As such, I have the honour to lead and the responsibility to oversee a variety of fleet assets, comprised of my flagship, an Iroquois class destroyer; five Halifax class frigates; a replenishment ship, the Protector; our one Victoria class submarine; six Kingston class coastal defence vessels; the fleet diving unit; two small headquarters staffs, mine and that of our coastal forces; Commander Ops Group Four; a sea training group responsible for assisting me in maintaining operational and war fighting skills and standards, as well as a mix of Naval Reserve elements such as port security units, dive teams and naval coordination and advice to shipping u ...[+++]nits.

In order to offset overhead costs, they do small vessel construction such as the supply vessels or the coastal defence vessels that were built.

The officers employed on all those buoy tenders, icebreakers, fisheries patrol vessels and throughout the Canadian Coast Guard fleet, as well as ships in commercial industry that do the resupply in the Arctic; all the ships that are carrying refined petroleum products in Canada; on the lakes, carrying the grain from the Great Lakes out to the export facilities on the gulf or on the coast; the tugboats that are assisting the cruise ships that come alongside in these ports and help the container ships come in, and so forth, and all the marine pilots — they are a ...[+++]ll Canadian seafarers and are required to be. As much as it is not a big industry, compared to the international scene, it is essential, important and vital.

The fleet of the Canadian Coast Guard is the largest federal government fleet, with over 100 vessels, ranging from polar and riverine icebreakers to major buoy tenders and scientific research vessels, to search and rescue cutters or lifeboats.