HMCS BRANDON (2nd) (710)
HMCS BRANDON (2nd)
The History of HMCS BRANDON (2nd)
HMCS Brandon (MM 710) is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel that has served in the Canadian Forces beginning in 1999.
Brandon was the eleventh ship of her class which is the name for the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel Project. She was the second vessel to use the designation HMCS Brandon.
Laid down in December 1997 and launched in July 1998, she was assigned to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC), sailed from Halifax to the West Coast and was commissioned at Esquimalt, British Columbia, on 5 June 1999. She was homeported at CFB Esquimalt and crewed largely by naval reservists.
The 55-metre ship was designed for coastal patrol, mine countermeasures, sovereignty and fisheries patrols, training, search and rescue, and law-enforcement support. She took part in numerous national and international operations and exercises, including repeated deployments on Operation CARIBBE (counter-narcotics in the eastern Pacific), RIMPAC 2022, Arctic exercises, and Task Group work with the U.S. Navy. She also supported junior officer training and assisted the RCMP and customs authorities.
The Bofors 40mm guns were removed from Canada's Kingston-class coastal defence vessel (MCDV) fleet in 2014, leaving the vessels relying on two 12.7mm (0.50 caliber) Browning M2 heavy machine guns for self-defense.
On 24 July 2025, the Royal Canadian Navy announced that the Kingston class would begin to be paid off and retired starting in late 2025. Eight ships were to be retired in 2025, followed by one (Yellowknife) in 2026, one (Edmonton) in 2027 and the final two (Moncton and Nanaimo) in 2028.
Brandon was paid off in a ceremony at Esquimalt on 29 September 2025, one of the first Kingston-class ships retired as the Navy modernizes its fleet. Efforts to preserve the hull in its namesake city were abandoned because of the high cost of transport.
HMCS BRANDON (2nd) Statistical Data
- Pendant: 710
- Type: Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel
- Class: Kingston
- Displacement: 970 tonnes
- Length: 55.31 m / 181.5 ft
- Width: 11.3 m / 37 ft
- Draught: 3.4 m / 11 ft
- Speed: 15 kts
- Compliment: 31-36 Officers and Crew
- Arms: 1 - 40mm Bofors (removed in 2014), 2 - 12.7 mm (.50 cal) machine gun
- Builder: Halifax Shipyards Ltd., Halifax, NS
- Keel Laid: 06-Dec-97
- Date Launched: 10-Jul-98
- Date Commissioned: 05-Jun-99
- Paid off: 29-Sep-25
More Images
HMCS Brandon sails along the coastline of Alaska during multi-national Exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2022 near the town of Juneau, Alaska, March 6th, 2022. (Credit Master Sailor Dan Bard Canadian Forces Combat Camera.)
HMCS BRANDON entering Esquimalt Harbour, May 3, 1999.