NAC News – Edition 375
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of September 18th 2020
Edition – 375 “Important naval stations should be secured against attack by land as well as by sea” Mahan: Naval Strategy, 1911
Rod Hughes – Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca (comments welcome to help improve this service)
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NOTICES
- ★ Did you know the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) collaborates with Canadian Leaders to connect your Navy with school-aged students? VAdm McDonald, Cdr RCN invites you to participate in a “virtual” presentation (via Zoom) – to learn about the Ship to Shore (S2S) Programme and the Canadian Leaders behind this fantastic initiative. 23th Sep 2020 @ 3:00-5:00 pm EDT: speaker: Teri McKinnon, Director, Ship to Shore. To register, please RSVP Kray.Robichaud@forces.gc.ca by close of business Mon, 21st September 2020. Please provide your professional details.
- Vanguard Launches First-Ever Virtual Event For Canadian Defence Industry (Editor – note it’s a virtual event…first-ever Canadian underwater/submarine event that will take place on October 29th and 30th, 2020)
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CANADA
- Hundreds of billions in planned military spending “secure” despite COVID-19: Sajjan
- New chief of defence staff expected to signal Liberals’ priorities for the military
- CAF welcomes CPO1 Gilles Gregoire: 14th CAF Chief Warrant Officer
- Canada’s special forces seek outside intelligence advice
- Genoa Design Joins Seaspan Shipyards Team to Deliver Canadian Coast Guard’s Future Polar Icebreaker
- CDAI Analysis: China’s arctic ambitions and what they mean for Canada by P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Adam Lajeunesse, James Manicom, and Frédéric Lasserre
- Why the U.S. Should Recognize Canada’s Claim to the Northwest Passage
- COVID Alert App available
- National Remembrance Day Ceremony 2020: A more intimate commemoration
- ★ The Incheon Landings and the RCN in the Korean War
- Military families are truly unsung heroes in Canada. Now there’s a day to remember them too
- First RNZN ANZAC class upgrade (Enlarge the graphic to see the mods installed in Canada)
- What the Arctic’s rapid transition into a ‘new climate’ looks like (Editor – astonishing)
- Open Letter to all Canadian Parliamentarians from The Royal Canadian Legion
- Battle of the Atlantic Heroes: John Wall
- Battle Rattle Candle Company (Editor – note the candles being offered through the HMCS Sackville “Just for the Hull of it Campaign”, and HMCS Alberni project)
- CDAI Report: NORAD Modernization: Report One: Awareness and Sensors – Part one of a three-part virtual roundtable focussing on NORAD modernization.
- The Naval Hymn, live from Abbey Road Studios (Editor – a beautiful rendition of Eternal Father, Strong To Save if you ever need it)
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USA & AMERICAS
- USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Sept. 14, 2020
- NATO’s Atlantic Command to be declared operational
- Ahead of future fight, US reworks carrier air wing formation
- Navy Mulling Extending Service Lives of Nimitz-class Carriers
- U.S. Admiral Talks 3rd Chinese Aircraft Carrier: ‘Go Ahead and Build that Big Ship’
- US Defense Secretary urgently calls for more shipbuilding funding
- US Bans Marine Scientific Research in its Waters without Consent
- Navy Sharpening Anti-Submarine Warfare Skills in Black Widow Exercise
- Cheeky buggers: The US Air Force has already built and flown its future fighter?
- Here’s when the US Navy thinks the carrier Ford will be ready to deploy
- UK, Dutch navies train for joint counter-narcotics ops
- Video Release — Virginia-Class Submarine Montana (SSN 794) Christened during Virtual Ceremony at Newport News Shipbuilding
- Why the U.S Built Only 3 of the Deadliest Submarines Ever, Like The F-22 of Submarines (Editor – impressive look at the Seawolf in this 10:02 min video)
- U.S. Warrior-Accountants Want Tiny New Ships But Hate To Support Them
- Charting Terradepth’s Big Ambitions in the Unmanned Vehicle Space
- Archaeologists Identify Steamship Used to Transport Enslaved Mayans
- New Legislation Aims to Boost Great Lakes Icebreaking Capacity
- AI-driven robot Mayflower recreates historic voyage
- MQ-9B SeaGuardian Demonstrates Maritime Capabilities over Southern California Waters
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INDO-PACIFIC
- France, Germany, UK reject China’s sweeping claims in South China Sea in joint note verbale
- ASEAN, China Still Negotiating to Keep Law Enforcement Disputes From Becoming Naval Conflicts
- Valiant Shield 2020 Kicks Off Today As Joint Force Assembles in Mariana Islands
- Royal Australian Navy ships join Exercise Pacific Vanguard
- China’s 3rd aircraft carrier ‘progressing smoothly’
- The moral case for China to fight a war (Editor – many different points of view)
- Indonesia Protests Presence of Chinese Ship in Its Waters and China, Indonesia sea dispute hot and getting hotter
- The U.S. Air Force’s E-8 Radar Plane Usually Tracks Tanks—Now It’s Hunting Chinese Warships
- CIMSEC: the Sino-Japanese maritime disputes in the East China Sea
- China’s New Carrier Early-Warning Plane Is More Than A Hawkeye Clone
- One Of The World’s Largest Dry Dock Is Taking Shape In Eastern Russia (Editor – just east of Vladivostok)
- U.S. Forces Korea CO: North Korea Showing No Signs of Regime Instability
- CIMSEC: China’s aircraft carriers and Southeast Asia: testing coercive naval diplomacy?
- India And Japan Just Signed A Defense Logistics Pact – And China Won’t Be Happy
- India in talks for logistics pacts with Russia, U.K. and Vietnam
- ★ China Expands its Island-Building Strategy Into the Mid-Pacific (Editor – Tarawa atoll is located in the group)
- World’s First LNG-powered Very Large Containership Delivered
- Opposition MP calls on government to reconsider Darwin port deal
- Cable Laying Vessel Catches Fire and Sinks Off South Korea – Incident Video (Editor – 1:32 min video included)
- Salvors Repair Ruptured Tank on Fire-Hit New Diamond Off Sri Lanka
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EUROPE
- Two Russian Tu-142 antisubmarine aircraft fly over Barents, Norwegian, North Seas
- Experts warn of potentially ‘deadly’ great power games in the Arctic
- Suspected Libya arms embargo buster boarded by Op Irini
- British Littoral Response Group sails for Mediterranean and Black Sea
- Belgian Navy’s MCM Program: Technical Details of the Mothership and Toolbox (Editor – follow on from last week’s article in this detailed 6:12 min video)
- Russian Navy Boikiy Steregushchy-class corvette conducts exercise using Uran anti-ship missile
- Ep. 1/8 – Naval Group Underwater Weapons in Saint-Tropez: Introduction (Editor – intro to an noteworthy series in this 1:30 min video)
- SAAB receives order from Germany for RBS15 anti-ship missiles
- RFA: What Is The Royal Fleet Auxiliary?
- French Navy retires Lynx from service
- Russian Submarine Improved Kilo II (Editor – detailed 10:14 min video)
- Next batch of Type 26 Frigates to be ordered ‘in the early 2020s’
- British Royal Navy tests upgraded Spearfish torpedo
- Time ticking down on US nuclear presence in Turkey
- CIMSEC: Sea Control 199 – the Eastern Mediterranean question with Dr. Ioannis Grigoriadis and Dr. Jan Asmussen (Editor – really broad and useful 1 hr podcast)
- Turkish ship at centre of row with Greece returns to coast
- Microsoft’s underwater data centre resurfaces after two years (Editor – a modern maritime security concern?)
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MIDDLE EAST
- Israel, 2 Gulf nations seal new accords at White House ceremony, angering Palestinians
- ★ CIMSEC: the Israeli navy in a changing security environment
- The new eastern Mediterranean crisis
- Iran’s New Submarine Debuts at Massive War Games
- Iran holds second day of naval exercises with drone, cruise missile strikes (Editor – includes 2:55 min video)
- Combined Maritime Forces and EUNAVFOR Discuss Counter-Piracy Campaigns
- Defence Secretary announces investment in strategic Omani port
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
- ★ Watch: gCaptain’s Impassioned Call For Change (Editor – heartfelt, frustrated, and appalling saga of current maritime events in this 44:34 min video and) Seafarers Caught in ‘Perfect Storm’, Seafarer Rights Group Says and 300,000 seafarers still stuck on ships: ‘We feel like hostages’ (Editor – 2:16 min video incuded)
- Oil Traders Snap Up Tankers in Sign of Second-Wave Counting
- CLIA: Over $23.5 billion invested in environmentally friendly cruise ships
- CanPower – Microgrid in a Box
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SCUTTLEBUTT
- Sailing a Superboat Across the Atlantic in Record Time (Editor – unbelievable boat in this 22:06 min video…welcome to the North Atlantic!)
- White Board: Types of Sea Mines (Editor – basic but useful 11:35 min video)
- Whiteboard: How to use Layer Depth (Editor – instructive 9:51 min video)
- Whiteboard: Launch a Torpedo (Editor – 9:51 min explanatory video)
- Whiteboard Submarine Rescue (Editor – 14:14 min explanatory video)
- 7th WWII Submarine Discovered by Explorer Tim Taylor’s “Lost 52 Project” (Editor – includes an amazing 41 sec silent video)
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SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES – SEPTEMBER
(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”, Roger Litwiller’s excellent web site, the encyclopedic guidance from Fraser McKee, and anywhere else I can find credible information.)
- 1 September 1939 RCN, RCNR, RCNVR placed on active service.
- 1 September 1942 HMCS Morden commanded by Lt John J. Hodgkinson, RCNR sank the German submarine U-756 in the Atlantic.
- 1 September 1944 HMCS Saint John commanded by A/LCdr William R. Stacey, RCNR with HMCS Swansea commanded by CDR A. Frank C. Layard, DSO, RN sink U-Boat 247 off Land’s End, England. This was HMCS Swansea’s fourth submarine under two separate CO’s.
- 3 September 1814 Lieutenant Miller Worsley and Andrew Bulger lead 77 men by canoe north from Wasaga Beach, Ontario, captures American warship USS Tigress at anchor in False Detour Channel, about 88 km northeast of Mackinac Island; then go after USS Scorpion, which they capture September 5.
- 3 September 1939 Battle of the Atlantic begins as merchant seawoman Hannah Baird of Verdun, Québec sees her ship, Donaldson liner SS Athenia torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat west of Ireland on route to Montréal, one week before Canada declared war and one week after the merchant service and military were placed on a war alert. The sinking kills 188 of those aboard, including Biards and three other Canadians, the first Canadian casualties of the Second World War.
- 3 September 1939 Britain declares war on Germany two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland; France follows 6 hours later, and then Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada on week later. On September 5, 1939, the United States will proclaim neutrality.
- 3 September 1940 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces Lend Lease Programme, where 50 American destroyers will be traded to Britain, of which 7 go to Canada, in exchange for leases on naval and air bases in the British colonies, including St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Bermuda; Canada also agrees to shelter the destroyers in Canadian ports before they are handed over to British crews.
- 3 September 1942 World War II – HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Trail together pick up 17 survivors from the Canadian merchant ship Donald Stewart that was torpedoed and sunk northeast of Cape Whittle in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in position 50°32’N, 58°46’W by German U-boat U-517.
- 3 September 1943 Canadian flotillas of landing craft engaged in the crossing of the Straits of Messina – the invasion of Italy.
- 3 September 2016 – Franklin Expedition – Parks Canada and the Arctic Research Foundation find the underwater wreck of Sir John Franklin’s flagship HMS Terror; it is “in pristine condition”, north of where the wreck of HMS Erebus — the expedition’s flagship — was found in 2014.
- 4 September HMC Ships Dunver and Hespler sank U-484 in Hebridean waters.
- 4 September 1990 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces formation of Operation Scimitar, to provide air cover for the two destroyers and the supply ship sent to the Persian Gulf in late August of 1991 as part of Operation Friction, tasked with enforcing the United Nations trade blockade against Iraq.
- 5 September 1814 Royal Navy Lt Miller Worsley, flying captured American colours in the USS Tigress, takes the USS Scorpion at anchor after fierce hand-to-hand fighting; sails both ships west to Fort Michilimackinac.
- 5 September 1918 The Royal Canadian Naval Air Service is authorized and begins operations in Nova Scotia.
- 7 September 1816 – Steamship Frontenac launched at Bath, west of Kingston; first steam powered vessel on the Great Lakes.
- 7 September 1942 HMCS Raccoon Torpedoed and sunk by U 165, while escorting convoy QS.33 in the St. Lawrence River. There were no survivors. 37 perished.
- 7 September 1943 HMS Nabob (an aircraft carrier) is commissioned into the Royal Navy with a Canadian crew and a Royal Air Force complement.
- 7 September 1955 HMCS Sioux leaves Yokosuka for Esquimalt ending RCN involvement in Korea.
- 8 September 1939 Mackenzie King says no to conscription; stresses munitions-making, and building up RCN and RCAF.
- 9 September 1919 Alexander Graham Bell sees his HD-4 hydrofoil, powered by twin aircraft engines, reach a new world water speed record of 122 kph; piloted by J.A.D. McCurdy at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
- 9 September 1942 War Cabinet closes the St. Lawrence River to all Allied shipping except coasters; due to German U-Boat submarine dangers.
- 9 September 1944 HMCS Dunver commanded by A/LCdr William Davenport, RCNR, and HMCS Hespeler commanded by LCdr Neville S.C. Dickinson, RCNVR sink the German submarine U-484 in Hebridean waters.
- 10 September 1814 Kingston naval dockyard launches the 112 gun HMS St. Lawrence, the largest warship ever to sail the Great Lakes; carrying more armament than Admiral Nelson’s Victory.
- 10 September 1939 Canada declares war on Germany
- 10 September 1941 HMCS Chambly commanded by CDR James D. Prentice, RCN, and HMCS Moose Jaw commanded by LT Frederick E. Grubb, RCN sank the German submarine U-501 off the coast of Greenland. This is the first U-boat kill made by the Royal Canadian Navy.
- 11 September 1833 – Quebec-built steamship ‘Royal William’ reaches England safely; the wooden paddle wheeler is the first ship to cross the Atlantic under steam all the way, although sails are raised whenever the wind is fresh; the two steam engines are kept running, but the ship goes slowly under sail because of the drag from the paddle wheels.
- 11 September 1942 HMCS Charlottetown was torpedoed and sunk in the St. Lawrence, near Cap Chat Quebec, by U517. She had just delivered a convoy to Rimouski and was returning to Gaspe. Ten of her ship’s company were lost.
- 12 September 1759 Admiral Saunders bombards Beauport and feigns a landing to divert attention away from Wolfe’s landing below the Plains of Abraham.
- 13 September 1750 General Wolf’s forces conducted an amphibious assault and stormed the cliffs of Quebec City and defeated the French. This battle marked the beginning of the end of France’s rule in North America.
- 13 September 1942 HMCS Ottawa sunk by U91 who hit her with two torpedoes in the North Atlanta while she was escorting convoy ON.127. 113 of her Ship’s Company were lost, plus 6 RN seaman, and 22 merchant seamen.
- 14 September 1942 500 km east of Newfoundland, German U-Boat U-91 torpedoes and sinks RCN River Class destroyer HMCS Ottawa (A/LCdr Clark Anderson Rutherford, RCN) in the North Atlantic, while escorting convoy ON-127; hit by two torpedoes, she blows up and sinks immediately; 113 of her ship’s company are lost, plus 6 RN seaman and 22 merchant seamen; there are 69 survivors; Battle of the Atlantic growing in intensity.
- 16 September 1939 – RCN escorts the first of many ship convoys for Britain; RCN vessels guard the freighters in formation to protect against German U-Boat attacks. Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- 16 September 1942 The first of sixteen RCN corvettes sails for the Mediterranean Sea to take part in the North African landings (Operation Torch).
- 17 September 1904 – Captain Joseph Bernier departs from Québec on the Canadian government steamship ‘Arctic’; given the command because of his interest in the Polar regions (he had devised a plan to reach the North Pole via the Bering Strait); will make 12 expeditions into polar seas in the next 20 years; he will spend the winter in Hudson Bay collecting Canadian customs duties from whalers and traders. Québec, Québec
- 19 September 1940 HMCS Bras D’or sank in a storm in the St. Lawrence with the loss of all 30 hands.
- 19 September 1941 German U-74 torpedoes and sinks RCN Flower Class corvette HMCS Lévis 200 km off Cape Farewell, Greenland; 18 lives are lost.
- 19 September 1969 Ottawa to reorganize Canadian Armed Forces; 50% cut in NATO manpower; retirement of RCN aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure.
- 20 September 1943 German U-boat U-305, using a new acoustic torpedo (GNAT), hits and sinks RCN Town Class destroyer HMCS St. Croix, while she is escorting convoy ON.202, south of Iceland; 65 members of the ship’s company perish; five officers and 76 men are rescued by HMS Itchen, however, only two days later, the Itchen is also torpedoed by an enemy submarine; only one St. Croix sailor, Stoker W. Fisher, survives the two sinkings; one of the men lost was Surgeon Lt W. L. M. King, RCNVR, Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s nephew.
- 20 September 1917 Borden government passes the Military Voters Act and Wartime Elections Act, giving the vote to soldiers and sailors under 21, and serving women; wives, widows, mothers, and sisters of servicemen also get the vote; the first women ever to be able to vote in Canadian federal elections
- 21 Sept 1943 In 24 hours, Canadian and British minesweepers cleared a lane through a minefield laid by U-boats off Halifax. No lives were lost.
- 22 September 1917 Flight Sub Lieutenant N.A. Magor, the Canadian pilot of a large American flying boat sank the UC 72 in the North Sea with direct hits by two 230 lb bombs. This was one of a few submarines destroyed by air action during WW1.
- 24 September 1940 HMC ships Annapolis, Columbia, Niagara, St. Clair, St. Croix and St. Francis, ex-American destroyers from the fifty given to Great Britain in exchange for bases, are commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy.
- 24 September 1941 Canada joins eight other allied governments in pledging support to the Atlantic Charter, an eight-point declaration issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
- 24 September 1955 HMCS Sioux returns to Esquimalt, the last ship of the RCN to return from the Korean conflict.
- 24 September 1965 – Military RCN commissions HMCS Ojibwa, first of three 2000-ton RCN Oberon class submarines. Chatham, England
- 25 September 1940 Canadian armed merchantman Prince Robert captures German ship Weser off Mexican coast.
- 27 September 1854 Steamship Arctic sinks off Cape Race, Newfoundland with 300 people on board after colliding with the 250-ton French iron propeller ship S.S. Vesta; the 3,000-ton side-wheeler was the largest and most splendid ship of the Collins Line (United States Mail Steamship Company) in competition with Samuel Cunard’s Royal Mail Steam Packet Company; casualties include 92 of her 153 officers and men, and all the women and children on board, including the wife, the only daughter, and the youngest son of shipowner E. K. Collins; first great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean liner.
- 27 September HMCS Labrador arrives in Esquimalt via the Artic. She was the first naval ship and the first deep draught vessel of any kind to traverse the North West Passage.
- 27 September 1994 USN closes Argentia submarine detection base; last US military base in Canada.
- 30 September 1994 Halifax-class frigate HMCS Regina is commissioned in Saint John, New Brunswick.