HMCS CORMORANT 20 - For Posterity's Sake

For Posterity's Sake

A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project

HMCS CORMORANT 20

HMCS Cormorant 20

Battle honours and awards: Quebec 1759, Minorca 1798, China 1856, 1959

Built: 1965

Acquired by RCN: Jul 1975

Commissioned: 10 Nov 1978

Paid off: 02 Jul 1997

Fate: Unknown

Built at Cantiere Navale Apunia, Marine-Carrara, Italy in 1965, she was the former Italian-flag stern trawler Aspa Quarto. She was purchased for Maritime Command in Jul 1975, and converted principally at Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon, Que., to her new purpose. She was commissioned there 10 Nov 1978. She served as mother ship to SDL-1 (Submersible Diver Lockout), a mini-sub capable of reaching a depth of 2000 feet, and which has been extensively used to chart the bottom of Halifax harbour. Between 23 Aug and 05 Oct 1989, Cormorant, along with CFAV Quest, was deployed to Canada's eastern High Arctic waters, conducting defence research in Baffin Bay, Lancaster Sound and Davis Strait. In the course of the operation, dubbed NORPLOY 89, she visited Canada's northernmost Inuit community, Grise Fjord, on Ellesmere Island. Her SDL-1 also found and filmed the Breadalbane, crushed and sunk by ice off Beechey Island in 1853 while searching for John Franklin's lost Northwest Passage expedition. During this deployment she holed her bow on pack ice. Her crew made emergency repairs and she was able to return to Halifax and repairs were effected on the syncrolift. During her career she was used for a variety of purposes ranging from retrieval of illegal drug caches; covering vents in the sunken barge Irving Whale to recovering the bell from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Cormorant had among her complement the first women to be assigned to a Canadian naval vessel. She was paid off on 2 July 1997. Initially sold to United States owners for diving operations, she remained docked in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, rusting away. The Cormorant was purchased at auction by Neil Hjelle in September 2009 to be refit and used for research in the Mediterranean and Middle East. As of Mar 2015, Cormorant still lay idle and deteriorating at Bridgewater, NS.

Photos and Documents Ship's company photos Commissioning book

Commanding Officers

LCdr J.G. Morrison - 24 Jul 1978 - 17 Aug 1981

LCdr Jack W.D. Alexander - 17 Aug 1981 - 27 Jun 1983

LCdr Brian John Fisher - 27 Jun 1983 - 30 Jul 1984

LCdr R.W. Bowers - 30 Jul 1984 - unk

LCdr A.G.D. Perusse - Jun 1986 - 10 Jun 1988

LCdr M.P. Palmer - 10 Jun 1988 - 10 Aug 1990

LCdr P.O. Gaynor - 10 Aug 1990 - 08 Oct 1992

LCdr A.T. Pinnell - 08 Oct 1992 - Aug 1994

In memory of those who have crossed the bar They shall not be forgotten
A-B
Adams, Glenn R, ____-2008	Alexander, Jack W.D. 1937-2016 2nd Commanding Officer	Boucher, Roger Phillippe 1947-2013
C-D
Croucher, Selby Claude 1944-2010 Commissioning crew as a PO1 Electrician	Dohan, John Chester ____-2018	Downie, Robert E. ____-2003	Doyle, Lloyd Emmerson ____-1992
E-F
Esbaugh, Thomas Jerome 1952-2012	Fisher, Brian John ____-2017 3rd Commanding Officer
G-H
Hatt, Myles R. 1958 - 2016	Hughes, Douglas Frederick 1937-2011
M-N
MacAdams, Betty Lou 1943-2007	McGowan, Louise Catherine ____-2012	Mclellan, Barry ____-____	McVarnock, Thomas 1937-2011	Molloy, John Patrick ____-2011 Commissioning crew as Sgt Electrician
Morgan, Philip Wade 1963-2019
O-P
Poirier, Pamela Denise 1959-2008

Rank, Gordon Henry 1939-2017
W-X
Wolfe, Henry Harvey ____-2014

Former Crew Members
MacDonald, James A., STWD	Miniou, Scott, RP/NESOP	Weir, Garry, MS, NRAD Op 274, 1991

Photos and Documents

Battle Board for HMCS Cormorant 20

Maritime Command Museum, CFB Halifax, NS

Courtesy of Jarrod David

The Welcome Aboard Booklet for HMCS Cormorant 20

Courtesy of Janet Lawrence

HMCS Cormorant and CFAV Quest, NORPLOY 1989

Courtesy of John Newton, Rear-Admiral, RCN

SDL-1 in the hangar of HMCS Cormorant 20

From the collection of Dale Silvester

Courtesy of Jim Silvester

HMCS Cormorant recovering SDL-1

From the collection of Dale Silvester

Courtesy of Jim Silvester

HMCS Cormorant 20

From the collection of Dale Silvester

Courtesy of Jim Silvester

Former HMCS Cormorant, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, awaiting disposal,19 Jul 2003

Source: ShipSpotting.com Photographer: Gerrard

Former HMCS Cormorant, Bridgewater, NS, 16 Mar 2015

Having been sold to private interests, Cormorant has been laying derelict at Bridgewater for many years

Courtesy of Dennis Morrison

Former HMCS Cormorant at Bridgewater, Nova Scotia - 21 Mar 2015

Although she still appeared to be afloat, she has listed in the range of 45 degrees from the vertical (far enough to expose her port bilge keel) and the Canadian Coast Guard reported that she is on the bottom and not moving with the tide. Perhaps her starboard bilge keel is in contact with the bottom. You can see in photo 1 that her port anchor is deployed.

Source: Sandy's Ramblings

These photos are published here with permission of the copy write owner. They are not to be republished or sold without permission of Sandy McClearn

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