NAC News - Edition 472 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition 472

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of July 29th, 2022

Edition: 472 “Although naval forces have occasionally lent support to land operations near the shore, as they did so often and so effectively during the Second World War, nine-tenths of all naval warfare has been waged in order to secure the use of the seas to friendly shipping while denying it to the enemy. The aim has seldom been completely achieved, even through great naval superiority; but given fair success, the results have usually been very weighty and sometimes decisive.” The Naval Service of Canada, Its Official History Vol 2, Activities on shore during the second world war, pg. 336. Gilbert Norman Tucker, PH.D. Director of Naval History Section 1952

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. (Influencer or good candidates to become a NAC member, and note the first year’s NAC & Branch membership dues are waived)

NOTICES

Starshell – Edition Summer 2022 – Hot off the presses folks!

Job Posting – Executive Director NAC

10 August 2022 – 15h00 (3:00PM) PDT MSC Virtual Series 11. “How the Russia-Ukraine War is Changing Russia’s Maritime Warfare”. Presented By: Dr Michael Petersen, Russia Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College. To register.

14-16 November 2022 Registration for Maritime Security Challenges 2022 in Victoria BC is open! The past two years have seen an explosion of major events and trends that are shaking the world: a once-in-a-century-pandemic; a land war in Europe; international energy and food crises; the rise of authoritarian political movements and governments; more dramatic weather; and decades-high inflation. Many of these issues are playing out at sea, as shipping costs soar, navies modernize to protect their national maritime claims, and state rivalries flourish in the maritime domain.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

Robert Murray: With global threats rising, Canada’s lazy foreign policy is a growing vulnerability

Pride in Canada’s military has eroded over the past year: report

U.S. Becomes Largest LNG Exporter in 2022 Driven by European Demand and U.S. LNG Exports to Europe On Track to Surpass Biden Pledge

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CANADA

RIMPAC 2022: Canada, a ‘Capable, Adaptive, Partner’

Canadian Navy’s third AOPS starts sea trials

The National Shipbuilding Shambles

HMCS Fredericton gets new CO / Un nouveau commandant pour le NCSM Fredericton

U.K. sending military expert to Canada amid Russian threat to Arctic

Defence minister ‘disturbed’ after ‘desecration’ of Tomb of the Unknown soldier

RMC Convocation, Sunset Parade & Commissioning Parade 2022 (Editor – CAF 4:39 min video)

Ferry Carrying Over 180 Passengers Suffers Engine Room Fire Off Canada’s Prince Edward Islandsubsequently P.E.I.-N.S. ferry cancelled for a 2nd day after fire aboard ship forced evacuation Friday

NAC Briefing Note #6 updated 7 June 2022 National Shipbuilding Strategy (Editor – and as a result of the NSS the Future HMCS Max Bernays is underway for sea trials)

Canada seeking new torpedo countermeasures for military submarines

Establishment of 3 Canadian Space Division

Sikorsky S-92 helicopters achieve major milestone (Editor – the Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone is the RCAF variant of the S-92)

Battle of the Atlantic: A U-boat hunter remembers

‘PATs’ pitching in at Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific)

B.C. Ferries fires president and CEO after 173 cancelled sailings in 28 days

Phoenix problems persist

Lookout Volume 67, Issue 29, July 25, 2022

Trident Volume 56, Issue 15, July 25, 2022

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: July 25, 2022

American Sea Power Project: Alliances and Coalitions Are Essential

UPDATED: Navy’s Force Design 2045 Plans for 373 Ship Fleet, 150 Unmanned Vessels

2022 Chief of Naval Operations Navigation Plan Update

Senate FY 2023 Appropriations Bill Adds $4B to Navy Shipbuilding, Money for New Amphibs

Northcom Commander: We Need Better Domain Awareness

The Character of War Is Constantly Changing (Editor – the associate 54:11 min podcast Proceedings Podcast Ep. 267: The Character of War is Constantly Changing

Navy Accepts Delivery of USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205)

Navy Issues Ingalls, Bath Iron Works Contracts for DDG(X) Design and Engineering

Report on Virginia-class Attack Submarine Program (Editor – impressive)

10 Navy Helicopters Suffer Major Damage, Several Blown Over in Sudden Norfolk Storm

Initial Operating Capability Declared for Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS)

Moskva Sinking Reinforces US Navy Belief in Directed Energy Weapons

Brazil’s NAM Atlantico To Be Fitted With Artisan Radar

Navy Nearing 1,500 COVID-19 Vaccine Separations

Hospital Ship USNS Comfort to Deploy to Southern Command Region

Navy Decommissions USS Whidbey Island

Could the Great Lakes solve US shipping woes?

Damen and Curacao Plan Investments for Caribbean’s Largest Shipyard

U.S. Coast Guard, CBP Seize 20,000 Pounds of Khat at Port of Seattle

Video: First Modern U.S.-Built Great Lakes Bulk Carrier Enters Service (Editor – 1:32 min video included)

Washington State Ferry Damaged After ‘Hard Landing’ in Seattle (Editor – way beyond the usual fender bender)

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INDO-PACIFIC

The CNO seeks not only interoperability, but also interchangeability with foreign armed forces

US aircraft carrier enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions

Defense of Japan 4th Edition (Editor – useful “pamphlet” from the Japanese perspective)

This is the Clearest Photo Yet of Chinese Navy’s J-35 Fighter

Pentagon Official: Chinese Military Actions Against Foreign Ships, Aircraft Are No Accidents — They’re Policyand Australia ‘abusing Chinese restraint’ (Editor – Canada included)

New Chief of Navy takes the helm

French Forces in the Asia Pacific Region – ALPACI (Editor – 13:24 min video) and Socarenam Begins Sea Trials Of The First POM OPV

China’s nuke torpedo claim more bluster than blast

RIMPAC mine-hunting exercise

Indian Navy Takes Delivery of First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier ‘Vikrant’

HHI Launches South Korea’s First KDX III Batch II Destroyer

Australians now attending British nuclear submarine courses

How can Australia bridge the SSN capability gap? and South Koreans offer Aussies new subs in 7 years to close Collins gap and What China’s condemnation of AUKUS says about Beijing then a 48:32 min podcast PODCAST: Readying Australia for the nuclear submarine revolution adding their two cents worth French navy warns AUKUS nuclear submarine plan will be ‘much more difficult’ for Australia

China posits AUKUS conspiracy theory

Sailing Vessel Kwai Cleans Up 96 Tonnes of Trash From the Pacific

Hawaii Coast Guard cutters deliver water to parched Kiribati

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Why does the world need grain to be shipped from Ukraine? so finally Three Ukrainian Ports Reopen for Grain Shipment Under UN-Brokered Deal but Ukraine’s Path to Exporting Grain Involves Clearing Mines, Finding Ships and Trusting Putin and Ship Insurers Sail Into the Unknown as Ukraine Grain Deal Reached and just to add to the insanity Ukraine, UN denounce Russian missile strike on Odesa following deal to unblock grain exports and then Russia Admits Attacking Port of Odesa Just After Signing Grain Deal yet finally Russia-Ukraine updates: Ukraine resumes operations at 3 ports for grain shipment

Russia Claims It Struck Ukrainian Warship And Harpoon Missiles Depot but British Defense Intelligence states no Ukrainian ship was hit in Odesa

Russian Navy establishes control of northwestern Black Sea in Ukraine operation (Editor – weakly chuckle)

Kyiv Says Russian Strikes Pummel Ukraine’s Black Sea Coast (Editor – this is the pop up that comes with the Moscow Times article, “Russia Media is Under Attack. At least 10 independent media outlets have been blocked or closed down over their coverage of the war in Ukraine. The Moscow Times needs your help more than ever as we cover this devastating invasion and its sweeping impacts on Russian society.)

Advanced rocket systems, anti-armour weapons, and UAS platforms are part of a new US military aid package to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister visits Royal Navy mine-hunting training as part of UK visit

Lavrov Says Russia, Turkey & Yet Undetermined Party Will Escort Ships With Ukrainian Grain

Could Royal Navy minehunters be used to clear sea channel for Ukrainian grain exports?

General:

Russia says it’s working on carrier-killer hypersonic and Russian hypersonic missile Tsirkon to enter service in one month

World’s Largest Nuclear Submarine Dmitriy Donskoi (TK-208) Returns to Home Base

World’s 2nd Biggest Submarine – Is Russia Decommissioning its Gigantic Dmitry Donskoy Nuclear Sub?

Russian Navy’s SSBN Generalissimus Suvorov starts factory trials

Bodies of 5 migrants recovered, more than 1,200 others rescued in the Mediterranean

ITS Caio Dullio Returns from USS George HW Bush COMPTUEX

Netherlands Armed Forces Deploys Own Roll-on Roll-off Ship for the First Time

Spanish warship in illegal incursion into Gibraltar waters

UKHO Phases Out Admiralty Paper Charts

The UK House of Lords Takes a Lead on Human Rights at Sea

Deep crisis looms, but here comes Russia’s biggest ever Arctic oil project

Nord Stream’s Turbine Tussle Puts Spotlight on Equipment

Crew Shortage Poses Major Challenge to Restoring Ukrainian Grain Exports

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MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Navy’s second Avante 2200-class corvette enters service

Two new US Coast Guard cutters visit Lebanon for 1st Middle East stop

Steadicopter wins contract with Israeli Navy for its Rotary UAVs

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

Shrinking Oil Tanker Fleet May Deepen The Energy Crisis

The super-clocks that define what time it is

Nigeria and shipping industry launch strategy to eliminate piracy threat in Gulf of Guinea

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SCUTTLEBUTT

The Most Insane Kill of the U-Boat War – Oakville vs U-94 Plane Bombing and Ship Ramming

Mariner’s Mirror podcasts The Wreck of the Andrea Doria: Ep 1 – The Events (editor – 40:00 min) The Wreck of the Andrea Doria Part 2: The Eyewitness Accounts (Editor – 54:00 min) and The Wreck of the Andrea Doria Part 3: The Wreck (Editor – 32:00 min)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

31 July 1940 HMCS Prince Robert, after conversion from a merchant vessel, is commissioned as an armed merchant cruiser.

31 July 1942 HMCS Skeena commanded by A/LCdr Kenneth L. Dyer, RCN with HMCS Wetaskiwin commanded by LCdr Guy S. Windeyer, RCN sank U-588 in the North Atlantic.

31 July 1942 The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) is authorized, by war’s end nearly 6,500 will have joined up.

1 August 1959 The RCN is presented with Queens Colours by Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II in Halifax.

4 August 1910 The Rainbow was commissioned as an H.M.C. ship at Portsmouth and was manned by a nucleus crew supplied by the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Reserve. The Rainbow was a light cruiser of the Apollo class, and the Canadian Government paid £50,000 for her and assigned her to the west coast.

4 August 1914 War is declared between Great Britain and Germany. Canada is automatically at war with Germany as well. HMC ships placed under Admiralty operational control.

4 August 1940 – The freighter SS Geraldine Mary (Anglo-Newfoundland Steam Ship Co., St. John’s) departed Botwood, Newfoundland on 19 July 1940 with a routine cargo of newsprint, pulp and sulphite. Four days later, she departed Halifax in convoy HX-60 (more than 60 ships). This eastbound crossing would be her fifth from Botwood to Manchester since the beginning of the year. The crossing was uneventful until the 4th of August when the convoy was about 380 nm SNW of the North Channel entrance to the UK ports. A U-boat had been waiting for the convoy. At 03:35 (GMT+2), U-52 (Otto Salmon) quickly sank two freighters (SS King Alfred and SS Gogovale). About six hours later, at 09:22, U-52 fired a single G7e torpedo into the SS Geraldine Mary. She was hit amidships and sank after two hours (56°46’N 15°48’W) about 270 nm NW of Ireland. One passenger and two crew members were casualties.

4 August 1941 – The Shelburne, Nova Scotia built steam-powered two-masted fishing schooner SV Robert Max was owned by the Grand Bank Fisheries Ltd of St. John’s, Newfoundland. With 200 tons of dried salt cod, she was sailing from Bay Bulls, Newfoundland to Porto, Portugal. On 4 August 1941 at 20:55 (GMT +2) the Robert Max was about 195 nm east (36°47’N 21°15’W) of the Azores Islands when two shots were fired across her bow by U-126 (Ernst Bauer). Two hours later, after the Master and six crew members abandoned ship to a lifeboat, the schooner was sunk by gunfire. Three days later, they safely reached San Miguel Island in the Azores.

4 August 1943 – The Canadian built (Burrard Dry Dock Company, Vancouver) but British manned SS Fort Halkett was steaming independently (no escort), in ballast, from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On 4 August 1943 at 04:50 (GMT+2), with Rio being about 1,240 nm further to the south-west, the Fort Halkett was shelled and sunk (9°30’S 26°50’W) by U-185 (August Maus). The crew safely abandoned ship into three lifeboats. The master and 23 survivors made landfall south of Natal, Brazil. The chief officer and 23 survivors were picked up by the USS Goldsborough and landed at Recife, Brazil. The second officer and ten survivors landed at Cabadello, Brazil.

5 August 1914 Two submarines, later designated CC-1 and CC-2, are purchased for the RCN by the Premier of British Columbia in Seattle, Washington. Commissioned into the RCN 7 August.

5 August 1944 HMCS Iroquois commanded by Cdr James C. Hibbard, DSC, RCN, with HMCS Haida commanded by Cdr Harry G. DeWolf, DSO, RCN, and other allied forces, sank German minesweepers M-263 and M-486.

SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES – 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, NAC member Roger Litwiller’s excellent web site, encyclopedic guidance from NAC member Fraser McKee, the Uboat.net site, and anywhere else I can find credible information. For the merchant ship history, I thank NAC member Bill Dziadyk for his able assistance and detailed work. The RCN lost 1,965 men and 24 ships during the War, most of them in the Atlantic. A comprehensive list of the staggering merchant losses – sunk, damaged, or lost – Canadian Merchant Ship Losses of the Second World War, 1939-1945 by Rob Fisher {Revised June 2001}, and for the loss of individual personnel RCN Ship Histories, Convoy Escort Movements, Casualty Lists 1939-1947)