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CFAV BLUETHROAT
CNAV BLUETHROAT entered service in 1955 as a loop/controlled minelayer but she was never a commissioned warship, only an auxiliary. She was a one-of-a-kind vessel, similar to WHITETHROAT. The ship was purpose built for the RCN at Davie Shipyards - 156 ft length, 33 ft beam, a 10 ft draught and displacing 785 tons.
From 03 Oct to 18 Oct 1960, a combined force of Canadian and American warships including HMCS CAPE SCOTT, minesweepers HMCS RESOLUTE, HMCS FUNDY, HMCS THUNDER, HMCS CHIGNECTO, HMCS QUINTE, HMCS CHALEUR, the loop-layer CNAV BLUETHROAT, the diving tender YMT-6 with RCN divers, eight American minesweepers, USS AGILE, USS AGGRESSIVE, USS BOLD, USS BULWART, USS KINGBIRD, USS BLUEBIRD, USS LIMPKIN and USS HUMMINGBIRD, mine counter-measures support ship USS ORLEANS PARISH, the netlayer USS YAZOO and an American Explosive Ordnance and Disposal Team, participated in Exercise Sweep Clear V off Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
BLUETHROAT was sold by Crown Assets Disposal to a private company during the early 1990’s. She was registered as a merchant ship and sailed from Halifax to Florida for her new career. She was later bought by a U.S. agency which offered her as a “bait vessel” to persons who were transporting “shrink-wrapped white powder” cargoes in the Caribbean! Her final disposition is unknown.
Exercise Sweep Clear V - 05 Oct 1960 (video) // Source: Library and Archives of Canada // Courtesy of Brian Fitzpatrick
They shall not be forgotten
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