The Canadian Coast Guard has taken delivery of a new search and rescue (SAR) boat built by shipyard Chantier Naval Forillon based in Quebec.
CCGS Baie des Chaleurs is named after Chaleurs Bay, the portion of the Gulf of St Lawrence that sits between Quebec and New Brunswick. The newbuild belongs to a series of 20 new SAR boats named after geographical bays across Canada, hence their alternate designation of Bay-class.
The aluminium-hulled SAR boat was built to a design by naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) in compliance to Lloyd’s Register’s Special Service Craft rules. The RAL design is itself an improved variant of the Severn-class lifeboats operated by the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Compared to the earlier RNLI boats, Baie des Chaleurs and its sisters each have a larger size, a greater range, and specific design elements that will allow operation even under extreme weather conditions, particularly along Canada’s Atlantic coast. The boat therefore has self-righting ability and is durable enough to withstand 12-metre seas and Beaufort Force 12 conditions.
Baie des Chaleurs has an LOA of 19 metres, a moulded beam of 6.3 metres, a draught of 1.67 metres, a gross tonnage of 75, and space for four crewmembers. Two MTU 10V2000 M94 diesel engines that each produce 1,200 kW drive fixed-pitch propellers to deliver a maximum speed of 25 knots.
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