Originally built as the stern trawler
Aspa Quarto at Cantiere Navale Apuania, Marine-Carrara in Italy, she was purchased by the Canadian Navy in July of 1975 and converted to a diving support vessel. She was commissioned into Maritime Command on November 10, 1978 at Lauzon, Quebec, becoming the second Canadian naval unit to bear the name
Cormorant. Serving the navy for 22 years, she was decommissioned on 2 July 1997 and changed hands a few times, most recently being sold to a Texas based firm to be used in diving operations.
Sitting idle docked at the Bridgewater wharf since 2000, the winter of 2014-2015 proved too much for her and she rolled over and sank to the bottom of the river. Near record snowfall collected on her deck, causing her to tilt, whereupon water began to enter and she sank. Fortunately she did not have far to sink and was still salvageable.
The salvaging comes at a cost, however, and the owner of the Cormorant, when last we heard, was being sued for $1 million to pay for the cost of righting and floating her. Several news stories on her plight were aired by both
CBC News and
CTV News.
Service history
In 1980, the first mixed gender crew trial took place aboard Cormorant in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. The trial lasted until 1984.
Between 23 August and 5 October 1989, Cormorant and CFAV Quest conducted defence research as part of Operation Norploy 89, which took place in the Arctic region of Canada, mainly in Baffin Bay, Lancaster Sound and Davis Strait. Using the submersible SDL-1 deployed from Cormorant, the sunken vessel Breadalbane was discovered, a ship not seen since its sinking in 1853.
Cormorant was an integral part of the November 1994 expedition to recover the ship's bell from the wreck of SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior.
She was decommissioned on 2 July 1997 and sold to United States owners for diving operations, however the ship was docked in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia in 2000 and has remained there. As of March 2015, the ship has developed a severe list. As of 21 March 2015, the ship had sunk due to the amount of ice on the deck. The Canadian Coast Guard took control of the salvage effort in May due to pollution concerns.
As of 29 May 2015, the ship has been refloated with the list reduced to 8 degrees. Salvage was anticipated to be completed in another week.
From Wiki