HMCS Cedarwood (AGSC 539)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Canada
| |
| Name: | Cedarwood |
| Builder: | Smith and Rhuland |
| Commissioned: | 22 September 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 July 1958 |
| Identification: | AGSC 539 |
| Fate: | sold for mercantile use 1958 |
| Badge: | Or, parted in base wavy azure, a cedar tree eradicated, trunk and branches vert, roots of the first in base[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Survey ship |
| Length: | 166 ft (51 m) |
| Beam: | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Speed: | 11 kn (20.37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 23 |
HMCS Cedarwood was a surveying vessel in the Royal Canadian Navy. She was a wooden sailing ship that was built as MV J.E. Kinney by Smith and Rhuland in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and used in the harbours of the east coast of Canada by the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps during the Second World War. Following the war the vessel was purchased by the Royal Canadian Navy.[2]
Service history
MV J.E. Kinney and RCASC General Schmidlin
Launched at Lunenburg in 1941 by Smith and Rhuland as MV J.E. Kinney, she was taken over by the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps during the Second World War and renamed General Schmidlin. She was used to resupply Canadian Army detachments scattered throughout the Maritimes.[3]
Royal Canadian Navy
General Schmidlin's purchase by the Royal Canadian Navy was requested by the Pacific Oceanographic Group who wished to use her as an oceanographic survey vessel to replace HMCS Ekholi, which was considered too small for their needs. The purchase was approved and she was commissioned on 22 September 1948.[2]
Cedarwood was based in Esquimalt. During her service with the Royal Canadian Navy she was used to travel into the Arctic Ocean and test equipment. She also did bathythermographic surveys along with general biology, oceanography and acoustic surveys. During her time in the Bering Sea, she laid submarine cables and carried scientists of both Canada and the United States on survey missions, mapping a large amount of the British Columbia coastline.[2]
On 22 September 1950, Cedarwood was heavily damaged by a storm while in the Hecate Strait. The repairs took a month to fix. She continued in her service until she was paid off on 9 July 1958.[2]
After her naval service she was converted as a replica of the paddle steamer Beaver and then had other dummy fittings added to play the role of the steamer Commodore during the British Columbia centennial celebrations. She was sold in 1959.[3]
Commanders
References
Citations
- ↑ Arbuckle, p. 23
- 1 2 3 4 Isabel Campbell. "Making a Difference in Arctic Naval Research: HMCS Cedarwood, 1948 to 1956," (PDF). Canadian Naval Review. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- 1 2 Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John (1981). The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Toronto: Collins.
References
- Arbuckle, J. Graeme (1987). Badges of the Canadian Navy. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing. ISBN 0-920852-49-1.
- HMCS Cedarwood
- Campbell, Isabel. "Making a Difference in Arctic Naval Research: HMCS Cedarwood, 1948 to 1956," Canadian Naval Review. Dalhousie University Press. Vol. 8 No. 1 (Spring 2012) Retrieved July 21, 2013