The Ville-class harbour tugboats are a class of

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s employed by the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack subma ...

. Canada operated a fleet of 17-ton tugs, built during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

which were also called the Ville class. The current vessels are named after those vessels. There is confusion that the current Ville-class design was based on the British Pup-class tugs. The original 17-ton version was based on that design, however the new Villes are an independent design.

Design

The Ville class were designed by the Canadian naval architecture company

Robert Allan Ltd Robert Allan Ltd. is Canada's oldest privately owned consulting Naval Architectural firm, established in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1930. Their experience includes designs for vessels of almost all types, from small fishing boats to ocean- ...

as harbour tugs. They have a low-slung shape that is ideal for tight maneuvering and nudging exercises on larger ships. Their kort-nozzle allows for a greater

bollard pull Bollard pull is a conventional measure of the pulling (or towing) power of a watercraft. It is defined as the force (in tonnes force, or kilonewtons (kN)) exerted by a vessel under full power, on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line, commo ...

however it loses its pull at anything over and loses speed in turns. The Ville class are long with a beam of and a draught of .

Propulsion

Members of the class built on the east coast were given one Caterpillar 3406

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 ...

that provides and Ville-class tugs built on the west coast were supplied with one Caterpillar D343 diesel engine rated at . This power is directed towards a steerable kort nozzle which gives the class a speed of .

Towing

The Ville class has a max

of 7.5 tons, denoting them as small tugboats. The bollard pull measures the amount of pulling or pushing power a ship has.

Ships

Other auxiliary ships

The Royal Canadian Navy operates five other, larger tugboats, the 140-ton , and five 250-ton tugs, and one 140-ton s. The larger tugs are also split between both coasts. On 29 April 2019 the Government of Canada announced

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Isle-aux-Coudres L'Isle-aux-Coudres is a municipality in Quebec, Canada, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality in the Charlevoix area of the Capitale-Nationale region. It is located on and contiguous with Coudres Island (''Île aux Coudres''), located in ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

was awarded the contract to build four tow-tug/rescue vessels to replace both the Fire-class fireboats and Glen-class tugs with delivery expected from 2021 to 2023. The new tugs will be staffed by civilian crews and be restricted to the naval base/yard only.

References

Harbor vessels of Canada Auxiliary ships of the Royal Canadian Navy Tugboats of the Royal Canadian Navy * Auxiliary tugboat classes {{Canada-mil-ship-stub