NAC News – Edition 393
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of January 22th, 2021
Edition – 393
“Could not explosives even of the existing type be guided automatically in flying machines by wireless or other ray, without a human pilot, in ceaseless procession upon a hostile city, arsenal, camp, or dockyard?” Winston Churchill: Thoughts and Adventures. 1925
Rod Hughes – Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca (comments welcome to help improve this service)
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NOTICES
- The Maritime Security Challenges Sessions continues at 1600 (4:00 pm) Pacific Standard Time Wednesday 27 January 2021 with “Middle Powers and Great Power Competition” (Editor – note the three earlier presentations are available at the link too.)
- Crow’s Nest 79th Anniversary Zoom Session – Wed 27th January, 7pm (NL) / 5:30(East) / 2:30(Pac). To mark this occasion, we are planning a Zoom session with RCN Battle of the Atlantic veteran Cdr Peter Chance. Advance registration is required but it is free.
- RCN Distinguished Speaker Presentation (via Zoom) – 27 Jan 2021 – 1300 EST
- A Portrait of an “Artist-in-Residence – RCN”. The Comd RCN invites you to participate in a presentation by the RCN’s Sculptor in Residence, Christian Cardell Corbet, the SiR since 2012. If you are interested, you can register by emailing Kray.Robichaud@forces.gc.ca . Include your name and organization.
- For more details email the NAC executivedirector-nac@outlook.com and he will forward the full email invitation to you.
- US CSIS Maritime Security Dialogue series – U.S. Navy: Setting the Theater in the Arctic. 2 February 2021 at 1000 EST. A discussion with ADM Robert P. Burke, USN Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa and Commander, Allied Joint Forces Command Naples
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CANADA
- Admiral McDonald’s Flag Hoist Signal
- Canada Assumes Command of Standing NATO Maritime Group One
- ★ Governor General Julie Payette Resigning After Workplace Harassment Probe
- Third Independent Review of the National Defence Act
- Slide deck from PSPC’s 2021 Marine Procurement Outlook – including East Coast Ferries, CCG, RCN (Editor – 94 slides)
- Zodiac Hurricane Technologies Wins $16.5M Government Contract
- #8 CPO1 David Steeves, CD – Chief Petty Officer of the Canadian Navy (Editor – 43:08 min video)
- It’s a landmark day for nuclear disarmament, but an awkward one for the federal government
- HMCS Glace Bay Change of Command
- Canada and the Gulf War: In their own words (Editor – 30 years after the first Gulf War this 17:05 min video recounts the CAF’s participation)
- The Dangerous Fighter Plane of the U.S. Navy (Editor – 9:29 min impressive video that explains the latest and last F18E/F variant…I presume the planes that Canada is looking at. I wonder what if any anti-shipping weapons will be procured?)
- Port of Prince Rupert reports increase in cargo shipments, despite pandemic
- Federal government looking to settle lawsuit over $165 million error in veterans benefits
- The Soldier’s Aid Commission Act, 2020 and accompanying regulations came into force on January 1, 2021. Through these modifications, eligibility for financial assistance from the commission was further expanded to include all eligible Ontario Veterans and their eligible family members regardless of where and when the Veteran served.
- Convoy duty aboard HMCS Port Arthur
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USA & AMERICAS
- USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Jan. 21, 2021
- Italian carrier heads to US for F-35B fit-out
- Pentagon’s weapons tester gives update on Navy’s new long-range anti-ship missile
- Navy: First Constellation Frigate Will Start Fabrication This Year as Shipyard Expands
- PEO Ships Preparing to Usher in Several New Ship Classes
- Biden administration plans detailed review of Navy modernisation plans
- Pentagon’s Director, Operational Test & Evaluation 2020 Annual Report (Editor – 60 pages of Navy items in the middle of the report)
- SECNAV Names Future Vessels while aboard Historic Navy Ship (Editor – the future USS Chesapeake is an interesting connection with her predecessor’s 1813 casualties buried in the Royal Navy Burying Ground, Halifax NS)
- Four Reasons The Navy’s Bold Plans For Its Surface Fleet Are Doomed In The Biden Era
- Navy Working on Better Maintainability, Self-Sufficiency for LCS and Rest of Surface Fleet
- Navy Calls Freedom LCS Propulsion Problem Class-Wide Defect, Won’t Take New Ships Until Fixed
- Wolfe: Modernized Trident Missiles Require Rigorous Testing As Navy Builds Columbia-Class
- Are Hypersonic Weapons a threat to America’s Aircraft Carriers? (Editor – potential future threats in this 9:15 min video)
- US Coast Guard ‘Alarmed’ By Mariners Turning Off AIS
- MARAD Green Lights Two More NSMV Builds
- South America Plans Regional Response to China’s Squid Fleet
- World’s Largest VLEC Loaded in Texas. Sets Sail for China
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INDO-PACIFIC
- Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group conducts bilateral exercise with JMSDF
- Japan weighs in on South China Sea dispute, adding to pressure on Beijing
- Does Soviet naval strategy provide a template for China’s maritime ambitions?
- NATO and the Asia-Pacific
- How India May Rely On Its Navy To Offset China
- ★ Would you spend $90b on this submarine?
- Chinese Survey Ship Caught ‘Running Dark’ Give Clues to Underwater Drone Operations
- India, Singapore navies sign submarine rescue pact
- ★ Dozens of Bulkers Remain Stranded off China as Coal Standoff Drags On
- China knocking on CPTPP trade pact’s door (Editor – not a maritime article but huge implications for the maritime world)
- Maersk Boxship Loses 750 Containers Overboard in North Pacific
- Video: America’s Cup Racing Yacht Takes Flight, Then Capsizes (Editor – spectacular 2:00 min video)
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EUROPE
- The patrol ship “Dmitry Rogachev” of the Black Sea Fleet passes the Black Sea Straits in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea
- U.S., U.K. Sign Agreement on Upcoming Deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth with American F-35Bs, Destroyer and Does Britannia Rule The Waves Again? U.K. Carrier Strike Group Declared Operational
- Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers Repair And Maintenance Costs Total £39m In 2020
- SSN Perle Arrives at Naval Group Facility for Repairs After Fire Damage
- New Kalibr-armed ship to join Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on January 30
- Russia Is Building Four Special Submarines To Haul Its Weird Doomsday Drone
- Russia Prepares To Accept Kh-47M Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile into Service
- Norway scraps frigate Helge Ingstad
- Netherlands assumes the command of NATO Mine Countermeasures Group
- Media Reveal How British Nuclear Bombs Could Blow Up a Big Chunk of the World
- Off the California coast, the US Navy tests hunting subs with an aerial drone
- HMS Echo Hunts For Historic Ordnance Off Lithuanian Coast
- Russia’s Nevskoe Design Bureau Unveils UMK Varan Aircraft Carrier Concept
- “A step closer to year-round shipments on Northern Sea Route”
- Netherlands sets out plans for Goalkeeper CIWS replacement
- HMS Protector: Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship Returns To Sea After £14m Revamp
- CIMSEC Sea Control 223 – Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World with Andrea Pitzer (Editor – historic arctic stories in this 36:08 min podcast)
- BV Uses ROV to Complete First Underwater Ship Survey
- World’s First Tiltable Rotor Sails Installed
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MIDDLE EAST
- Iran Test-Fires Ballistic Missiles 100 Miles From Carrier Strike Group
- First escort mission for Chinese Navy Changsha 173 Type 052D destroyer in the Gulf of Aden
- U.S. Coast Guard to Commission 41st Fast Response Cutter
- CTF-151 and Djibouti hold talks to combat piracy
- Beirut Blast Chemicals Possibly Linked to Syrian Businessmen
- US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iran
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
- The key trends to watch this year on nonstate armed actors (Editor – not a maritime article but there are many security implications)
- USS Porter conducts ‘Atlas Handshake’ exercise with the Royal Moroccan Navy
- Delays are Growing with Increasing Reports of Rollover Cargo Worldwide (Editor – “rollover” is missing a sailing, in this case due the absence of containers)
- Fuel, Propulsion, Emissions & the Decision to Scrap or Refit
- New Study Finds Polyester Fibers Throughout the Arctic Ocean
- The deep ocean is the final frontier on planet Earth | The Economist (Editor – amazing 14:48 min video)
- Maersk boxship targeted by pirates in Gulf of Guinea
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SCUTTLEBUTT
- ★ The Enormous USS Ronald Reagan Carrier | Aircraft Carrier: Guardian Of The Seas | Spark (Editor – awesome window and explanation during this 41:07 Min video)
- Has This Inventor Found A Solution To IED Threats? | Forces TV (Editor – every overseas force on the ground faces this threat, a 6:57 min video)
- Type 93 Long Lance Torpedo – Long Range Hole Poking Device (Editor – interesting technical history explained in this 28:12 min video)
- What was the best gun system on a U.S. Navy or foreign warship, and why? (Editor – “Gunnery! Gunnery! Gunnery! All else is twaddle! Hit the target!” First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher)
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SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES – JANUARY
(If you see any omissions or errors please inform me, and more modern significant dates are also welcome. 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 website, the encyclopedic guidance of NAC member and author Fraser McKee, and anywhere else I can find credible information.)
- 1 January 1923 The National Defence Act, which was passed in June 1922, takes effect, creating the Department of National Defence.
- 1 January 1907 – Military – British Admiralty provisionally hands over the Halifax Dockyard to Canadian authorities.
- 1 January 1946 The Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve together become the RCN (Reserve). From this date officers of the Regular Force and Reserve wore the same sleeve lace.
- 4 January 1943 HMCS Prince Henry is re-commissioned as Landing Ship Infantry (Medium).
- 4 January 1945 German U-boats torpedo steamship “Polarland” near Halifax; Canadian merchant ship “Nipiwan Park” also sunk by submarine attack.
- 4 January 1781 Royal Navy press gang seizes Lunenburg farmers in Halifax and puts them on a British Man-of-War, in spite of a jury finding that the impressment is illegal.
- 8 January 1944 HMCS Camrose commanded by A/LCDR L. Raymond Pavillard, RCNR, and HMS Bayntun sank the German submarine U-757 in the North Atlantic.
- 9 January 1945 HMCS Ehkoli, a former RCN patrol boat, is re-commissioned in the RCN as a survey vessel.
- 11 January 1957 HMCS Magnificent arrives in Port Said with the main body of the Canadian contribution in troops and materiel to the United Nations Emergency Force controlling the Israeli-Egyptian border.
- 13 January 1943 RCN corvette HMCS Ville de Québec commanded by LCdr A.R.E. Coleman, RCNR sank the German submarine U-224 off Italy.
- 14 January 1952 HMCS Uganda is renamed Quebec.
- 17 January 1957 HMCS Bonaventure is commissioned at Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the first aircraft carrier to be owned outright by Canada and incorporates several post-war technical developments: an angled deck, mirror landing aid, and steam catapult.
- 19 January 1911 The Royal Naval College of Canada opens in Halifax.
- 19 January 1943 HMCS Port Arthur commanded by Lt Edward T. Simmons, RCNVR sank the Italian Submarine Tritone in the Mediterranean Sea.
- 22 January 1942 The Canadian Naval Board is established.
- 24 January 1932 HMC Ships Skeena and Vancouver land armed parties at Acajutla, El Salvador, to protect British subjects threatened in a revolution.
- 24 January 1946 HMCS Warrior, the RCN’s first aircraft carrier, is commissioned and Nos.803, 825, 826 and 883 Squadrons (already manned by Canadians) are transferred from the Royal Navy.
- 26 January 1955 Cabinet approves the entry of members of the Womens’ Royal Canadian Naval Reserve as members of the RCN Regular Force.
- 29 January 1914 First public parade of RNCVR in Victoria. With ex-RN instructors.
- 30 January 1991 At the Battle of Babiyan a CF-18 Hornet attacks and causes irreparable damage to an Iraqi warship. It was the only CF-18 credited with an official victory during the Gulf War.
- 31 January 1923 The Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve are established.