NAC News – Edition 291
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of February 8, 2019
Fellow Members:
Rod Hughes
Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca(comments welcome to help improve this service)
Contact David Soule executivedirector-nac@outlook.comif you wish someone (who may be a member or perhaps a good candidate to join) to be added to the NAC News email distribution.
★ Editor’s stars of the week
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NOTICES
- GoFundMe for Admiral Norman’s Legal Defence – After 12 months2,041 people have contributed $268,638 towards the $300,000 goal https://ca.gofundme.com/51lc5d4
- ShipTech Forum 2019 Shaw Centre, Ottawa, ON 5 March 2019
- https://vanguardcanada.com/shiptech2019?inf_contact_key=3c746929148d2d24b79107680bc47b45a7598f9e67a4c0ef588915fee71a8331
- CADSI Sponsored NAVY Outlook – 2 Apr 2019 at the Shaw Centre Ottawa
- https://www.defenceandsecurity.ca/CAF/
- MARITECH Full Speed Ahead: Firing on all cylinders (Call for papers opportunity) Conference and Exhibition, Ottawa ON April 23-25 2019 http://mari-techconference.ca
- 2019 Maritime Gala Ball– Saturday, June 15, 2019 Hilton Lac Leamy Gatineau QC – This event, supported by the Commander of the RCN and the Commissioner of the CCG, will celebrate the many successes of our Canadian Maritime community. This event will commemorate the past, celebrate the present, and confirm their commitment to the future. Tickets will be on sale early March 2019 so mark your calendars.
- ★ NOABC 100th Anniversary Celebration 2-6 Oct 2019 Vancouver BC Conference Venue: BCIT Marine Campus – 265 West Esplanade, North Vancouver. UNTD Dinner in the planning stage. Conference Hotel: The Pinnacle Hotel, North Vancouver – a block booking with room rates ranging from $170 to $190 per night. Details to be confirmed and posted to the NOABC web page shortly.
CANADA
- It has been a very busy and exciting week for the RCN: JSS construction news, a new underwater warfare project, as well as the official announcement that a contract for the RCN’s future combatant known as the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) has been signed. Here are some of the links and feel free to explore some of these sites for other relevant information:
- https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-selects-design-for-canadian-surface-combatants-876592665.html
- https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/csc-home-team-celebrates-canadian-industry-success-822637186.html
- https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/liberals-rush-to-sign-canadian-surface-combatant-contract-deal-expected-to-be-signed-by-friday
- https://navaltoday.com/2019/02/08/canadian-surface-combatant-contract-officially-awarded-to-type-26-team/
- (Ed Note: see video at bottom of link:)
- http://shipsforcanada.ca/our-stories/government-of-canada-selects-design-for-canadian-surface-combatants
- HMCS Regina and Ottawa and Asterix deploy from Esquimalt
- Trade tribunal dismisses Alion’s complaint over shipbuilding contracts
- Seaspan selects Lockheed Martin Canada to provide command management system for JSS
- New sensors for Canada’s frigates will detect smaller, quieter underwater targets
- ★ Ottawa pushes navy’s planned supply ships to the front of the construction queue
- New schedule will shave months off construction of navy support vessel: Shipyard
- How to avoid a paper trail: The reliable — sometimes illegal — tricks used by bureaucrats and political staff
- Last week’s questioning of Gen. Jon Vance by Norman’s lawyer a preview of what is to come?
- ★ The Conservative connection that could be critical to Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s case (Editor – precise summary video included)
- On target: Weaving a tangled web with Admiral Norman case
- Veterans to share $100M settlement from feds after Federal Court approval
- Maritime Museum envisions national status, return to Bastion Square
- Following Crane Collapse, Evergreen Boxship to Depart Vancouver
- Cruise ship season on the horizon in Victoria, jobs in tow
USA & AMERICAS
- Pentagon’s Testing Office Warns of Unfixed Flaws Aboard USS Ford
- ★ USNI News Video: All-Female ‘Missing Woman’ Flyover Honors First Female Navy Jet Pilot
- ★★ The chief of naval operations talks technology, China, and more (Editor – 1 hr video included…CNO has an amazing Bio)
- USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 4, 2019
- Report to Congress on U.S. Navy Frigate (FFG(X)) Program
- America’s Future Super Stealth Frigates: More-Lethal and Capable, as well as cheaper (Editor – wow, after article above an insightful 10 min video, I must look up the “definition” of a frigate)
- Decades-Old Harpoon Missile Could See Growth in Sub, Coastal Defense Missions
- Sea Hunter Sails to Hawaii Autonomously(Editor – a series of thought-provoking videos included)
- USCG Offloads 34,780 Pounds of Cocaine
- A U.S. Navy Railgun: A Dying Dream?
- The SM-6 is the U.S. Navy’s Most Important Missile (It Can Kill Almost Anything)
- US Navy commissions fast attack submarine USS South Dakota https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-fast-attack-submarine/
- SPY-6 Radar Finishes Final Round Of Developmental Testing in Hawaii
- U.S. experts call for ‘vigilance’ on Russian military buildup in Arctic
- ★ The Deep Ocean: Seabed Warfare and the defence of Undersea Infrastructure, Pt. 1
- 28 Haitians die when boat sinks off Bahamas
- Tankers with Venezuelan Oil Collect off US
- Savannah Port to Serve Six 14,000 TEU Ships Simultaneously
- Vigor Picks Vancouver Site to Build Army’s New Landing Craft (Editor – Vancouver Washington)
INDO-PACIFIC
- The Only Reason Japan’s Navy Doesn’t Have Aircraft Carriers
- China Is A Naval Powerhouse (But Can It Stay That Way?)
- Australia and the Taiwan contingency (Editor – sadly Canada gets dismissed easily)
- Wreck of First Japanese Battleship Sunk By U.S. Navy in WWII Found
- Philippines ramps up construction on island
ATLANTIC & EUROPE
- NATO Chiefs of Defence focus on NATO’s Readiness and its Deterrence and Defence Posture
- Russia’s new Arctic naval base built in 6 months
- Russia to equip 2 frigates with visual-optical blinding stations
- Russian Navy Deploys Nausea-Inducing “Dazzler” on Frigates
- Salvors Detonate Torpedoes from Wrecked Frigate Helge Ingstad
- Russia’s Only Aircraft Carrier Is in Serious Trouble
- Poseidon to be able to autonomously avoid any enemy defense systems – source
- C-Enduro Delivered to Royal Navy
- World’s First LNG-Powered Icebreaker Refuels at New Tornio LNG Terminal
- Electrical Mid-life Upgrades for Portuguese M-Frigates
- Greece shows interest in buying RAN FFGs https://navalinstitute.com.au/greece-shows-interest-in-buying-ran-ffgs/
- Meet the Shannon(Editor – spectacular RNLI Lifeboat)
- Snake Robot Ready to Go On Watch in the Deep Seas
- Huge Increase in Arctic shipping
- Rosatomflot Icebreakers Steered 331 Ships
- Novatek Moves Forward with Arctic LNG 2
MIDDLE EAST
GLOBAL INTERESTS
- ★ Globalisation at a crossroads
- Scientists Make Unplanned Update to World Magnetic Model as ‘North Pole’ Shifts Towards Siberia
- Private Militia Seize Ship in Commercial Dispute
- Huawei Marine Upgrades WACS
SCUTTLEBUTT
- Naval Shipbuilding Plan MAY 2017 (Editor – useful explanation of Australian shipbuilding) https://youtu.be/tMonmCMjBrQ
- National Shipbuilding Strategy: UK vs Canada (Editor – UK follow on from above) https://youtu.be/UZ8VItho9rM
- Type 26 Frigate Britain – How capable is it? https://youtu.be/rKaSKSC3Zwg
- Torpedo Propellant: “Otto Fuel II” ~ 1964 US Navy Bureau of Naval Weapons Technical Film Report (Editor – for all of you that ever had to or practised an Otto Fuel spill) https://youtu.be/Gn8TPQ_RyWU
SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES
- (Trial portion of NAC News. Month by month building a comprehensive list of significant RCN events – if you see any glaring omissions or errors please inform me, and more modern significant dates are welcomed. The list draws from LEGION magazine, and the Directory of History and Heritage’s comprehensive “Significant Dates in Canadian Military History”)
FEBRUARY
- 1 February 1911 The first recruiting posters for the RCN are issued to post offices throughout Canada.
- 1 February 1968 The personnel and organization of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force were unified into a single organization, the Canadian Forces.
- 5 February 1944 HMS Puncher, an aircraft carrier, is commissioned into the Royal Navy at Vancouver with a Canadian crew, but a British air complement.
- 6 February 1943 HMCS Louisbourg is torpedoed and sunk by enemy aircraft in an attack on a convoy in the Mediterranean Sea.
- 8 February 1943 HMCS Regina sinks the Italian submarine Avorio in the Mediterranean Sea.
- 11 February 1942 HMCS Spikenard is torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic.
- 14 February 1945 Five Motor Torpedo Boats of the Canadian 29th Flotilla burn in Ostende harbour.
- 15 February 1965 The Maple Leaf becomes Canada’s official flag.
- 16 February 1945 HMCS Saint John sinks the German submarine U-309 off the northeast coast of Scotland near Moray Firth.
- 18 February 1944 Sixteen Canadian minesweepers, in four divisions of four ships, begin to leave St. John’s for British waters to take part in the invasion of Normandy.
- 19 February 1944 Motor Torpedo boats of the 29th and 65th (Canadian) Flotillas begin to be commissioned (continues until 31 March).
- 22 February 1943 HMCS Weyburn strikes a mine and sinks off Tangier.
- 22 February 1945 HMCS Trentonian is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the English Channel.
- 24 February 1944 HMCS Waskesiu sinks the German submarine U-257 in the North Atlantic.
- 27 February 1930 HMCS Thiepval is lost in Barkley Sound, British Columbia.
- 28 February 1946 HMCS Cornwallis is paid off (taken out of service) and new recruit training begins to be conducted at local naval depots.
- 28 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Persian Gulf War ends.