The ''Burnaby'' class is a

ship class A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, is a nuclear aircraft carrier (ship type) of the (ship class). In the course ...

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

in the

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferr ...

' fleet, built between 1964 and 1965. There are two ships in this class: MV ''Queen of Burnaby'' and . Both are propelled by controllable-pitch propellers. Both were built with two Mirrlees National KVSSM, V-16, 4 stroke-cycle,

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s, each producing at 320 revolutions per minute.

History

Design

The two ships were originally part of a group of seven ''Victoria''-class ships constructed between 1962 and 1965. These seven 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 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, ''Burnaby'' and ''Nanaimo'', which had not had the midsection addition, were removed from the ''Victoria''-class designation to become ''Burnaby''-class vessels.

Service

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. After the demise of the Victoria Line, the vessel was purchased by

Clipper Navigation Clipper Navigation, Inc., is a subsidiary of Förde Reederei Seetouristik based in Seattle Washington, that provides multiple transportation and vacation packages—many of which are offered under the name Clipper Vacations—including hotel an ...

, 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''.

Retirement

''Queen of Burnaby'' was retired in May 2017, and the ''Queen of Nanaimo'' was retired in July 2017. They were replaced by three 145-car Salish-class ferries. The larger , which had a major refit of her passenger areas completed in 2009, is expected to see another ten to fifteen years of service and is the sole survivor of the original seven ships.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnaby Class Ferry Ships built in Victoria, British Columbia Ferry classes