HMCS Labrador

Lt Col D J Goodspeed, The Armed Forces of Canada 1867-1967, Queen's Printer Ottawa, 1967

In order for Canada to assert itself in the Arctic during WW2, the small motor-sailer St. Roch was sent to negotiate the Northwest passage in 1940. This was accomplished, in both directions, and the St Roch made several more trips in the next few years.

 With the Cold War escalating in the 50s, the Canadian navy needed a presence in the north and so commissioned their first Arctic patrol vessel. The HMCS Labrador was based on the American Wind class icebreaker and launched in 1954 at Sorel, Quebec. After a shakedown cruise, the ship left Halifax to spend the summer sailing the Arctic, taking hydrographic soundings, supplying RCMP stations and deploying various scientific teams. Emerging in the Pacific, this was the first time a full sized ship or warship had traversed the Northwest passage. 

 During the next three years it supplied and supported the construction of the DEW line. Transferred to the Department of Transport in 1957, the ship continued to serve in the Arctic until 1987 when metal fatigue caused it to be taken out of service and retired. 

Charles Maginley, The Ships of Canada's Marine Services, Vanwell Publishing 2003