The Kingston class consists of 12 coastal defence vessels operated by the Royal Canadian Navy. The class is the name for the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel Project (MCDV). These multi-role vessels were built and launched from the mid- to late-1990s and are crewed by a combination of Naval Reserve and Regular Force personnel. The main mission of the vessels is to train reservists, coastal patrol, minesweeping, law enforcement, pollution surveillance and search and rescue duties. The multi-purpose nature of the vessels led to their mixed construction between commercial and naval standards. The Kingston class is split between the east and west coasts of Canada and regularly deploy overseas to West Africa, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean. Background The Kingston class was the result of the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel Project (MCDV) in the late 1980s. The project came about due to four influences, along with restrictions. The vessels in use by the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve were ageing and needed replacement. At the time, the Maritime Command was using old s, s and s to train reservists, with the vast majority of the ships having begun service in the 1950s and early 1960s. The navy lacked a mine warfare capability. Furthermore, the new s were not capable of inshore and restricted area patrol and finally, the government sought to keep the shipbuilding efforts ongoing, as the frigate program was already well underway. The MCDV project was also the culmination of a series of political promises offered by then Minister of National Defence Gilles Lamontagne. The government sought to move the National Reserve Headquarters from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Quebec City, Quebec as part of their effort to increase French representation in the armed forces. The move was to provide a site where French-Canadians could live and work in their native language. Lamontagne faced opposition within the Forces due to Quebec City being far from the existing naval bases and the waters around it freezing during winter months. Lamontagne promised to replace the ships for naval reserve training in order to move the project forward. The program began in the 1987 National Defence White Paper under the concept of "Total Force". This was intended to mask reductions in the regular force by increasing the capabilities of the reserve forces. This led the navy to add minesweeping and coastal patrol duties to the reserve force's list of duties. Design and description