naval affairs

NAC News – Edition 293

NAC News – Edition 293

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of February 22, 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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Link to Starshell Magazine  https://www.navalassoc.ca/naval-affairs/starshell/

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Keep in touch with the RCN

TWITTER      @RCN_MRC  @Comd_MARPAC  @MARPAC   @RCN_MARLANT                           #RCNavy or #MarineRC

YouTube         Royal Canadian Navy or Marine royale canadienne

flickr               Royal Canadian Navy / Marine royale canadienne

vimeo https://vimeo.com/thenavylamarine

NOTICES

  • ★   GoFundMe for Admiral Norman’s Legal Defence – After 13 months2,248 people have contributed $298,966 towards the $500,000 goal https://ca.gofundme.com/51lc5d4  (Editor – abridged comment from Lee Hammond “Over the past few months Vice-Admiral Norman has been engaged in an intensive and demanding legal battle as he tries to access government documents that he and his lawyers argue are essential to his defence.  Beyond just the toll this must be taking on him and his family, this process has been very expensive and the funds we have raised to date have already been exhausted.     In recognition of the mounting financial challenges of funding his defence, I have decided to raise our goal to $500,000.  Let’s all try and find at least one new supporter so we can double our ranks – and hopefully the funds over the next couple of months!”
  • ShipTech Forum 2019: The Future of Shipbuilding   Shaw Centre, Ottawa, ON 5 March 2019  https://vanguardcanada.com/shiptech2019
  • 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

USA & AMERICAS

INDO-PACIFIC

ATLANTIC & EUROPE

MIDDLE EAST

GLOBAL INTERESTS

SCUTTLEBUTT

  • ★   UNTiDy TALES – 2013 70th Anniversary Edition available as a Free digital download.  Author Bob Williamson has graciously offered to put the .pdf version of this iconic 424p book into the public domain.  It is available from the UNTDA Website but can be viewed/dowloaded directly from the link below:
  • http://untd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013_05_UNTiDy_Tales_Williamson_424p.pdf
  • It was first issued in 1993 as a 133p book titled “Spindrift” and was expanded and re-issued a number of times, and ultimately renamed, culminating in the current 2013 Edition.  One of Bob’s motivations for doing this is to stimulate the submission of more stories.  The original book was largely oriented to the 8,000 member pre-Unification UNTD Program, which ended 50 years ago.  The premise is that within the post-Unification cadre; ROUTP, NROC, UNTDv2, RESO etc, that have been training NavRes Officer Cadets for the last 50 years, that there would or should be a wealth of similar humorous, instructive and inspiring stories.  If sufficient new stories result, the UNTDA will look to issue another Free updated Edition.

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.