HMCS PRESERVER

Description
Azure a life preserver Argent cabled Or charged on the
centre chief point with a maple leaf slipped Gules and
within the ring a starburst also Argent.

Significance
The life preserver is a rebus on the ship's name and
with the red maple leaf gains Canadian identification.
The starburst in the centre symbolizes the flare that is
automatically ignited when the life preserver touches
the water.

Motto
The heart of the fleet

Colours
Blue and White

Affiliation
HMCS Preserver has been granted an affiliation with
the 1st Canadian Division. This affiliation cannot be
transferred to new construction.

Battle Honours
None

Lineage
First of Name
Base Supply Ship.
Commissioned 11 July 1942
Paid off 6 November 1945

Second of Name
Operational support ship, Protecteur Class.
Commissioned 7 August 1970

Operational History
The Second World War
Preserver served as a Fairmile motor launch base
supply ship off of the East Coast with 'Newfoundland
Force'

HMCS PRESERVER - A Short History

Lineage

The first HMCS PRESERVER served with the Royal Canandian Navy during the Second World War. Built by Marine Industries Limited in Sorel Qc, the ship was commisioned 11 July 1942, paid off 6 November 1945, sold off to the Peruvian Navy in 1947, serving in that country until 1961 and then being sold for scrap.

The first PRESERVER was employed as a depot ship supporting the Fairmile motor launch flotillas operating off the Canada's East Coast during the Battle of the Atlantic. The depot ship provided the services required to maintain, supply and refuel the motor launches assigned to  patrol coastal waters and escort local convoys against the threat of enemy submarines. The COmmanding Officer of PRESERVER controlled the operations of such flotilas, operating out of the bays and inlets of Newfoundlannd and Nova Scotia.

Building/Commissioning

Today's PRESERVER was built by Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and commissioned in St. John, NB on 7 August 1970. She has now been in commission for forty of the one hundreed years of the Canadian Navy.

PRESERVER is the third of three operational support ships built in Canada for the Canadian Navy. The first, HMCS PROVIDER, was commissioned in 1963 and, until the construction of PROTECTEUR in 1969, extensive studies had been carried out on the transfer of stores and fuel at sea, optimum stowage and handling capabilities. The PROVIDER studies resulted in significant changes in the design of PROTECTEUR and her sister ship PRESERVER.

The PROTECTEUR-class ships are AORs, Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment vessels. Such ships are designed to carry large amounts of fuel, provisions, and dry stores for the support of naval operations far away from port. Replenishment oilers are also equipped with more extensive medical and dental facilities than destroyers and frigates can provide. Such combination of capabilities provides Canada with the ability to deploy naval forces for extensive periods, off our coasts or overseas, for the defence of Canada at home and the support of our foreign policy abroad.

Cold War Service

Following her commissioning in 1970, PRESERVER spent the next 20 years supporting Canadian ships and those of our NATO allies conducting operations in the Atlantic. Such operations were primarily focused on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), seeking to deter Soviet forces and contributing to the larger stratagey of containment until the Warsaw Pact eventually collapsed and the Soviet Union disintigrated 1991.

 The New World  "Disorder"

Hopes for a New World Order rapidly gave way to a New World "Disorder" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Canadian Navy was called upon to change focus from the North Atlantic, sending ships and task groups to fight instability and re-establish security around the world. PRESERVER was at the heart of this increased tempo of operations, responding to crisis after crisis:

• As early as 1988, she deployed on OP EXCURSION to provide support to Canadian citizens stranded in Haiti in the wake of millitary coup in that failed state.

• While then Halifax-based PROTECTEUR deployed in August 1990 for op FRICTION as resault of the iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the entire ship's company of PRESERVER was flown into theatre that December to take over the ship, complete the operation, and sail PROTECTEUR back to Halifax in the spring of 1991.

• PRESERVER delivered badly needed supplies and provide reconstruction assistance in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, which had devastated Florida in August 1992.

• PRESERVER deployed later that same year for OP DELIVERANCE, the Canadian contribution to the UN mission tasked with creating a protected environment for conducting humanitarian operations in the southern half of Somalia until the spring of 1993.

• In the fall of 1993, PRESERVER returned to the coasts of Haiti in support of the UN-led embargo established against the dictatorial regime of general Cedras, who has seized power in that country.

• As conflict spread throughout the former Yugoslavia, PRESERVER deployed in 1994-95 to participate in OP SHARP GUARD, the joint NATO-Western European Union mission to enforce a UN-mandated economic and arms embargo in the Adriatic Sea.

• PRESERVER was employed in home waters in the fall of 1998 to support the recovery effort that followed the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Halifax on 2 September.

• Following the dramatic events of 9/11, PRESERVER sailed from Halifax in October 2001 for OP APOLLO, Canada's contribution to the international campaign against terrorism in Southwest Asia. She returned to homeport the following year after conducting operations throughout the fact Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman ans the Re Sea.

These deployments do not include the myriad of exercises conduct at home and abroad, with other government departments in Canada and dmillitary allies overseas, which constitute the bulk of the Force Generation effort required to keep our ships and sailors ready to fight and provide humanitarian assistance at such short notice. As well, PRESERVER sailors have made individual contribution to numerous missions through years, serving on land alongside their Army and Air Force brethrens, on domestic operations in Canada and overseas.

PRESERVER is now undertaking a year-long, $44.7 million refit scheduled to take place at the Irving Shipbuilding yard in Halifax, NS from April 2010 to February 2011. This project is very extensive as it includes structural repair, hull painting, basic mechanical repairs, hull valve refurbishment, shaft line work, as well as comprehensive maintenance and repairs to various ship systems. Such work will ensure that PRESERVER remains relevant, responsive and effective in serving the needs of Canada and Canadians, at home and abroad, until the introduction of the Joint Support Ship later in the decade.

H. Canuel

Commander

Commanding Officer

HMCS PRESERVER

20 January 2010