CCGS George R. Pearkes
Introduction '''CCGS ''George R. Pearkes''''' is a  light icebreaker and buoy support vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard. Named for Victoria Cross-winner George Pearkes, the ship entered service in 1986.Initially assigned to Pacific region, the vessel transferred to the Quebec region. ''George R. Pearkes'' was assigned to her current deployment, the Newfoundland and Labrador region in 2004.
Design and description ''George R. Pearkes'' displaces  fully loaded with a  and a . The ship is  long overall with a beam of  and a draught of .The vessel is powered by is propelled by two fixed-pitch propellers and bow thrusters powered by three Alco 251F diesel-electric engines creating  and three Canadian GE generators producing 6 megawatts of AC power driving two Canadian GE motors creating . The ship is also equipped with one Caterpillar 3306 emergency generator. This gives the ship a maximum speed of . Capable of carrying  of diesel fuel, ''George R. Pearkes'' has a maximum range of  at a cruising speed of  and can stay at sea for up to 150 days. The ship is certified as Arctic Class 2.The icebreaker is equipped with one Racal Decca Bridgemaster navigational radar operating on the I band. The vessel is equipped with a speedcrane capable of lifting up to  and a  cargo hold. The ship carries a self-propelled barge. ''George R. Pearkes'' has a flight deck and hangar which originally housed light helicopters of the MBB Bo 105 or Bell 206L types, but in the 2010s, the Bell 429 GlobalRanger and Bell 412EPI were acquired by the Canadian Coast Guard to replace the older helicopters. The ship has a complement of 25, with 10 officers and 15 crew. ''George R. Pearkes'' has 26 additional berths.
Service history The ship was constructed by Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited at their yard in North Vancouver, British Columbia with the yard number 555. ''George R. Pearkes'' was launched on 30 November 1985 and entered service on 17 April 1986, the first active vessel in the class. The ship is registered in Ottawa, Ontario, and homeported at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.CCGS ''George. R. Pearkes'' and  in St. John's, August 2008The vessel was initially assigned to the Pacific region and then transferred to the Quebec region. In 2004, ''George R. Pearkes'' deployed to the Newfoundland and Labrador region, based at St. John's. The vessel is used for buoy placement, retrieval and monitoring, scientific research, construction programs, search and rescue, icebreaking, and pollution control. In December 2013, the ship was sent to recover oil from the sunken bulk carrier  which had sunk in 1985 off the Change Islands.On 20 August 2015, the ship rescued four people and their boat after their engine had failed in Frobisher Bay,  from Iqaluit. Responding to the distress call on 19 August, drift ice threatened the rescue and the recovery of the boat and its occupants only took place the following morning on 20 August. ''George R. Pearkes'' returned them to Iqaluit. In March 2016, Canadian Coast Guard trials with the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 took place aboard ''George R. Pearkes'' off the Atlantic coast of Canada.
References ===Notes======Citations======Sources===* *
External links