Canada Sells Vandalized Coast Guard Ship for Scrap

vandalized coast guard vessel submerged — Shipyard workers discovered the vessel partially submerged in an incident later ruled to be vandalism (Canadian Coast Guard)

The Canadian Coast Guard has finally contracted with a metal recycler to dispose of its patrol ship CCGS Corporal McLaren six years after vandals damaged the ship. The Financial Post newspaper located the awarding of the contract on the government’s website bringing to a close a strange interlude in the history of the service.

The notice spotted by the newspaper reports the contract was awarded under an amendment to a contract first awarded to the Marine Recycling Corporation of Port Colborne, Ontario. Awarded in October 2024, the contract is valued at C$412,467.25 (US$285,525) stipulating a “requirement to recycle, through ship breaking, the CCGS Corporal McLaren M.M.V. The contractor will be required to prepare the vessel for transportation, transport the vessel to the approved site and subsequently break and recycle the vessel in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner.”

The vessel had laid at various Nova Scotia shipyards for the past six years while the Coast Guard worked to determine its fate and the Canadian government pursued a lawsuit related to the November 2018 incident in which the ship was damaged.

Built in 2013, the vessel was commissioned as a patrol boat operating from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was 140 feet (43 meters) in length and operated with a complement of nine with an endurance of up to two weeks to maintain Canada’s maritime border and maritime safety. Officially entering the fleet in June 2014, the government said the patrol would be used to support the Department of Fisheries and Oceans conservation and protection programs.

The vessel was sent to the Canadian Maritime Engineering shipyard in November 2018 for an overhaul. Workers arriving at the shipyard on November 18 found the vessel out of its cradle and lying partially submerged. An investigation into how it had become dislodged from the cradle quickly discovered guidelines appeared to be cut and the Halifax Police later declared it an act of vandalism.

The shipyard did not have a security fence and the closed-circuit cameras proved unreliable. Global News later reported that the police believed the vandals used power tools to cut the two main wires. According to the news outlet “the remaining anchors snapped, with power cables being torn from the vessel as it slid into the water.”

The police were unable to identify the perpetrators but believed vandals entered the yard and cut the cables.

The vessel remained submerged for a week before it was salvaged. Subsequent reports set the estimated repair costs at C$11 million (US$7.6 million). The survey showed the electrical systems had all been damaged and would require replacement. A contract was initially set for the remediation of mold and contamination from oil on the interior of the vessel.

After being patched up it was moved to different shipyards. However, in 2023 the National Post reported the Coast Guard had paid C$520,000 (approximately US$340,000) to the same Nova Scotia shipyard company it was now suing to store the “dead” ship. The determination was finally made in 2024 that the cost of the repairs was too high and the vessel should be disposed of by recycling.