| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cape class |
| Builders | Burrard Dry Dock, Vancouver |
| Operators | |
| In commission | 1944–1975 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Retired | 2 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type | Maintenance ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 441 ft 6 in (134.57 m) |
| Beam | 57 ft (17 m) |
| Draught | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Oil-fired triple expansion steam engines, 2 boilers, 1 shaft, 2,500 ihp (1,864 kW) |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement | 270 |
| Aviation facilities | Helicopter landing deck |
The Cape class consists of two escort maintenance ships of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The ships were built in Canada as Beachy Head-class maintenance ships for the Royal Navy, but were acquired by Canada in 1952. They were commissioned into the RCN in 1959 as HMCS Cape Breton and HMCS Cape Scott. Cape Scott served on the east coast until 1972, after which the ship became a stationary repair vessel at Halifax, Nova Scotia until 1975. The vessel was broken up in 1978. Cape Breton served initially as a school ship on the east coast before transferring to the west coast of Canada in 1959. The maintenance ship remained in service until 1964, when she was laid up at Esquimalt, British Columbia as a maintenance facility. Cape Breton remained in this service until 1993. The vessel was then sold for use as an artificial reef and sunk off the coast of British Columbia.
- ^ Blackman (1971), p. 46