CCGS John G. Diefenbaker

CCGS John G. Diefenbaker is the name for a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that was initially expected to join the fleet in 2017 but will be delayed until 2021–2022. Its namesake, John G. Diefenbaker, was Canada's 13th prime minister. It was Diefenbaker's government that founded the Canadian Coast Guard in 1962.

The ship is to be constructed by Seaspan Marine Corporation as part of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.

Project history
Officially known as the Polar Class Icebreaker Project, the vessel's commissioned name was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a visit to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on 28 August 2008.

In early February 2011, STX Canada Marine was awarded the contract to design the new icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. Although the majority of the design work will take place in the Vancouver offices of STX Canada, the design team will also include the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic. The work should be complete by the end of 2013, after which the design will be provided to Seaspan/Vancouver Shipyards which will build the ship in Vancouver and deliver it to the Canadian Coast Guard in 2017. The ship will have a crew of approximately 100. It is estimated to be capable of carrying fuel and supplies to be self-sufficient for 270 days and be able of making constant progress through 2.5 m of ice.

The $720 million project was announced in the 27 February 2008 federal budget as a replacement for the nation's largest icebreaker and the flagship of the coast guard, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

The term "Polar Class" by the government and media is somewhat confusing as according to the International Association of Classification Societies, all vessels operating in sea ice must be assigned a Polar class, with PC 1 being capable of "Year-round operation in all Polar waters" In addition, the United States Coast Guard refers to its large icebreakers as s.

Minister of Defence Peter MacKay has stated that the icebreaker will be built in Canada. According to the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Halifax Shipyards, located in MacKay's home province can expect some of the construction work. As of the award of the NSPS contracts, the Polar Icebreaker will now be built by Seaspan in British Columbia. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn announced the icebreaker will be homeported in his riding of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. He also stated that the vessel will be larger than the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent which it will be replacing.

On Friday, May 30, 2008, Chuck Strahl the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development wrote about the proposed icebreaker in a letter to the editor of the Windsor Star. Strahl wrote that the icebreaker would help protect the Arctic environment, and Canadian sovereignty. In addition he wrote that the Canadian Rangers would be expanded, and that a new Arctic research centre would be built in Resolute Bay.

Michael Byers, the Canada Research chair in global politics and international law at UBC, stated that "this icebreaker and new money for mapping is something that Arctic experts like myself have been calling for, for some years now. I hope it's real. I hope it's not just an election promise. We need it and we need it right now. But I'm still somewhat skeptical. This has been done before for cynical electoral politics."

The Canadian Coast Guard announced on 28 April 2010 that it is "currently in at the preliminary stages of conceptual design for the polar icebreaker. A “Request for Proposals” to undertake detailed design work will likely be ready mid-2011.  Vessel construction is presently scheduled to begin in 2013 with completion of trials and final acceptance anticipated for late 2017."

In October 2012, a 1:25 scale model of John G. Diefenbaker was being evaluated in an ice tank.

In May 2013 the Vancouver Sun reported that the Harper government acknowledged that both Diefenbaker and the Royal Canadian Navy's new Joint Support Ships faced a scheduling conflict. According to the Vancouver Sun, because both vessel were scheduled to be built in the same facility, the Harper government would have to choose which project had priority, and went first. The Canadian American Strategic Review argued that Diefenbaker better served protecting Canadian sovereignty than the Joint Support Ships, and should therefore get built first. However, on 11 October 2013 the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) Secretariat announced that the Joint Support Ships would be built first, followed by John G. Diefenbaker. This means that the new polar icebreaker is delayed and the Canadian Coast Guard will have to start necessary measures to keep Louis S. St-Laurent in service until 2021–2022.

Preliminary design
In the preliminary design published by STX Canada Marine in 2013, John G. Diefenbaker has an approximate length of 149 m and beam of 28 m. Drawing 10.5 m of water, the icebreaker has a displacement of 23,700 metric tons. She is projected to have a core crew of 60 and accommodation for additional 40 project personnel. Her facilities include laboratories and modular mission spaces, a moon pool, general purpose cargo hold and garage, multiple cranes and a helideck and hangar for two medium-lift helicopters. In addition, she is capable of receiving and refueling larger helicopters.

John G. Diefenbaker will be fitted with a fully integrated diesel-electric propulsion system consisting of five diesel generating sets (2&times;9,000kW, 3&times;8,000kW) divided in two engine rooms and providing power for all shipboard consumers. Two propulsion alternatives are proposed for the preliminary design: a traditional three-shaft configuration with a centerline rudder and a hybrid propulsion system consisting of two wing shafts and an azimuth thruster in the middle for improved maneuverability. Regardless of the propulsion system, the shaft power of the new icebreaker is 36MW or 12MW per shaft, the same as for the Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach. Once built, John G. Diefenbaker will be the most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker in the world. For maneuvering at ports, she will also be fitted with a bow thruster.

The new icebreaker will be able to achieve a maximum speed of over 18 kn in open water and her normal cruising speed is 12 kn. She is designed to break level ice with a thickness of 2.5 m and with a 30 cm snow cover at over 3 kn. Her operational range at 12 knots in Sea State 3 is projected to be over 28600 nmi and she can operate in 2.2 m ice at full power for 25 to 30 days. The logistical endurance of the vessel is 270 days.

John G. Diefenbaker will be classified by Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Her ice class is PC2, the second highest ice class according to the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Polar class rules.