List of equipment of the Canadian Coast Guard

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) maintains a fleet of sea- and lake-going vessels, hovercraft, and aircraft.

The variety of equipment allows the CCG to perform its mandated functions of navaids and sea-going transportation management, search and rescue, marine pollution response and the support of other Canadian federal authorities.

As of October, 2022, it manages and operates a fleet of 123[1][2] vessels in support of: CCG aids to navigation; icebreaking; environmental response; and search and rescue (SAR).

The ships, ranging from search and rescue lifeboats to icebreakers, are tasked to various programs, often concurrently, and are crewed by 2,400 skilled seagoing personnel.

Throughout the 1960s–1990s, the CCG painted primary SAR vessels in a different colour scheme: bright mustard yellow superstructure and maple leaf red hull, meant to distinguish them from navaid tenders and icebreakers, and also to improve their visibility on the open ocean in breaking waves.

Minor vessels such as patrol boats and lifeboats carried the prefix "Canadian Coast Guard Cutter", abbreviated CCGC in the past, however, this is no longer the case.

Rotary wing aircraft are used as ice reconnaissance platforms in the winter (operating from icebreakers and shore bases), while flying maintenance personnel and supplies for servicing aids to navigation year-round.

The CCG operates two Transport Canada aircraft under contract: an Ottawa-based de Havilland Dash 8, which does pollution control patrols over the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, and parts of the east coast; and a Vancouver-based de Havilland Twin Otter, which flies fisheries and pollution control missions along the west coast.

In addition to the federal government aircraft, a private company Provincial Aerospace Ltd., is contracted to operate four specially modified and equipped King Air 200 aircraft in support of the National Aerial Surveillance Program (jointly funded by Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada), from Halifax, St. John's and Comox, British Columbia.

Unlike fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters can often operate directly out of CCG bases, as is the case in Quebec City and Parry Sound.

It was expected that four of these vessels are to be tasked with marine security duties in Central and Arctic Region and will have an operating area in the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway.

In October 2020, the third and final ship of the class, CCGS John Cabot, was handed over to the Coast Guard completing the project.

The ship will replace CCGS Hudson which was Canada's major oceanographic research vessel for 40 years but suffered a "catastrophic motor failure" in 2021 ending her service.

[65] The February 2008 federal budget designated $720 million for the Polar Class Icebreaker Project[66][67] to replace CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent in FY 2017.

[68] This vessel was originally scheduled to start construction at the Seaspan ULC yard in Vancouver in sequence after two new Protecteur-class joint support ships (JSS) were built for the Royal Canadian Navy.

[69] In February 2020, the federal government requested that all interested Canadian shipyards to outline their capacity to potentially construct the polar icebreaker with the objective of securing service entry by December 2029.

[2] In June 2012, the first vessel, CCGS Vladykov, which had been built at Meridien Maritime in Matane, Quebec, arrived at its homeport of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

[80] The agreement to incorporate Davie as a third shipyard within the NSS was finally signed in April 2023 permitting negotiations for the future construction of the icebreakers to begin.

[82] Up to 16 Multi Purpose Vessels are now scheduled to be built at the Seaspan yard after the second of the two joint support ships are completed.

This project is a new addition to the National Shipbuilding Strategy which is designed to provide greater stability to the build program at Seaspan.

[85] Two Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) are planned for the Coast Guard utilizing the same design as the vessels currently being constructed for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

[86] In 2022 it was reported that the two vessels were expected to be delivered in 2026 and 2027 respectively and that the cost would be significantly greater than originally anticipated, totalling about $1.5 billion for two ships.

The funding announced in Budget 2009 also provided for the procurement of 98 small boats and barges for the CCG, as well as the life extension or repair of 40 of its larger vessels.

[95] The ship traveled from the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan to CCG Base Prescott where it was converted into a light icebreaker by 2022.