferry.

Atlantic Sun and tug escort.

The large container ships usually have a tug escort in the harbour (and I believe it is mandatory within the harbour narrows), for reasons that will soon become apparent. In the case of Atlantic Sun, the ship is tall enough that striking the bridges with its short mast is a concern - and so her mast was struck down for the passage through the narrows. 

Atlantic Bear has cast off, and Atlantic Sun (no relation) heads out to sea east of Georges Island.

Throughout this series of photos, it appears that the mast is rising up, and by the last photo it appears to be fully in the vertical position.

The larger container ships are often big enough to completely obscure Georges Island, giving the impression that the ship is already at sea.

The cold air of winter causes some image distortion over the water, and Atlantic Sun is somewhat fuzzy in the last photo as a result. 

My commute home on March 7 was also well timed, with the container vessel Crete I headed up into the narrows. It was a windy day, and Crete I had two escort tugs, Atlantic Fir forward and Atlantic Bear trailing on a stern line.

Atlantic Fir escorting Crete I.

The low sun is making leaving Atlantic Fir's firmly delineated shadow on the side of the larger ship.

It was at about this point that the strong (and cold) afternoon wind made its presence apparent. Atlantic Bear started straining on the stern line to help Crete I make the turn under the old bridge and stay in the channel.

At one point, Atlantic Bear was sheering quite far to port to help Crete I make the turn.

Having a ship go aground in the narrows could block the shipping channel and presumably have fairly severe economic consequences for the Port of Halifax, so the need for tug escorts is fairly evident.