NAC News - Edition 479 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition 479

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of September 16th, 2022

Edition: 479 “Moreover, in their desire to get along with the job, the blunt and heavy-handed Americans seemed to forget that Canada was not an occupied country and that they were not an army of occupation. That misunderstanding of this kind did not become more serious may be attributed to the good will of both parties, and Canada’s acceptance of the American argument that the views of the stronger nation must invariably carry the greater weight. Nevertheless it is well to remember that the co-operation is always more acceptable than coercion, even when the net result is the same.” Canada’s Soldiers 1604-1954 The Military History of An Unmilitary People, pg. 366, George F.G. Stanley, 1954

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. Early Bird Deadline: 4 October.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

King Charles officially proclaimed as Canada’s new monarch (Editor – videos included)

Statement by the Minister of National Defence on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Hundreds of sailors and marines rehearse for Her Majesty the Queen’s state funeral (Editor – 3:28 min video)

MLI The Queen Is Dead. Long Live The King

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CANADA

CDAI 30:30 min podcast interview No Reason Canada Can’t Have More Constructive Role in the World

Technical issues behind delays affecting Canada’s new search and rescue planes

Comment: Canada needs to rebuild its shipbuilding industrial base, open a fourth shipyard

Canada’s military will overhaul its recruitment process, general says and Allowing long, dyed hair and facial tattoos could help ease sailor shortage

Royal Canadian Naval Benevolent Fund bursaries for the 2022-2023 school year are now open and available for applications. You can find more information at the RCNBF website. The applications close October 28th 2022.

Ottawa has lost control of $150M program for reimbursing veterans’ cannabis: audit

A brief history of Canada and the Victoria Cross (Editor – two of the four Canadian naval VC winners mentioned)

CDR: Special RCN Edition (Editor – packed with good info)

CNR: a huge subject index that lists excellent material

RUSI(NS): Naming and Dedication of Canadian Coast Guard Ships

Lookout Volume 67 Number 36 | September 12, 2022 and article Commanding Officer takes flight for Operation Pegasus Jump

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Sept. 12, 2022

The Navy’s Window For Right-Sizing Its Carrier Onboard Delivery Fleet Is Rapidly Closing

Video: Mexican Navy Seizes Smuggling Boat With 1,700 Kilos of Cocaine (Editor – 1:10 min video. Best way to hunt fast boats is an aircraft-ship coop)

Navy to deploy carrier strike group with Project Overmatch networking

HII Begins Fabrication for the 2nd San Antonio-Class Flight II LPD

Marine Corps, Navy Remain Split Over Design, Number of Future Light Amphibious Warship, Divide Risks Stalling Program

CNO: Navy Will Lead DDG(X) Design Effort, Wargames Call for Fewer Large Surface Warships

LCS Coronado decommissioned after less than 9 years of active service

Ship tours underway at Maryland Fleet Week & Flyover (Editor – Canadian content in a 2:27 min video)

Proceedings Podcast: Tailhook Chairman Admiral Gortney on Naval Aviation (Editor – 28:45 min podcast)

Life Inside World’s Largest 13 Billion $ Aircraft Carrier in Middle of the Ocean (Editor – 12:00 min video)

Danish Training Ship Hits LCS USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul in Baltimore Harbor

Lockheed Martin awarded USD54M for ISIS Integrated Submarine Imaging System

US Navy to Receive Additional Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles (NSM)

Report to Congress on Next-Generation Logistic Ship

Navy Seeks Solution for Decommissioned Nuclear Carrier USS Enterprise

Newly Declassified Report Shows How Rickover Worked to Explain Radiation Risk from USS Thresher Loss

USS Nautilus Returns to NHHC Fleet

The Bi-Oceanic Corridor to revolutionize South America (Editor – 16:43 min video)

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INDO-PACIFIC

China’s Largest Ports Suspend Operations Before Typhoon Mufia

Russian, Chinese warships begin joint patrolling in Pacific Ocean

China unveils supersonic missile-torpedo anti-ship weapon

USS Ronald Reagan Departs Yokosuka to Resume Patrol

Russian Navy’s corvette Gremyashchy fires Kalibr missile

Australia: Exercise Kakadu 2022 set to be one of the biggest yet

AUKUS celebrates anniversary — What lies ahead? and AUKUS will deliver the potent military Australia needs: Marles

Royal Australian Navy achieves missile firings during Pacific Vanguard 2022 (Editor – HMCS Vancouver is in this exercise, and keeping busy here too) Japan, Canada Wrap Western Pacific Drills with U.S., USS Tripoli Underway in South China Sea

Japanese, Indian navies conduct exercise JIMEX 2022

Papua New Guinea to sign Security Pact with Australia to counter China in Pacific

Pakistan Navy criticizes Chinese-made Helicopters over Maintenance

5th P17A ‘Nilgiri’ Class Frigate ‘Taragiri’ Launched

First RAAF MQ-4C Triton unveiled

Australian new defence vessel kicks off maiden voyage

Evergreen’s 2nd 24,000 TEU behemoth delivered

No Chinese bases, Timor-Leste says

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Russian Navy Kilo Class Submarines Retreating From Crimea

Economist: Is the war in Ukraine nearing its end?

Survey: Ukrainians widely unwilling to cede territory

Where Is Russia’s Air Force? Shouldn’t it be Dominating? (Editor – 13:16 min video)

Ukraine retakes swathes of territory from Russian forces as war enters 200th day and Ukraine war in maps: Tracking the Russian invasion

Romanian military ship damaged by naval mine it was sent to defuse and pics Mine Scare In The Black Sea

As Ukraine pleads for more weapons, allies warn the cupboards are almost bare

Hundreds of Seafarers Are Still Stuck in Ukraine

General:

Royal Navy Marks the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II

U.S., NATO Need to Turn Attention to Black Sea, European Policy Experts Say

Russian Sub Ops Special Briefing: Severodvinsk Enters Med. (Editor 7:04 min video)

Russian Borei-A submarine Generalissimus Suvorov departs in Barents Sea for sea trials and Russia tests latest underwater warfare technology in the Barents Sea

Greek Coast Guard Fires Warning Shots At Passenger Vessel

US Navy and allies begin exercise near Turkey as NATO monitors Russian ships

A place of calm: Northern Fleet sailors arrive in remotest Arctic archipelago

Massive barge arrives in Glasgow to move new frigate

UK: All five Type 31 frigates to be delivered by 2028

Russia to begin construction of two new spy ships in December

Netherlands Coastguard Receives First Dash-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft

Sanctions are biting on Russian icebreaker builders

Patria Delivered Last Modernized Hamina-Class Missile Boat to Finnish Navy

Swedish Navy Tests Saab Enforcer III USV During Exercise

Shipowners Rush for Ice-Class Tankers to Move Russian Oil This Winter

World’s First Zero-emission Cruise Ship Ordered

Russia Poised To Ship First Cargo From New LNG Plant To Greece

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MIDDLE EAST

Report: Iran to Release Seized Tankers’ Crews but Not Vessels

Turkish frigate docks in Israel for the first time since long time ago

Saudi naval modernization pushes ahead, with eye always on Iran

Israeli Navy Accepts Leonardo Main Gun For Saar 6 Corvettes

Pentagon Combines Sea Drones, AI to Police Gulf Region

Qatar Celebrates The Arrival Of “Al Zubarah” Corvette And “Musherib” OPV

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

Nearly Half of Guyana’s Offshore Oil Exports Goes to Thirsty Europe

At current rates, 5 key climate tipping points are already possible, new study warns

Was The World’s ‘Northern-Most Island’ Erased From Charts?

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SCUTTLEBUTT

Why Nuclear Submarines cannot tough the bottom (Editor – 30 sec video)

How do nuclear submarines make oxygen? (Editor – 30 sec video)

Russian Aircraft Carrier in Big Trouble (Editor – 3:04 min video)

The Mariner’s Mirror – Freak Ships of the Nineteenth Century II: Circular Ships (Editor – 26 min podcast)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

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.

18 September 1942 – The Great Lakes ore carrier SS Norfolk (Canada Steamship Lines Ltd, Montreal) was sailing independently (no escort) from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana (now Suriname) and was bound for Trinidad, with a cargo of bauxite for onward delivery to American and Canadian aluminum smelters. Over the past nine months she had made thirteen such round-trip deliveries of bauxite to Trinidad. At about 13:52 (GMT +2) on 18 September 1942, the Norfolk was (8°36’N 59°20’W) about 135 nm SE of Trinidad when a G7e torpedo from U-175 (Heinrich Bruns) slammed into the starboard side amidships. The explosion broke the back of the ship, and she quickly sank. The master and five crew members were lost. Thirteen crew members swam to four rafts and were picked up by the Spanish ship Indauchu and were landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

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 1943 – On 9 September 1943, the Canadian built (United Shipyards Ltd., Montreal) but mainly British crewed SS Fort Longueuil departed Aden with a cargo of phosphate. She would be sailing independently (no escort) through the Indian Ocean to Fremantle Australia. On 19 September she was torpedoed (10°00’S 68°00’E) by U-532 (Ottoheinrich Junker) about 290 nm SW of the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory). Forty-seven crew members from Britain, India, Australia, and Canada and ten British DEMS gunners perished. Two Indian crew members managed to survive on a raft and became Japanese prisoners on 1 February 1944, when their raft drifted ashore on Sumatra after 134 days at sea.

19 September 1969 During the reorganized of the Canadian Armed Forces a 50% cut in NATO Canadian manpower was made, and the retirement of RCN’s only aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure was directed. Unification and the loss of HMCS Bonaventure was the one two punch that caused the demise of naval aviation. The Royal Canadian Naval Air Branch formally was disbanded upon the unification of Canada’s armed forces in 1968, when it became part of Maritime Air Group, a sub-unit of the integrated Maritime Command. In 1970, Bonaventure was taken out of service after 13 years of service, and the Tracker fleet became shore-based, although Sea King helicopters continued to fly from destroyer decks. The Naval Air Branch truly was relegated to history in 1975, when Air Command assumed control of Maritime Air Group. This step was counterintuitive given that aviation is arguably the most significant enabling element of any modern military. To this day Canada remains the only major nation without a dedicated naval air force, and the only G7 nation without the amazing versatility of some sort of large aviation ship.

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.

20 September 1943 – Simultaneous launch of twelve major ships across the nation. In a special “Ships For Victory” broadcast by CBC radio, Canadians listened to a special tone at precisely 3pm. At that moment shipyard workers released the ships as bottles of champagne struck the hulls and twelve massive ships slid into the waters from the Atlantic Ocean, St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, and the Pacific Ocean:

HMCS MICMAC, Tribal class destroyer -Halifax Shipyards, Halifax, NS

HMCS TORONTO, River class frigate -Davie Shipbuilding Co, Lauzon, QC

HMCS ORKNEY, River class frigate -Yarrows Ltd., Victoria, BC

HMCS WHITBY, Flower class corvette -Midland Shipyards Ltd., Midland, ON

HMCS REGULUS, Algerine class minesweeper -Toronto Shipbuilding, Toronto, On

HMCS Q112, Fairmile motor launch -J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd., Toronto, ON

HMCS GLENORA, Glen class tug -Russel Bros., Owen Sound, ON

SS Dundurn, Tanker -Canada Bridge Company, Windsor, ON.

SS Fort Esperance, Cargo ship -United Shipyards, Montreal, QC

SS Fort Lennox, Cargo ship -Marine Industries, Sorel, QC

CT 32, TANAC Tugboat -Central Bridge, Trenton, ON

CT 46, TANAC Tugboat -Russel Bros., Owen Sound, ON

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.

21 September 1943 – The Canadian built (Burrard Dry Dock Company, Vancouver) but British crewed SS Fort Jemseg was one of 40 merchant ships in convoy OC-202, which departed Liverpool on 15 September 1943, westbound for New York City. At 04:14 (GMT+2) on 23 September, and about 395 nm SSE from Cape Farewell, Greenland (53°18’N 40°24’W), U-238 (Horst Hepp) fired two T-3 (passive acoustic targeting), two FAT (course loops back after misses) and then another T-3 torpedo into the convoy. The SS Fort Jemseg, the SS Oregon Express and the SS Skjelbred were sunk by U-238. The Fort Jemseg master, 22 crew members and seven DEMS gunners were picked up by HMS Northern Foam and 22 crew members by the Norwegian merchant Romulus and were landed at New York. One crew member was lost at sea.

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.

23 September 1940 The second group of eight “overage” USN destroyers to be turned over to the RN in exchange for bases in the Western Hemisphere are transferred to RN crews at Halifax, Nova Scotia. USS Abbot (DD-184), commissioned as HMS Charlestown (I-21), USS Foote (DD-169), commissioned as HMS Roxborough (I-07), USS Hopewell (DD-181), commissioned as HMS Bath (I-17), and USS Doran (DD-185), commissioned as HMS St Marys ( I-12), USS Maddox (DD-168), commissioned as HMS Georgetown (I-40), USS Thomas (DD-182), commissioned as HMS St Albans (I-15), and USS Kalk (DD-170), commissioned as HMCS Hamilton (I-24), as part of the destroyers-for-bases deal.

23 September 1965 HMCS Ojibwa is commissioned at Chatham, UK. It is the first submarine to be built to order for the RCN.

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)