CCGS ''Cygnus'' is a fisheries patrol vessel of the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

. The ship entered service in 1981 and is used to monitor the fisheries along the Atlantic coast of Canada. During the

Turbot War The Turbot War (known in Spain as Guerra del Fletán; french: Guerre du flétan) was an international fishing dispute and bloodless conflict between Canada and Spain and their respective supporters. On 9 March 1995, Canadian officials from the ...

, ''Cygnus'' was among the Coast Guard vessels sent to monitor the European fishing fleet on the

Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

Design and description

''Cygnus'' is

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

with a beam of and a draught of . The ship has a fully loaded displacement of , a gross tonnage (GT) of 1,234 and a . The ship is propelled by two Polar Nohab F212V 12-cylinder geared

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 driving one controllable pitch propeller and

bow thruster Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...

s creating . This gives the vessel a maximum speed of . The vessel is equipped with one Caterpillar 3304 emergency generator. ''Cygnus'' carries of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and ...

giving the vessel a range of at and can stay at sea for up to 25 days. The vessel is equipped with a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

located over the stern of the ship and can operate one light helicopter of the MBB Bo 105 or

Bell 206L A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

types. Unlike sister ship , ''Cygnus'' was not built with a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

. The patrol vessel is armed with two

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s. The ship has a

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

of 19, with 8 officers and 11 crew. The vessel has 23 spare berths.

Service history

The ship was constructed by

Marystown Shipyard Marystown is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a population of around 5,000. Situated 306 km from the province's capital, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, it is on the Burin Peninsula. Until ...

at their yard in

Marystown Marystown is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a population of around 5,000. Situated 306 km from the province's capital, St. John's, it is on the Burin Peninsula. Until the early 1990s, its economy was larg ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

with the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

30. Named for the constellation in the northern hemisphere, the patrol vessel was commissioned in May 1981. ''Cygnus'' is registered in Ottawa,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

and was initially assigned to the Coast Guard base at Dartmouth,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The vessel later transferred to her current homeport at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. ''Cygnus'' is used primarily for patrolling the Atlantic Canada fisheries and coast, especially the

of Newfoundland. In 1994, Canada and the European Union got into a dispute over fishing rights in Canadian waters with the two parties disagreeing over which party could set limits on catches. In June, during the height of what became known as the

, ''Cygnus'' was among the Coast Guard vessels deployed to monitor the European fishing fleet on the Grand Banks. In 2014, the patrol vessel underwent a $1.2 million refit by St. John's Dockyard in St. John's focusing on renewing the steel of the ship. On 9 February 2018, ''Cygnus'' returned to St. John's to undergo emergency repairs after the ship began taking on water through a leak around the propeller shaft. The ship had been on a fishery patrol east of Newfoundland when the leak was noticed. ''Cygnus'' was escorted to port by the offshore supply vessel ''Atlantic Kingfisher'' and the Coast Guard ship . In February 2022, ''Cygnus'' was dispatched to search for survivors of the sunken fishing trawler ''Villa de Pitanxo'' off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. There were three survivors and a further nine bodies recovered with twelve people missing before the search was called off due to inclement weather.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cygnus, CCGS Cape Roger-class patrol vessels Ships built in Newfoundland and Labrador 1981 ships Patrol vessels of the Canadian Coast Guard