CCGS Tupper
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Tupper |
| Namesake: | Sir Charles Tupper |
| Owner: | Minister of Fisheries and Oceans |
| Operator: | Canadian Coast Guard |
| Builder: | Marine Industries, Sorel |
| Commissioned: | 1959 (as CGS Tupper) |
| Decommissioned: | 1998 |
| Renamed: | 2000 (as yacht Caruso) |
| Homeport: | CCG Base Dartmouth, Nova Scotia |
| Fate: | Laid up |
| Status: | Sold |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Ice-strengthened Medium Navigational aid tender |
| Tonnage: | 1,358 tons |
| Length: | 62.4 m (204 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 12.8 m (42 ft 0 in) |
| Draft: | 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) |
| Ice class: | 100A1 |
| Installed power: | 2,162 kw |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h) cruising |
| Range: | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) |
| Endurance: | 20 days |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 × helicopter |
The CCGS Tupper was a Canadian Coast Guard Ice-strengthened Navigation aids vessel that served from 1959–1998.[1]
The vessel was commissioned into the Department of Transport's Marine Service as CGS Tupper in 1959 at Marine Industries, Sorel using the prefix "Canadian Government Ship". In 1962 the Marine Service fleet was merged into the newly formed Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and the CGS Tupper was renamed CCGS Tupper.
CCGS Tupper was based at CCG Dartmouth Base (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia), throughout most of her active days . Her sistership Simon Fraser was in the later part of her career also stationed in Dartmouth. Tupper was active in servicing the navigation aids of Atlantic Canada as well as operating in heavy ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence River, and also acted as a harbour cleanup vessel. She occasionally traveled to the north. Earlier in her career she was stationed in Charlottetown, PEI.
Decommissioning
She was decommissioned from active service in 1998 and renamed MV 1998-05. The naming scheme indicates that she was the fifth government vessel decommissioned in 1998. She was used as a training ship at CCG Dartmouth Base until 2000 when she was sold and renamed MV Caruso.
She has been laid up in Halifax Harbour in at least three locations since, including Karlsens Wharf in Halifax, Woodside Atlantic Wharf in Dartmouth, and the Dartmouth Marine Slips. Apparently she is for sale, and may not be traveling to Italy for conversion to a mega-yacht, which was the fate of her sistership Simon Fraser, decommissioned 2001.[2]
Early on the morning of 11 October 2008 a large fire broke out aboard Tupper while she was moored at the Dartmouth Marine Slips.[3] The blaze was deemed suspicious and gutted the upper decks of the vessel. In July 2009, it was discovered that the engine room, forward hold, and the crane machinery room was flooded with about 3 feet of water. In 2011 the hulk was sold.[4]
In July 2014, it was reported that the current owner was having a great deal of difficulty with Government red tape in trying to cut the vessel up for scrap metal.[4]
