Mansbridge in the Arctic
It is a week for the CG in the news apparently.
Peter Mansbridge is enroute to Resolute to the CCGS Louis S St Laurent. He will be broadcasting from the vessel as she transits to Coppermine. Keep an eye out for the National.
If you have never been to the Arctic or on an icebreaker, it will be worth watching. The Louis is currently the largest ship in the CG fleet as she has been for the last 40 years. She was originally designed as a steam turbine ship, construction started in 1965 and she was launched in 1969.
In the late 80’s the vessel was extensively modernized with a diesel electric plant installed and a new design icebreaking bow. In 2000 new, more efficient propellers were installed.
I checked the CG website and was disappointed to see they have absolutely no details on the ship’s general constuction and propulsion posted.
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What do you want to know about the Louis S. St-Laurent? She’s over 300 feet long and some 130 steps from the bridge to the tank-top. She is powered by 5 MAK V-16 4 Stroke diesel engines turning AC generators. She has 3 stainless steel propellers turned by General Electric DC motors. Total horsepower (before thermal losses, transmission and propeller efficiencey are taken into account) is approximatley 40,000 … she has about 30,000 HP at the props. I’ve been told (but haven’t seen) that the ship is capable of breaking ice of up to 30 feet thick! It would be slow going, but I believe it. I sailed on her a few years back and only saw ice 5-10 feet thick. This ship is truley all engine room! Main engines # 1 & 2 are located in the upper forward engine room with the 2 main boilers and 2 of the 3 ship service generators (which are in-line 6 cylinder MAK). Next deck down is the “Limbo-room” which has an average height of about 5’6″ so watch your head. Here you will find the sewage plant, fueling manifold, fuel oil purifiers and the ships 2 fresh water generators (Alfa-Laval and Nirex). Moving aft through one of the Louis’ 11 water-tight doors you find yourself in the after Engine room with M/E’s 3,4 & 5 as well as S/S # 3 and the L/O purifiers and M/G Set. Through another water-tight door you find yourself in the forward motor room which houses the port and starboard electric propulsion motors. Aft again and through yet another water-tight door you fins yourself in the after motor room which houses the center propulsion motor. Above this deck is the engineers flat/workshop which has refrigeration equipment, layth, drill press, milling machine etc … Steering gear is 4 ram electro hydraulic and is quite robust. Sterntubes are water lubricated and original lignum vitae has been replaced with sinthetic alternative. The Louis has a bubbler system that dumps compressed air out from under the bow to lubricate the hull and reduce drag during ice breaking. This also doubles as a bow thruster. The ship sails with a crew of about 45 but has 100 bunks. Engineering wise she has a Chief, Senior, First, Second & Third Engineer, Electrician, Electrican’s assistant, engine room technician and a few oilers kicking around. Lots of hands to keep this over-run and under-maintained vessel working.
Anyway, leave another comment if you have anymore questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. Martin’s engineering page has always been good to me, thanks for everything!
CG Engineer!
A very comprehensive description! Thank you.