HMCS Labrador: An Operational History

Compiled by the Naval Historical Section, Royal Canadian Naval Headquarters

Operational Histories, No. 1

HMCS Labrador was Canada’s first heavy icebreaker and the Royal Canadian Navy’s first vessel capable of reliably operating in the waters of the Arctic. For three seasons in the mid-1950s, the ship served as Canada’s workhorse in the Far North – charting sea lanes, conducting research, and aiding in the construction and supply of joint defence projects. As the Canadian Navy builds the capacity to sustain its modern Arctic presence, the early operations of HMCS Labrador offer an instructive history and a fascinating glimpse back into the RCN’s early forays into the frozen waters of the Canadian North.

Edited and Introduced by Adam Lajeunesse, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, and Jason Delaney.

Lieutenant(N) JASON DELANEY, MA is a staff historian with the Canadian Armed Forces. He is a reserve Maritime Surface and Sub-surface (MARS) officer on active duty with DHH and holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo (1999). Delaney’s work covers various topics, including procurement projects, Canadian maritime forces involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis, early Cold War naval operations, and the history of Canadian Forces unification. He is on the naval history team writing volume III of the official history of the RCN and publishes regularly in the Canadian Naval Review.

WHITNEY LACKENBAUER, Ph.D., is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Study of the Canadian North and professor in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University, and the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (1CRPG) based in Yellowknife. Whitney is an adjunct professor at the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Mulroney Institute for Governance at St. Francis Xavier University. Previously, he has been Killam Visiting Scholar at the University of Calgary, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Canadian Forces College, and a Fulbright Scholar at Johns Hopkins University. He has (co-)written or (co-)edited more than fifty books and more than one hundred academic articles and book chapters. His recent books include The Joint Arctic Weather Stations: Science and Sovereignty in the High Arctic, 1946-1972 (2022); A History of the Canadian Rangers of Quebec: 2nd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (2022); The Canadian Armed Forces’ Eyes, Ears, and Voice in Remote Regions: Selected Writings on the Canadian Rangers (2022); Lines in the Snow: Thoughts on the Past and Future of Northern Canadian Policy Issues (2021); On Thin Ice? Perspectives on Arctic Security (2021); Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic (2021); and China’s Arctic Engagement: Following the Polar Silk Road to Greenland and Russia (2021). He is married with three children.

ADAM LAJEUNESSE, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at St. Francis Xavier University, where he holds the Irving Shipbuilding Chair in Canadian Arctic and Marine Security Policy. He is a fellow with the Centre on Foreign Policy and Federalism at the University of Waterloo as well as the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Dr. Lajeunesse is the author of the Dafoe Prize winning Lock, Stock and Icebergs: A History of Canada’s Arctic Maritime Sovereignty. He has co-authored books on China’s Arctic interests and the evolution of northern military operations, as well as numerous articles and publications on northern defence, development, shipping, governance, and maritime policy.