Vandalised ex-Canadian Coast Guard patrol vessel sold for scrapping

The Canadian Coast Guard has selected a ship recycling specialist to undertake the scrapping and disposal of a patrol boat that had been the target of a vandalism incident more than six years prior.

Marine Recycling Corporation of Ontario has been awarded the contract worth over CA$412,000 (US$287,000) to scrap the 2013-built Hero-class patrol vessel CCGS Corporal McLaren MMV.

The vessel suffered significant damage when it sank at its moorings at the facilities of Canadian Maritime Engineering in Nova Scotia on November 16, 2018.

The vessel was in the middle of a scheduled overhaul when the incident occurred.

An investigation by police in Halifax revealed that someone had intentionally cut the cradle cable and safety chain keeping Corporal McLaren MMV in place at the yard. This then caused the vessel to slip free and slide back into the water.

Corporal McLaren MMV had sustained only minor hull damage as a result of the incident. However, the onboard electronics and other equipment reportedly suffered considerably greater damage after the interior had become flooded with saltwater for a week before the vessel was refloated.

Investigators claim the poor security at the yard allowed the perpetrators to slip into the facility unnoticed and cut the cradle cable and safety chain keeping the vessel in place.

The next six years saw the vessel being transferred between various shipyards in Nova Scotia as the coast guard deliberated on whether to return it to operational service. However, plans to rebuild the vessel were ultimately abandoned, and the Canadian government began seeking out interested parties to break up and dispose of the vessel.

The vessel was named after Canadian Army Corporal Mark Robert McLaren, who was killed in action in Afghanistan on December 5, 2008. Corporal McLaren was posthumously awarded the Medal of Military Valour for his actions on that date.