HMCS GOOSE BAY (707)
HMCS GOOSE BAY
The History of HMCS GOOSE BAY
HMCS Goose Bay (MM 707) was the eighth Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel and the first, and only, Royal Canadian Navy ship named for Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.
Built by Halifax Shipyards, she was laid down on 22 February 1997, launched on 4 September 1997, and commissioned in her namesake community on 26 July 1998. Homeported at CFB Halifax and crewed largely by naval reservists, she was designed for coastal patrol, mine countermeasures, training, fisheries and sovereignty work, pollution response, and search and rescue.
Early service mixed local and alliance work. In 1999 she joined a pollution-response exercise off Maine with Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard units. The next year she took part in Exercise Unified Spirit. In April 2001 she and HMCS Moncton became the first Kingston-class ships to cross the North Atlantic, sailing to NATO mine-warfare exercise Blue Game off Norway and Denmark. In 2002 she and HMCS Summerside went north on Operation Narwhal Ranger, the first Canadian naval visit to Arctic waters in thirteen years. Later domestic tasking included fishery patrols, support to the Canadian Rangers, security for the 2004 U.S. presidential visit to Halifax, and search-and-rescue. In 2005 she and HMCS Shawinigan represented Canada at D-Day 60th-anniversary events in France. She returned to her namesake port in 2008.
The Bofors 40mm guns were removed from Canada's Kingston-class coastal defence vessel (MCDV) fleet in 2014, leaving the vessels relying on two 12.7mm (0.50 caliber) Browning M2 heavy machine guns for self-defense.
She became a regular on Operation CARIBBE counter-narcotics patrols; in 2015, working with Shawinigan and a U.S. Navy frigate, she helped intercept more than a tonne of cocaine. She deployed repeatedly on Operation Nanook in the Arctic (2010, 2017, 2021, 2022), took part in NATO exercises such as Joint Warrior, Trident Venture and Cutlass Fury, made goodwill tours of the Great Lakes, and joined Exercise Tradewinds in the Caribbean. In 2022 she supported Hurricane Fiona relief in the Maritimes. She also deployed on Operation Projection to West Africa.
After 27 years of service, Goose Bay was paid off at Halifax on 3 October 2025 with several of her sisters as the Navy retired most of the Kingston class.
HMCS GOOSE BAY Statistical Data
- Pendant: 707
- Type: Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel
- Class: Kingston
- Displacement: 970 tonnes
- Length: 55.31 m / 181.5 ft
- Width: 11.3 m / 37 ft
- Draught: 3.4 m / 11 ft
- Speed: 15 kts
- Compliment: 31-36 Officers and Crew
- Arms: 1 - 40mm Bofors (removed in 2014), 2 - 12.7 mm (.50 cal) machine gun
- Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax, NS
- Keel Laid: 22-Feb-97
- Date Launched: 04-Sep-97
- Date Commissioned: 26-Jul-98
- Paid off: 03-Oct-25
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HMCS Goose Bay