The vessel was constructed by
Davie Shipbuilding at their yard in
Lauzon,
Quebec with the yard number 620 and
launched on 31 October 1959. During construction, the vessel was visited by
Soviet officials who took interest in her design. There was a distinct resemblance to
John A. MacDonald in the five ships in the next class of Soviet icebreaker, though they were larger and more powerful. The vessel entered service as part of the government fleet in September 1960 as CGS
John A. Macdonald. In 1967,
John A. Macdonald transited the
Northwest Passage in order to aid the smaller icebreaker in the western Arctic. Following that, the icebreaker then travelled to assist after the
United States Coast Guard vessel became trapped in heavy ice north of
Point Barrow,
Alaska. The vessel then returned to the
East Coast via the
Panama Canal, circumnavigating North America in the process. In 1969
John A. Macdonald assisted the then-new in rescuing during her transit of the Northwest Passage.
John A. Macdonald made a double transit from the east to west and returned west to east. During the rescue,
John A. Macdonald broke her starboard propeller in heavy ice; the propeller is on display by the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal,
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
John A. Macdonald was assisted by the United States Coast Guard icebreakers
Northwind and In 1974 the merchant vessel
Atlantean I was damaged on Les Escoumins, received repairs at
Montreal and
Quebec City and failed to pay for them. An order of arrest was produced but the vessel sailed without authorization. In February 1975, the
Gulf of St. Lawrence was filled with ice and
John A. MacDonald was sent to intercept the ship, now renamed
Answer. Stuck in ice and boarded by lawyers bearing the warrants, the captain of the merchant vessel refused to sail for
Gaspé, Quebec. On 28 February,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Coast Guard personnel were placed on board the merchant and the two ships sailed for
Sept-Îles, Quebec. However, as soon as
Answer was free of the heavy ice, the ship broke escort and fled for the Atlantic. After legal arguments were heard over the right of Canada to seize the vessel, the ship was boarded a third time, the crew taken off and
Answer and
John A. Macdonald arrived at Sept-Îles on 7 March. Also in 1975,
John A. Macdonald made a partial transit of the Northwest Passage, westward, through
Lancaster Sound,
Peel Sound and
Victoria Strait, and sailed to aid CCGS
Camsell again after the smaller Coast Guard ship was damaged in the Western Arctic. In 1977, the ship was chartered to Dome Petroleum. During 1978
John A. Macdonald made an east to west partial transit of the Northwest Passage, traveling on charter to Dome Petroleum, through Lancaster Sound,
Prince of Wales Strait and the Beaufort Sea. During the winter of 1978–79, the vessel was laid up. In 1979, the vessel made another partial transit of the Northwest Passage, west to east, returning eastward from a charter operation.
John A. Macdonald returned to Coast Guard service in 1980 and supported the search that confirmed the wreck of , which had been crushed by ice and sank in the Arctic Ocean in 1853. The following year,
John A. Macdonald escorted a
factory barge to
Little Cornwallis Island where the barge was beached and incorporated into the island. In 1987 she underwent an eight-month, $8-million (CAD) refit. In 1988 the ship made another partial transit of the Northwest Passage traveling westward, through Lancaster Sound, Peel Sound and Demarcation Point then back. The ship was taken out of service in 1991. The vessel was replaced by , initially on charter to the Canadian Coast Guard, which was later purchased. The vessel was transferred to
Crown Assets and was renamed
1201. The ship was then sold for scrap in 1993 and
broken up in 1995. ==Awards and honours==