NAC News – Edition 349
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of March 20th, 2020
Edition – 349
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 – POSTPONED until further notice (All – Out of concern for the health and welfare of those we seek to honour, our loyal NAC members far and wide, those who loyally serve in the RCN, and those who support the NAC (we have some very generous corporate sponsors for these events), we have decided to postpone these activities to a later date. We are working on a plan to host a replacement dinner and conference in October along with other RCN activities which may be scheduled at that time. The AGM will be held via electronic means sometime in June. Details to follow. Please check the link and future NAC News editions – Keep safe out there! your NAC News editor and NAC executive director send)
- 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
- Message from Deputy Minister regarding COVID-19
- Construction of new Arctic ships, maintenance of frigates halted because of COVID-19
- Promotions and Senior Appointments 2020 – General and Flag Officers
- Canada orders military members on leave abroad to return home, self-isolate
- Canada selects Babcock as a pre-qualified bidder for the Victoria-class In-Service Support Contract II
- Admiral’s Walk of Achievement
- Canadian military says its intelligence operations aren’t bound by privacy law
- Seaspan Shipyards Maintains Operations
- Canada Bans Large Cruise Ship Arrivals Through July 1
USA & AMERICAS
- USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: March 16, 2020
- Report on China Naval Modernization and Implications for the U.S. Navy
- Trump: Hospital Ship Comfort to go to New York City, Mercy Set for West Coast Support
- Navy’s Next Major Ship Program Sees Challenges Balancing Requirements and Cost (Editor – lessons to be learned here)
- Not Enough Subs: Why America Can’t Churn out New Boats for the Navy Fast Enough (Editor – yet another example of why you just can’t turn shipyards on and off, nations need ongoing long term plans)
- Yes the Navy Is Testing Powerful Long-Range Drone Submarines
- Four Russian reconnaissance aircraft intercepted while spying on US ICEX submarine exercise again
- Argentina to strengthen fisheries patrolling in the South Atlantic
- Future USS Delbert D. Black Completes Acceptance Trials
- US needs to stop funding Xi’s global ambitions (Editor – not a maritime article, but an interesting wrinkle with disturbing ramifications)
- HMS Forth holds remembrance service for crew of SMS Scharnhorst
- Coast Guard Struggling to Get Ships Repaired as Navy Expands Use of Smaller Yards
- ★ How Submarines Can ‘See’ Underwater – Sonar Overview (Editor – handy explanation in a 10:42 min video…ignore the commercial)
- U.S. to Top Up Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Editor – not a marine article, but a thought-provoking result of the global economic churn…wars over resources are common)
- Why the United States Needs a Merchant Marine – A Historical Basis (Editor – “If the nation is serious about being a true maritime power, then it requires not only a viable Navy, but also a commercial fleet”)
- 5 Unique Weapons of Cuba’s Garage-Built Navy
INDO-PACIFIC
- Theodore Roosevelt, America Strike Groups Conduct Expeditionary Strike Force Training in South China Sea
- China’s navy shipbuilders are ‘outbuilding everybody’
- JMSDF takes Delivery of First Maya-Class Destroyer JS Maya on March 19
- Low noise Borei class sub remained unnoticed by US during voyage to Far East (Editor – I don’t know the circumstances surrounding this transit, but the Soviet’s used to think this [erroneously] during the cold war too)
- Australia’s Attack-class submarines need competition
- China’s JL-9 Mountain Eagle trainer jet to be modified for aircraft carrier operation: reports
- HHI Wins Construction Contract for ROK Navy’s FFX Ulsan-class Batch III Frigate
- US trade pressure induces Indonesia to drop Russian, Chinese arms deals
- Combat systems installation, trials completed on Indonesia’s 2nd SIGMA frigate
- First round of BAE Hunter Class secondees return to Australia (Editor – I wonder if the RCN is doing this?)
- From the bookshelf: ‘Naval minewarfare: politics to practicalities’ (Editor – Amazon)
- Icebreaker Aurora Australis Begins Final Voyage
- Navy to lease private shipyard as fund crunch delays base on East coast
EUROPE
- Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has released his Annual Report for 2019
- Analysis: Russia builds up Northern fleet in Arctic
- Two brand new naval vessels training in Arctic waters
- HMS Sutherland has complete her intense winter training in the Arctic Circle and is now heading for high-readiness tasking with NATO
- Russia’s Borei-class & Delta IV-class SSBNs to Deploy Burak-M EW Buoys
- Russia’s Project 20385 Corvette Gremyashchy Sailing to Baltic Fleet
- Russia’s Project 21631 Buyan-M Corvettes Fitted With Mines
- Which Future Destroyer For The Russian Navy ? – Part 1
- ★ Experts discuss plan to lift nuclear waste from Russian Arctic seabed (Editor – the scope is unbelievable)
- The Next-generation of Royal navy Type 31 Super Frigate Capability! (Editor – 3:04 min video)
- Plans for LSS and FSSS vessels may be scrapped in favour of MRSS
- Naval manpower crisis worsens with shortages in many ranks
- Thales MCM USVs will enter service with Royal Navy and French Navy in 2020
- New Port Planned for Russia’s Growing Northern Logistics Chain
- OKEANRYBFLOT Orders Another ‘Supertrawler’
MIDDLE EAST
- Iran flags 50 new coronavirus cases per hour
- US Navy aircraft carriers Eisenhower and Truman conduct joint air wing operations in Arabian Sea
GLOBAL INTERESTS
- ★ Opinion: Maritime Freedom & the Global Commons (Editor – Excellent opinion article, note the Canadian author)
- Spanish Influenza’s Final Lesson (Editor – not specifically a maritime issue, but so topical today)
- ★ Oil’s 24% Plunge in a Day Signals No End in Sight for Meltdown (Editor – fuel price war, global virus pandemic, climate change impact, regional arms race, global economic slowdown; how many destabilizing issues can arise before a military confrontation occurs over something?)
- As the World’s Borders Close, Crew Changes Become a Serious Challenge
- Shipping Containers in Short Supply
- US Africa Command cancels exercise Obangame Express
- Cruise Industry’s Daunting Efforts to Berth
- New Hull-Cleaning Robot Travels With the Ship
SCUTTLEBUTT
- ★ Battle of Coronel – Sundown in the Eastern Pacific (Editor – first-rate historical 36:45 min video documentary with extraordinary details)
- Plan Z – Germany’s Secret Sleeping WW2 Battleship Fleet (Editor – great pics in a 11:47 min video)
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.