NAC News – Edition 447
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of February 4th, 2022
Edition 447 “The Russian circle around Putin, they really do want to teach the Ukrainians a lesson. And they don’t shy away from killing lots of people or seeing lots of people get killed.” 8 January 2022, Fiona Hill, Associated Press.
Rod Hughes – Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca (Comments welcome to help improve this service.)
Links to keep in touch with the NAC and RCN can be found at the bottom of this email. Contact David Soule executivedirector-nac@outlook.com if you wish someone to be added to the NAC News email distribution. (Perhaps an influencer or a good candidate to become an NAC member)
NOTICES
7 February 2022 19:00 Ottawa time NAC-O’s GoToMeeting Speakers Evening with guest speaker for February will be Mr. Shaun Padulo, President of Heddle Shipyards. Mr. Padulo will present an overview of the capabilities of Heddle, and will also speak about some current projects and past refits of HMCS Haida. Register at WildApricot Registration.
NEW 8th Feb 2022 10:00 am Ottawa time. The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government of St. Francis Xavier University invites you to attend their distinguished speaker Zoom presentation: The future of HMCS) Margaret Brooke (AOPV 431) – the RCN’s newest Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel. The speaker will be Commander Nicole Robichaud CO of HMCS Margaret Brooke. To register email first and last name, position/title, position/title, and organization to Kray.Robichaud@forces.gc.ca.
24-25 February 2022 Vanguard Ship Tech Forum 2022 – A virtual Defence Event. 0800-1700 Ottawa time. Keynote Speakers: Deputy Commissioner Andy Smith, for Shipbuilding and Materiel of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG); and RAdm (RCN) C.P. Donovan, CD – Director General Future Ship Capability. To register.
NEW 9-11 March 2022 CDAI 90th Ottawa Conference Security and Defence. The Ottawa Conference is an annual gathering of Canada’s defence and security community. CDAI is an umbrella group for organizations who represent 400,000 active and retired members of the CAF, the event brings in foreign guests, Canadian government leaders, academia, and the business community to reflect on how to make Canada and the world safer. To Register. (Note – free to students)
28 April 2022 – BOA Gala Dinner – Subject to COVID restrictions, the Dinner will be held on the evening of 28 April 2022, the Thursday before Battle of the Atlantic Sunday. The NAC will honour Canada’s Naval Veterans with a special evening at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Mark your calendars and details to unfold.
14-16 November 2022 – Due to onging COVID restrictions the organizers of MSC22 have postponed the planned March event to November. This now in-person event will take place in Victoria, BC. The draft program for this November’s MSC22 is now posted on the MSC website and is available on the MSC social media channels.
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
China joins Russia in opposing Nato expansion
Production vessel engulfed in flames after explosion
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CANADA
CDAI: Competing Strategic Objectives in the Indo-Pacific: Implications for Canada (Editor – thought-provoking and a mix of info during a 1:31:02 hr webinar)
Tail cracks on military’s new helicopters likely due to weight of equipment: DND and DND says cracks in 11 of 21 Cyclone maritime helicopters have been repaired
Two days set aside for former vaccine task force chief’s sexual assault trial
FIRST READING: Military tells Ottawa to find someone else to evict the truckers
Canadian military cuts dozens of unvaccinated troops, puts hundreds more on notice
Renowned N.L. businessman Harry Steele dead at 92
New Diesel-Electric ‘Laker’ for Canada Steamship Lines Leaves China on Maiden Voyage
Canadian Naval Review annual essay competition. A prize of $1,000 provided by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust is awarded for the best essay. The winning essay will be published in CNR. Other non-winning essays will also be considered for publication, subject to editorial review.
Owners of Cormorant pay up for oil spill clean up in Bridgewater, N.S.
It’s time to improve the PDSP, says Federal Retirees CEO
Editor – NAC-O’s Volume 11 of our Salty Dips Series is available in hardcover, paperback, and electronic versions. This edition contains extracts of the diaries of a submarine commander during the cold war and many other stories.
Editor – It was recommended by an NAC member that I trial the shortening of the format of the RCN history section and only covering the upcoming week’s events, plus we are adding wartime merchant ship sinkings (some amazing stories). We are working on posting the full calendar on the NAC website to make it fully accessible year-round.
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USA & AMERICAS
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Jan. 31, 2022
Proceedings Podcast Ep. 251: Former SECNAV John Lehman on How to Rebuild the U.S. Navy (Editor – 56:48 min podcast)
US Navy carrier Ford to go on unusual deployment this year
Report to Congress on Constellation-class Frigate Program (FFG-62)
Navy Wants to Buy Two Arleigh Burkes a Year While Developing DDG(X) Concept
Argentina deploys new patrol vessels to combat IUU fishing
Keel laid for US Navy’s first Flight II amphibious transport dock and Report to Congress on LPD-17 Flight II, LHA Amphibious Warship Programs (Editor – Naval News Monthly Recap in Global Interests covers the launch of USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29)
Navy Surpasses 100 Separations for COVID-19 Vaccination Refusal and Marines COVID-19 Vaccination Separations Surpass 450
Former Navy Captain Pleads Guilty to Bribery in ‘Fat Leonard’ Investigation
Peru oil spill after Tonga eruption bigger than previously thought
Lack of Coast Guard Icebreakers Disrupts Shipping on Great Lakes, Says Task Force
Ships transiting Panama Canal save 16 million tons of CO2 in 2021
Iranian Supertanker Expected to Discharge in Venezuela -Document
U.S. Holds Onto World’s Top LNG Exporter Spot Amid European Energy Crisis
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INDO-PACIFIC
Here’s Why India Is Deploying A Lot More Warships
Japan Defense Enhanced With Aegis Weapon System And SPY-7 Software Demonstration (Editor – the same radar that the CSC will employ)
A Maritime Strategy to Deal with China
USS Fitzgerald Conducts Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercise with Japan
Japan Coast Guard Issues Salvage Warning in South China Sea as Navy Prepares F-35C Recovery Operations and Navy says the leaked images of the F-35 crash into the South China Sea are real
CTF-76, ESG-7 embark USS Miguel Keith for Littoral Warfare Operations
Dutton allays Hunter Class frigate fears, BAE responds on the other hand Is Australia’s shipbuilding endeavour faltering? (Editor – criticizing the type 26’s design)
First Poseidon P-8A aircraft will soon be delivered to South Korea
Some 20 Russian Pacific Fleet ships begin exercise in Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk
Taiwan To Upgrade Kang Ding-Class Frigates With French Assistance
Japanese Shipyard Launches YOT-02 Tanker for JMSDF
Japan Coast Guard conducts exercise with Indonesia near Singapore
France, China fueling India, Pakistan sub race
China to give second-hand submarines to Thailand
Indonesia’s $125B air, naval splurge may mean ’50 warships’ at sea in next 2 years
Australia’s HMAS Adelaide suffers power failure during Tongan aid mission
Cable Repair Ship To Arrive Tonga on Sunday
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EUROPE
Russia-Ukraine tensions: Powers clash at UN Security Council (Editor – and a different perspective) On target: Putin is playing NATO like a fiddle
Russian Black Sea Fleet’s warships return to naval bases after massive drills and Russia moves naval exercises outside Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone
Overstretched and underfunded – the decline of Europe’s navies
UK plans to procure next batch of Type 26 frigates in early 2020s
French Carrier Strike Group Begins ‘Clemenceau 22’ Deployment and French Fleet Beginning to Recover From Budget Turmoil, Says Navy Chief
U.S. Aircraft Carrier Holds Drills in Adriatic Amid Russia-Ukraine Tension
TKMS hands over fourth German Navy Type 125 frigate
Fourth Astute-class submarine formally commissioned
Major milestone for HMS Prince of Wales with Chinook landing and 1,000th Landing Milestone for HMS Prince of Wales
Strategic nuclear-powered sub arrives in Russia’s north in transit to Pacific Fleet
Belgium Tests Lateral Deployment, Recovery of Sea Drones
UK purchases additional ‘Remus 100M’ underwater drones and Atlas Elektronik to deliver new autonomous mine hunting boat to RN
Turkey Developing Mini Attack Submarines and a 4:55 min video Turkey’s Killer Mini Subs To Check Russia In Black Sea l Ukraine, Philippines Among Potential Buyers
Rudderless cargo ship drifts around Dutch offshore wind farm, hits platform foundation then Video: Rescue of Crew from Drifting Bulker After Hitting Tanker finally Update: Abandoned Bulk Carrier Julietta D Arrives in Port, Ending Frantic Rescue
Hapag-Lloyd reports $12.8 billion operating profit amid strong demand
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MIDDLE EAST
US To Send Warship, Fighter Jets To Assist UAE After Yemen Houthi Attacks
Russian naval ships arrive at Syria’s Tartus in large-scale drills
Israel to participate for first time Naval drills with Saudi Arabia and Oman
US foes evade sanctions by deploying digital warfare tech to hide vessels at sea
Britain takes part in 60 nation Middle East naval exercise
Fincantieri Delivers First Musherib-Class OPV To Qatar
Bomb boat hit Saudi naval vessel, UN experts report
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
Naval News Monthly Recap – January 2022 (Editor – 5:09 min video…why does everyone seem to have at least one good sized aviation capable ships?)
Shackleton’s Endurance: The impossible search for the greatest shipwreck
Submarine FACTS: Why Are Torpedoes Always The Same Size? (Editor 15:41 min video)
Facts about Africa’s Geography never taught in schools |Thomas Sowell (Editor – thought-provoking perspective concerning Africa’s trade evolution in a 22 min video)
Outdated Laws Governing Undersea Cables Need Modernizing
HMS Endeavour: Row erupts over location of Cook’s coal ship
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SCUTTLEBUTT
Submarine Secrets: Pump Jets And Propellers Explained (Editor – superb 19:27 min video)
Citizen Sailors Virtual Cenotaph Vignettes 1 Feb 2022
H1Min: Rettungsboje – Luftwaffe’s rescue buoy (Editor – 1:39 min video)
When the Soviet Navy Lost 16 Admirals in a Single Accident: The Tu-104 Crash at Pushkin (Editor 24:28 min video)
The Exploding Shin’yō-class Motorboat (Editor – 9:55 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY – 5-11 Feb
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”, The Naval Service of Canada, Its Official History Vol 1-3, and Roger Litwiller’s excellent web site, encyclopedic guidance from Fraser McKee, the Uboat.net site, and anywhere else I can find credible information. For a comprehensive list of the staggering merchant losses – sunk, damaged, or lost – here is an excellent web page: Canadian Merchant Ship Losses of the Second World War, 1939-1945 by Rob Fisher {Revised June 2001})
- 5 February 1942 The Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. passenger ship RMS Empress of Asia (an armed merchant cruiser and troopship under the Admiralty’s Liner Requisition Scheme) was sailing from Bombay to Singapore. Embarked were troops and supplies to reinforce Singapore in the face of the rapid Japanese advances and their recent conquest of British Malaya. The Empress was in convoy BM-12 and within eyesight of her destination, when she became the enemy’s primary target among the five merchant ships in the convoy. Nine Japanese dive-bombers focused their assault on the Empress of Asia. She eventually sank after anchoring and burning on the Sultan Shoal at the entrance to Singapore. Sixteen passengers were killed. The 1884 survivors were rescued by HMAS Yarra, HMAS Bendigo, and HMAS Wollongong.
- 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 1941 SS Maplecourt was the first Canadian registered merchant ship to be sunk during WW2. The freighter (with 3604 tons of cargo, including 1540 tons of steel) was one of 38 ships in slow convoy SC-20 which departed Halifax on 22 Jan 1941. The armed merchant cruiser HMS Ranpura was the sole mid-ocean escort. On 2 Feb, before nearing the Western Approaches, Ranpura broke off and returned to Halifax. Five RN Ships (destroyer Harvester; corvettes Arbuties, Camellia and Erica; and the armed yacht Philante) then became escorts. Five merchant ships were sunk before the convoy reached Liverpool. Maplecourt had been a straggler when she was torpedoed by U-107 on 6 Feb 1941. She rapidly sank about 360 nm west of Northern Ireland. The crew of 38 were lost.
- 6 February 6, 1943 – Italian aircraft attack and sink RCN Flower Class corvette HMCS Louisbourg east of Oran while she is escorting a convoy from Gibraltar to Bone, Algeria; 2 Officers, 35 crew, and 5 RN seaman are lost.
- 8 February 1943 HMCS Regina commanded by LCdr Harry Freeland, RCNR sinks the Italian submarine Avorio in the Mediterranean Sea.
- 9 February 1941 HMS Mayflower and Snowberry (with Canadian COs) departed Halifax as local escort for the 47-ship convoy HX-108, bound for Liverpool. Both ships were Flower-class corvettes. Both ships had recently been delivered from Canadian shipyards and were subsequently completed in British yards on the Tyne River. Mayflower was fitted with a ‘dummy’ 4-inch gun built of wood for the transit to the U.K., an infamous example of the inferior condition of the early wartime Emergency Expansion Plan warships of the RCN. Although guns were acquired later, technological inferiority plagued the RCN until relatively late in the war. 269 Flower class corvettes (total varies by source) were built in British and Canadian yards, 123 vessels achieving service in the RCN’s fleet. They were operated by British, Canadian, French and US navies. Despite a very high number being built they were built in many different yards, the design constantly evolved due to operational experience and technical innovation throughout the vessel’s service life, and it was uncommon for any to be alike in either configuration or appearance.
- 10 February 1942 HMCS Spikenard is torpedoed by U136 and sunk in the North Atlantic. There were only 8 survivors and 57 perished.
- 11 February 1942 The unescorted motor tanker MV Victolite, (Imperial Oil Shipping Co. Ltd of Toronto), was sailing from Halifax to Las Piedras, Venezuela with a cargo of ballast seawater in her tanks (She would be returning to Halifax with tanks of Venezuelan petroleum). At 0328 on 11 Feb 42, she was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-564 (Reinhard Suhren) about 260 nm north-northwest of Bermuda. The surfaced U-boat watched the crew abandon their ship in lifeboats, identified the vessel from her distress signals, and then shelled her for a short time to confirm that all crew had left. A boarding party in a rubber dinghy then went to the abandoned tanker to search for secret documents and diesel oil that could be used to refuel the U-boat, but all safes were open and empty, and the fuel found was unsuitable as it was too viscous. The boarding party left after placing four scuttling charges in the engine room. However, the ship remained afloat after the explosions and U-564 shelled her again. The U-boat left the burning wreck behind after firing 98 rounds from the deck gun into the tanks and the superstructure. The lifeboats with the 45 crew members and the 2 Royal Navy DEMS gunners were never seen again.
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