naval affairs

NAC News – Edition 476

NAC News – Edition 476

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of August 26th, 2022

Edition:  476  “All these things – our economic security, our modern well-being, our future hopes – depended on the uninterrupted flow of sea-borne trade; on cargo in the holds of dingy freighters ploughing the seven oceans.  It was vital; and, so far Canadian naval resources were concerned, it was dreadfully vulnerable.”  Far Distant Ships – An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in World War II, pg. 10, Joseph Schull, 1950  (Editor – not much changes, at least the dingy freighters have!)

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

1-2 November Vanguard’s 2022 Deep Blue Forum – The Canadian Patrol Submarine Project: 2030 Options for Canada.  National Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON.  Reception 1 November 17.30 – 20.00 (Ottawa time) at the National Arts Centre 1 Elgin Street.  Details for attending.

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

The Canadian Coast Guard Dedicates its Latest Icebreaker into Service

Prime Minister, NATO secretary general to visit Nunavut, with spotlight on Arctic defence

Record-Setting $1.1B Meth Cargo Seized at Port Botany

Recruitment Allowance Released for Understrength Military Occupations

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CANADA

FIRST READING: Here’s all the Canadian weapons now targeting Russians in Ukraine (Editor – not naval but an noteworthy summary)

On the hunt: HMCS Winnipeg conducts Anti-Submarine Warfare training

Defence Team News | 24 August 2022 (Editor – 1:37 CAF min video.  The RCN was there in numbers at sea in ships of varying sizes, and four members lost their lives because of the raid.)

HMCS Harry DeWolf diverts to Halifax due to failure en route to Arctic mission  (Editor – yes, ships do occasionally break down)

On guard for thee: serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (Editor – hard data in a Statistics Canada 13 July 2022 Report)

‘Horrifying’ that Veterans Affairs worker raised assisted suicide with troubled veteran, group says

Crews prepare to raise sunken fishing vessel leaking oil into Salish Sea

Social Sharing

Canadian Navy tall ship HMCS Oriole docked at Oshawa Pier

Cadet military training camp in Ottawa hit with COVID outbreak

Military law experts surprised by form of internal investigation into 4 cadets’ deaths

Canada and Germany Ink Transatlantic Green Hydrogen Pact

Canadian Navy’s 10 o’clock soup tradition (Editor – this will bring a few smiles!)

Consumers are paying the price — in time and cost — for a choked-up global supply chain

B.C. Ferries Struggles to Fill Staff Shortages

Canadian Defence Review Volume 28 Issue 4 (Editor – lengthy interview with Commander RCN included)

Tiffies, Shipwrights and Bosuns: even trades have nicknames and Ravens stretch wings on day sail articles from latest Lookout Volume 67 Number 33 | August 22, 2022

Trident Volume 56, Issue 17, August 22, 2022 one article CPO2 Andy Hewlett on 20 years with the CAF / Le Pm 2 Andy Hewlett parle de ses 20 ans au sein des FAC

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 22, 2022

CGAI: Defence Deconstructed: NATO’s Northern Flank with VAdm Dwyer (Editor – insightful 26:16 min podcast)

American Sea Power Project: Geography Plays an Ocean-Sized Role

The Navy’s Navigation Plan is good, but Congress has some heavy lifting to do to make it work and CNO Gilday: Industrial Capacity Largest Barrier to Growing the Fleet and Growing Work Force Largest Challenge to Columbia-Class Sub Programs, Says Navy Official

U.S. Navy Takes Delivery of First Aegis-Integrated Tactical Laser (Editor – better article than last week’s)

Navy Orders Full Production for Boeing’s HAAWC Air-Launched Torpedo Kits (Editor – a great standoff ASW weapon capability!)

10 Facts About New Gigantic $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier (Editor – 12:03 min video)

Indian Navy frigate completes maiden deployment to Brazil

BAE Systems to modernize the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Ross

Judge throws out plea deals for couple in submarine spy case

Navy Exceeds 1,500 COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Separations

SWO Boss Wants 6 Littoral Combat Ships in Western Pacific

CIMSEC: The state of the Warfighter mentality in the SWO

US Submarines Demonstrate Ability to Replenish While in Operation

U.S. to Continue Record Crude Exports in 2023 as Energy Crisis Deepens

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Awarded Dredging Contracts Totalling $107 Million

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INDO-PACIFIC

USNI 54:08 min podcast – Understanding the Chinese Navy

14 Russian Warships Enter Sea of Japan Ahead of Major Military Exercises

IAG 2022: Chinese, Russian warships won first place each on first competition day of Sea Cup

Pacific Dragon 2022 Concludes and HMAS Sydney flaunts combat power at Exercise Pacific Dragon

Reagan Carrier Strike Group Wraps Spring Patrol Following Chinese Military Drills Near Taiwan

Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant to be commissioned in two weeks and Indian Navy Requires Three Aircraft Carriers: VAdm MA Hampiholi on Chinese Threat at IOC and arguably the most important part of the puzzle INS Vikrant to Add to Navy’s ‘Reach’; Russian Mig-29K to Remain till Indigenous Fighter is Commissioned

Five Type 052D Destroyers Under Construction In China

Innovation: People Are More Important than Technology

South Korea Invited to Japan’s 2022 Fleet Review for the First Time Since 2015

Chinese PLA’s two newly commissioned large destroyers ‘ready for combat’ with latest drills

China restarts mass production of Type 052D destroyers, media reports say

Indian Ocean High Risk Designation to be Withdrawn at End of 2022

LIG Nex1 Signs Contract To Develop ‘Lightweight Torpedo-II’

Upstart Anduril Australia hopes to make 100s of large drone subs, ‘ITAR free,’ CEO says (Editor – US International Traffic in Arms Regulations [ITAR])

With Abe gone, Japan-Russia in a new deep freeze (Editor – useful summary)

CIMSEC: Sea Control 373 – a coercive quarantine of Taiwan with Dr. Bradley Martin and Kristen Gunness(Editor – 23:26 min podcast)

INS Sumedha Participates in Maritime Exercises with Australian Navy

Entrepreneur May Sell Strategic Pacific Islands to Chinese Interests

Sanctions-Hit Russia Sending Fuel Oil to Asia Using Ship-to-Ship Transfers yet Japan’s JERA Pens New LNG deal with Russia’s Sakhalin-2

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Ukraine war in maps: Tracking the Russian invasion after six months

Ukraine’s Crimean fightback having ‘psychological impact’ on Russia

Russian Black Sea chief named

Russian Black Sea Fleet expected to receive 12 ships in 2022

Ukraine war: Russia appeals for new recruits for war effort

Ukraine war: Russia to allow inspectors at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – Putin

Ukraine’s Grain Shipping Corridor Appears to Be Working and More Grain Ships Set to Leave Ukraine and to where How much grain is being shipped from Ukraine?

Some 720,000 t of Food Have Left Ukraine Under Grain Export Deal

General:

Carrier USS George H.W. Bush Joins Truman Strike Group in Mediterranean, Two Guided-Missile Subs in 6th Fleet

Sister Ship of Sunken Russian Cruiser Moskva Departs Mediterranean, U.S. Destroyers Follow Behind

Smol: Why Sweden will be a stronger NATO member than Canada

Delivery of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov delayed again

Four US Navy ships arrive in Baltic ports, demonstrating commitment to regional allies

USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) arrives in Klaipėda, Lithuania

Finnish Navy Minelayer Ran Aground During Exercise

Nato investigates hacker sale of missile firm data

Turkiye’s Indigenous 76/62 Naval Gun Completes Sea Trials

SH Defence “Cube” System aboard BAE Systems’ Adaptable Strike Frigate

General Atomics Wins EMALS Order For France’s Future Carrier

Royal Navy warship shadows Russian tanker through the Channel

In focus: the 127mm Mk 45 gun that will equip the Type 26 frigates

Corvette sailed north via inner waterways and launched Kalibr cruise missile

Latvian Navy to modernise three ships with ECA Group’s mine countermeasure solution

Low water levels reveal sunken WWII German warships on Danube

Navigating a Minefield: Why UXO Could Hamper the UK’s Offshore Wind Ambitions

Ukraine reveals name of its first Milgem-class corvette

Channel migrants: Almost 1,300 migrants cross Channel in new record

Video: Wreck of WWI Destroyer USS Jacob Jones Located (Editor – 2:54 min video included)

Chinese shippers shun Russian Arctic waters

Nord Stream 1 Pipeline To Shut For Three Days In Latest Fuel Blow To Europe

German icebreaker back from research trip to better understand Arctic ice

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MIDDLE EAST

Brazil takes over CMF’s anti-piracy mission in Middle East

Bahrain Conducts Fifth Sentinel Shield Exercise with IMSC

Final Two Fast Response Cutters Arrive at US Coast Guard Station in Bahrain

USS Lewis B. Puller Holds Change of Command

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

China’s Djbouti base fully operational

A tiny fraction of the high seas are protected. Why a UN treaty is needed now more than ever

Shipping Container Suppliers Abandon $987 Million Deal After US Probe and Why Don’t These Containers Fall Off? (Editor – 6:14 min video)

Scrubber market to reach $16.4 billion by 2030

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SCUTTLEBUTT

Operation Neptune – They come by sea! (Editor – a great look at the naval operation preparing/launching D-day 33:34 min video)

The Mariner’s Mirror in a 39:00 min podcast The Golden Age of Piracy

America’s WW2 Flying Boat That Came With A Kitchen | Martin PBM Mariner (Editor – 32:40 min video)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

27 August 1942  The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is established.

27 August 1944  Actions by Flying Officer Roderick Gray of the RCAF over the Atlantic Ocean earn him the George Cross. (Posthumous).

28 August 1942  HMCS Oakville commanded by LCDR Clarence A. King,  DSC,  RCNR during convey escort duties and working with a USN PBY sank the German submarine U-94 in the Caribbean Sea by depth-charges and three rammings.

28 August 1992  RCN sends destroyer HMCS Gatineau to monitor UN embargo against Yugoslavia; moves to NATO standing force in Mediterranean.

29 August 1911  The prefix “”Royal”” is granted to the Canadian Navy by the King.

29 August 1917  Robert Borden’s Military Service Act gets Royal Assent; all male British subjects up to 45 years of age liable for conscription; with certain exceptions. Ottawa, Ontario

30 August 1943  HMCS ATHABASKAN (Destroyer) is commissioned at Newcastle on the Tyne, England.

30 August 2003  HMCS Haida (G63), Canada’s most famous warship and the last remaining Tribal Class in the world, is moved to the Hamilton waterfront by Parks Canada; on the 60th anniversary of her commissioning into the RCN.

31 August 1694  Royal Navy vessel William and Mary attacks seven French warships at Ferryland, Newfoundland.

31 August 1939  HMC Ships Fraser and St. Laurent leave Vancouver for Halifax to take up war stations in the North Atlantic Ocean.

31 August 1942  German U boats sink 108 merchant ships this month, with a loss of 544,000 tons. Atlantic Ocean.

31 August 1942  HMCS Morden sinks with depth charges U-756 440 miles WSW of Cape Farewell; the kill was originally credited to a USN Catalina.

31 August 1945  HMCS PRINCE ROBERT entered Hong Kong where her commanding officer represents Canada at the surrender ceremonies of Japanese forces, and to liberate POWs.

31 August 1946  The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is disbanded.

31 August 1993  Fishery – Mulroney Government slaps a complete ban on cod fishing after stocks dwindle.  A year earlier, Fisheries Minister John Crosbie ordered the $700 million northern cod fishery shut down for two years to conserve stocks; in total, 40,000 Atlantic Canadians lose their jobs, in the single largest mass layoff in Canadian history.  At its peak in the late 1960s, the northern cod fishery hauled in up to 800,000 tonnes a year.

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, DSC, RCNR with HMCS Swansea commanded by CDR A. Frank C. Layard, DSO, RN sank 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 a female merchant sailor 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 Biard 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.  The “Battle of the Atlantic” was the longest and one of the most important campaigns of the Second World War — lasting from the first day of the war in 1939 until the last day of the war in Europe in 1945.  Canada played a major role with the RCN assuming responsibility for escorting convoys in the northwest Atlantic — the only major theatre of the war to be commanded by Canadians.  By the last months of the war the RCN had grown to a strength of over 95,000 personnel, 6,000 of them members of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, and the fleet committed to the Battle of the Atlantic included some 270 ocean escort warships.  Canada possessed the third-largest remaining navy in the world after the fleets of the United States and Britain.  The most important measure of its success was the safe passage during the war of over 25,000 merchant ships under Canadian escort.  These cargo vessels delivered nearly 165 million tons of supplies to Britain and to the Allied forces that liberated Europe.  Most of the 2000 members of the Royal Canadian Navy who lost their lives died in combat in the Atlantic.  Proportionally, Canadian merchant seamen suffered much more heavily, losing one in ten killed among the 12,000 who served in Canadian and Allied merchant vessels.

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 – The Great Lakes freighter SS Donald Stewart (Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., Montreal) was bound for Goose Bay, Labrador (from Quebec City) in convoy LN-7 (3 ships). She had a cargo of aviation fuel and bulk cement for the development of the USAF airfield. At 07:56 on 3 September 1942, U-517 (Paul Hartwig) fired torpedoes into the convoy. The Donald Stewart was torpedoed and sunk (50°32’N 58°46’W) about 75 nm SW of the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle between Labrador and Newfoundland. Three crew members were killed.  The master, 15 crew members and one passenger were picked up by HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Trail and were landed at Quebec.

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.

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, a special thanks to 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)


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