CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent is a Canadian Coast Guard Heavy Arctic Icebreaker.

Louis S. St-Laurent's home port is St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and is stationed there with other CGS ships.

Named after the twelfth Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Louis St. Laurent, PC CC QC LLD DCL LLL BA. The vessel is classed a "Heavy Arctic Icebreaker" and is the largest icebreaker and flagship of the CCG.

Operations
She is based at CCG Base St. John's in St. John's, Newfoundland. The vessel's current operation tempo consists of summer voyages to Canada's Arctic where she supports the annual Arctic sealift to various coastal communities and carries out multi-disciplinary scientific expeditions. During the winter months, Louis S. St-Laurent sometimes operates in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to aid ships in transiting to Montreal, Quebec, although she usually only serves this assignment during particularly heavy ice years.

History
Louis S. St. Laurent was built in 1969 by Canadian Vickers Limited in Montreal, Quebec.

From 8 through 22 September 1969 Louis St-Laurent sailed on the SS Manhattan expedition in the Northwest Pasage. She was assisted by CCGS John A. Macdonald, USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282) and USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278)

During 1976 Louis S. St. Laurent Captain Paul .M. Fournier In Command, made a partial transit of the Northwest Passage traveling from east to west, through Lancaster Sound, Peel Sound, and Victoria Strait.

In 1979 Louis S St-Laurent,Captain George Burdock In Command, made a full east to west transit of the Northwest Passage. She assisted the CCGS Franklin, and circumnavigated North America.

Louis S. St-Laurent underwent an extensive and costly modernization at Halifax Shipyard Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia between 1988-1993 which saw her hull lengthened as well as new propulsion and navigation equipment installed.

The modernization program was controversial as the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had initially proposed building a class of mega icebreakers (the Polar 8 Project) for promoting Canadian sovereignty in territorial waters claimed by Canada; the USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11) had made an unauthorized transit of Canada's Northwest Passage in 1985 early in Mulroney's administration, provoking a strong nationalist out-cry across the country. However, budget cuts in the late 1980s saw proposed expansions of the coast guard and armed forces scrapped. In compensation to the coast guard, the government opted to modernize the largest icebreaker in its fleet, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

On 22 August 1994 Louis S. St-Laurent and USCGC Polar Sea became the first North American surface vessels to reach the North Pole.

In the summer of 2006, CBC TV's The National broadcast from Louis S. St-Laurent in a special series focused on climate change.

The vessel was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2000 however a refit extended the decommissioning date to 2017. In the February 26, 2008 federal budget, the Government of Canada announced it was funding a $721 million "Polar Class Icebreaker" (named John G. Diefenbaker) as a replacement vessel for Louis S. St-Laurent.