NAC News – Edition 347
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of March 6th, 2020
Edition – 347
Rod Hughes – Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca (comments welcome to help improve this service)
Contact David Soule executivedirector-nac@outlook.com if 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
- 2020 NAC BOA Gala, Conference and AGM – 30 April – 3 May 2020 in Ottawa.
- 30 Apr (Thursday) – Evening – 2020 BOA Gala Dinner at Canadian War Museum
- 1 May (Friday) – Day – NAC National Conference
- 2 May (Saturday) – Morning – NAC National 2020 AGM
- 3 May (Sunday) – 1000-1400 – National RCN BOA ceremony/parade and associated social gathering.
From your Executive Director executivedirector-nac@outlook.com NAC members can now register for events. Hotel accommodation – a limited number of rooms have been set side. If you are attending from outside Ottawa, let me know and I will add you to my hotel list (need names and desired dates).
- Vanguard Launches First-Ever Canadian Submarine Event (Editor – The next big RCN procurement challenge! The Deep Blue 2020 Forum, a one-day event, will take place on 29 October 2020, details to follow)
CANADA
- ★ The Disarmament of a Nation
- ShipTech Forum 2020 Slideshow (Editor – click through the pics to see who’s who.)
- Your Navy Today – February 2020
- Call for icebreaker pitches sets stage for new round of shipyard battles
- CCGS Edward Cornwallis Life Extension Contract Awarded
- Feds short hundreds of million in repair, maintenance of defence infrastructure
- Defence Department Assistant Deputy Minister Chris Henderson to return to Canadian Coast Guard
- Royal Canadian Navy, coast guard short hundreds of sailors
- ★ Naval Affairs Program Briefing Note #25 – Crewing Naval Ships (Editor – timely)
- Access to health care for veterans’ families can be ‘disjointed and irregular’: government documents
- How the Desmond inquiry could change the lives of veterans and their families
- Social Sharing
USA & AMERICAS
- USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: March 2, 2020
- ★ Testimony Before the House Committee on Armed Services on a hearing on “DOD’s Role in Competing with China” (Editor – interesting 12 page read, of the many points raised I noted; “Submarines remain our greatest operational advantage.”)
- CNO Gilday Defends 36-Month Carrier Cycle, Says Navy Has Never Missed a Deployment
- Navy, Marines Tell Congress Emphasis on Arctic is Growing
- ★ A rare look inside nuclear powered submarine USS Florida | Nightline (Editor – fascinating 8:40 min video. Compare this boat to U32 in the European section)
- HII Delivers Amphibious Assault Ship Tripoli (LHA 7) to U.S. Navy
- USCG Christens Ninth National Security Cutter Future USCGC Stone
- U.S. Navy to Christen Littoral Combat Ship Future USS Cooperstown
- US Navy pre-commissioning unit boards future aircraft carrier JFK
- US Navy’s First Unmanned Surface Vessel equipped with FN Herstal Sea DeFNder
- Captain Warned That Crew Wasn’t Ready Before Sub Ran Aground, Investigation Shows (Editor – many lessons here)
- Colombia coca crop: Trump tells Duque to resume spraying (Editor – interesting stats on cocaine production, hence why we keep sending Kingston Class ships and aircraft south.)
- New Photo Reveals Cuban Navy’s Secret Submarine
- Department of the Navy Unveils Education For Seapower Strategy
- Report to Congress on Precision-Guided Munitions (Editor – useful synopsis)
- Emgepron, Águas Azuis Sign Contract to Build Brazilian Navy’s Tamandaré Class Corvettes
- Narco Submarines at All-Time High
- USCG Cutter Munro Returns Home After Seizing $115M in Cocaine
INDO-PACIFIC
- Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war
- ★ Japan Commissions First Li-Ion Battery-Equipped Sōryū-class Submarine, JS Ōryū
- Spy vs spy as China eyes US-Oz sea defense moves
- US Navy warns China against targeting fleet and aircraft
- Australia Navy taken delivery of HMAS Sydney DDG 42 Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyer
- Will the coronavirus topple China’s one-party regime? (Editor – not naval but an interesting analysis.)
- Russian Baltic Fleet warship visits Sri Lanka in anti-piracy deployment to Indian Ocean
- UPDATED: Aircraft Carrier Roosevelt Will Visit Vietnam This Week
- Following the NATO precedent? The nuclear-weapon sharing option (Editor – Australia ponders nuclear weapons.)
- Japan Developing New Anti-Ship Missile for P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft
- Iranian Navy vessel anchors in Jakarta
- GE & Hanwha Aerospace Sign MOU to bring Full Electric Propulsion to Republic of Korea’s KDDX Destroyer Program
EUROPE
- Syria war: Russia and Turkey agree Idlib ceasefire
- Putin saves Erdogan from himself
- NATO’s Mediterranean Maritime Group Mission More Than Tracking Russian Subs
- The US Navy’s top officer declares support for basing 6 destroyers in Spain
- HMS Grimsby Finds 18 WWII Bombs During Minehunting Mission Off Norway
- Rotary-Wing Assets Vital For UK Carrier Protection
- U.S., French Aircraft Carriers Conduct Cross-Deck Aircraft Launches and Recoveries
- Greek Coast Guard Attempts to Turn Back Syrian Migrants
- Second F125 Baden-Württemberg-Class Frigate Delivered To Germany
- NATO’s advanced anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Manta begins in Italy
- Navy Drills Atlantic Convoy Ops for First Time Since Cold War in Defender-Europe 20
- Royal Navy To Get First Large Autonomous Submarine
- French, Italian Governments Greenlight Naval Shipbuilding JV
- ★ U32 – German Submarine Soldiers | Full Documentary (Editor – excellent 49 min video about a modern German AIP submarine. Note, the engineer is a bit different than Johann, the Das Boot EO)
- Secret Submarine Capability Shown In NATO Photo
- £330m ‘eyes and ears’ ordered for Dreadnought submarines
- ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to use 3D printers for making submarine parts
- Icebreaker Needs Fuel After Record North Pole Voyage
- ★ China Overtakes Germany as Biggest Containership Nation
- Yamal LNG Crushes Output Capacity in 2019
- Amsterdam’s Boats Go Electric Ahead of 2025 Diesel Ban
MIDDLE EAST
- ★ Sea mines are cheap and low-tech, but they could stop world trade in its tracks
- Royal Jordanian Navy Change of Command for Combined Task Force 152
- Royal Navy take part in Omani mine warfare exercise
- HMAS Toowoomba provides overwatch in Strait of Hormuz
- Saudi Forces Report Attempted Bomb-Boat Attack on Tanker off Yemen
GLOBAL INTERESTS
- U.S. Navy Kicks Off ICEX 2020
- Ship Repair Market to Reach $40Bn by 2026
- The Construction Of A Cruise Ship – AIDAnova | Full Documentary (Editor – a “wow” 49:20 min video)
SCUTTLEBUTT
- 75 Years Ago: The Assault on Iwo Jima (Editor – Great little map)
- The Secret Soviet Hover Plane – Russia’s Missile-Launching Caspian Sea Monster (Editor – this all used to be highly classified…an amazing 12:04 min video)
- Doomed: The Tragic Tale of How the Navy Lost This One Submarine Forever
- The Wreck of the Anne
SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES – MARCH
(If you see any omissions or errors please inform me, and any more modern significant dates are also welcomed. The list draws primarily from the Directory of History and Heritage’s comprehensive “Significant Dates in Canadian Military History”, the now defunct “Canada Channel”, “Legion Magazine”, and Roger Litwiller’s excellent web site http://www.rogerlitwiller.com)
- 1 March 1928 HMC Ships Champlain and Vancouver are commissioned into the RCN, replacing HMC Ships Patriot and Patrician.
- 3 March 1921 HMC Submarines CH-14 and CH-15 are commissioned into the RCN.
- 4 March 1943 HMC Ships Shediac and St. Croix sink the German submarine U-87 in the North Atlantic.
- 6 March 1944 HMC Ships St. Catharines, Chilliwack, Gatineau, Fennel and Chaudiere assist Royal Naval warships in the sinking of the German submarine U-744 in the North Atlantic.
- 7 March 1945 HMC Ships La Hulloise, Strathadam and Thetford Mines sink the German submarine U-1302 in St. George’s Channel.
- 9 March 1945 HMCS Uganda arrives in Sydney, Australia, to join the British Pacific Fleet.
- 10 March 1944 HMC Ships St. Laurent, Owen Sound and Swansea assist Royal Navy warships sink the German submarine U-845 in the North Atlantic.
- 12 March 1918 Lieutenant (RCN) William McKinstry Heriot-Maitland-Dougall (RCNC 1911–1914) at age of 23 years of age was in command of HMS D3 and was killed with his submarine’s crew of 29 off Le Havre, France. HMS D3 was sunk in error by French dirigible AT-9, which could not see D3’s insignia because of the sub’s reflection off the waves and took her to be a U-boat firing upon it. The French hadn’t been informed that D3 was assigned to their waters in the English Channel and were not aware that British submarines were identifying themselves with rockets as opposed to flashing lights.
- 13 March 1943 HMCS Prescott sink U163 off Cape Finisterre, the kill was originally credited to a USS Herring a USN submarine.
- 17 March 1945 HMCS Guysborough is torpedoed and sunk by U878 off Ushant. 51 of her crew were lost.
- 20 March 1943 – World War II – UK destroyer commissioned into RCN as HMCS Griffin; 3 weeks later, renamed HMCS Ottawa; second of name. Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 21 March 1945 HMCS New Glasgow (frigate) rammed and fatally damages U-Boat 1003 off Lough Foyle, Northern Ireland .
- 23 March 1965 Fifteen RCAF aviators are killed when their Argus patrol plane goes down in a night exercise off Puerto Rico.
- 24 March 1941 The Rush-Bagot Agreement of 1817, which restricted the number of naval vessels allowed on the Great Lakes, is modified to allow both American and Canadian naval vessels to operate on the Great Lakes in greater numbers.
- 26 March 1941 – World War II – Disaster – RCN armed yacht HMCS Otter destroyed by an accidental explosion and fire, off Halifax; two Officers and 17 men lost.
- 29 March 1945 HMCS TEME (frigate) is torpedoed by U Boat 246 in the English Channel off Falmouth and declared a total loss.
- 31 March 1945 HMCS Conestoga, the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service training establishment, is paid off.
- 31 March 1991 The Gulf War between Iraq and the United Nations coalition ends.