HMCS Preserver (AOR 510)

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HMCS Preserver during New York fleet week 2009
HMCS Preserver during New York fleet week 2009
History
Canada
Name: Preserver
Ordered: early 1960s
Builder: Saint John Shipbuilding
Laid down: 17 October 1967
Launched: 29 May 1969
Commissioned: 7 August 1970[1][2]
Motto:
  • Le Coeur de la Flotte
  • ("The Heart of the Fleet")
Honours and
awards:		 Arabian Sea [3]
Status: Commissioned (soon to be decommissioned)[4]
Badge: Azure a life preserver Argent cabled Or charged on the centre chief point with a maple leaf slipped Gules and within the ring a starburst also Argent.[2]
General characteristics
Class & type: Protecteur-class auxiliary vessel
Displacement: 24,550 t (24,162 long tons) full load
Length: 172 m (564 ft 4 in)
Beam: 23 m (75 ft 6 in)
Draught: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Propulsion:
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 290 officers and crew (men and women) including air detachment when embarked
Armament:
  • 2 × 20mm Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapons System)
  • 6 × M2HB .50 cal (12.7mm) HMGs (Heavy Machine Guns)[5]
Aircraft carried: 3 × CH-124 Sea King helicopters[5]

HMCS Preserver is a Canadian Protecteur-class auxiliary oiler replenishment of the Royal Canadian Navy commissioned in 1970. Built in Saint John, New Brunswick, she underwent a major refit in 2005, after the ship was plagued by electrical problems. With these difficulties unresolved, Preserver was withdrawn from sea-going service in 2014.

Service history

Preserver, the second Protecteur-class replenishment oiler auxiliary, was built by Saint John Shipbuilding in Saint John, New Brunswick. Commissioned at Saint John in 1970, she was assigned to the east coast fleet. She was the second ship to bear the name Preserver. Commissioned 11 July 1942, the first HMCS Preserver served in the Second World War as a Fairmile motor launch base supply ship under the East Coast's 'Newfoundland Force' and was paid off 6 November 1945.

In 1971 she carried the Governor-General of Canada, Roland Michener to Europe, hosting the heads of state of Belgium and Netherlands. In June of that year, the ship took part in the first-ever refueling of a hydrofoil at sea, replenishing HMCS Bras d'Or. As part of Canada's contribution to the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus, Preserver supported Canadian troops through 1974-75.[6] The ship served Canada's fleet in domestic and international exercises in the 1980s and 1990s. In December 1992, she took part in Operation Deliverance, the ill-fated Canadian Forces operation that turned into the Somalia Affair. In 1994, Preserver was part of the multinational force enforcing sanctions on the former Yugoslavia. The vessel returned to that force in May–June 1995. In September 1998, she was part of the Canadian naval response to the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off the coast of Nova Scotia. The ship sailed for Afghanistan in October 2001, as part of Operation Apollo, Canada's initial response to the Global War on Terrorism. She returned from that duty in April 2002.[6]

Preserver underwent a major refit in 2005, after the ship was plagued by electrical problems[further explanation needed]. However, electrical problems remained unresolved for both ships in the class.[7] In 2010 while refueling she spilled several cubic metres of fuel in Halifax harbour.[8] On 4 November 2011, after returning from sea trials, the ship smashed into a dock in Halifax harbour, suffering damage above the waterline on the starboard bow.[9] The commanding officer of the ship was later removed from his post as a result of the crash.[10] The cost of the repairs to the damage sustained during the incident was $497,442.[11]

Retirement

On 19 September 2014, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman of the Royal Canadian Navy announced the retirement of Preserver, along with sister ship HMCS Protecteur and the Iroquois-class destroyers HMCS Iroquois and HMCS Algonquin. In addition to the problems with the electrical system, corrosion problems extending beyond general wear and tear were found on Preserver. The Royal Canadian Navy is looking at other options to fill the supply gap until the arrival of the two Queenston-class auxiliary vessel in 2019 at the earliest.[12]

No longer able to sail at sea, Preserver is providing a fueling service for the Atlantic Fleet at Halifax.[13]

MS Asterix, a container ship is being converted by Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec to an auxiliary replenishment vessel and may become available to the Royal Canadian Navy sometime in 2017.

Departments

  • Air
  • Combat
  • Combat System Engineering
  • Deck
  • Dental
  • Executive
  • Cargo Management
  • Logistics
  • Marine System Engineering
  • Medical
  • 651 Fire Fighters

Current Command Team

Commanding Officer: LCdr Vicky Marier
Executive Officer: LCdr Graham Hill
Coxswain: CPO1 Stephen Murphy

See also

References

  1. ↑ [1] Archived February 8, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 [2] Archived February 16, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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