NAC News – Edition 527
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of August 26th, 2023
Edition: AT-527 HMCS Heatherton (Much more to a navy than just warships at sea. as A Norton Class Tug she served as HMCS, CNAV, then CFAV, and was also numbered “W22”. Post naval service as Robert H.)
Quote: “A good navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace”. US President Theodore Roosevelt, 1902
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 Kevin Goheen 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
17/18 October 2023 ABCMI’s Annual Business Opportunities Conference & Trade Show – Vancouver Conference Centre ABCMI’s Annual Business Opportunities Conference & Trade Show. See the website for developing Event Details including Exhibitor Spaces and Sponsorship Opportunities.
REVISED 2 November 2023 The Deep Blue Forum 2023. Registration. The $50 ticket discount code for NAC members is DB23_NAC. All serving navy & government personnel can register for FREE. Venue – The Westin Ottawa, 11 Colonel By Drive.
13 November 2023 0900-1600 hrs Vancouver BC Day Sail event on warship for women and girls
6 December 2023 7:30 am – 6:30 pm Ottawa time. Industrial Participation Association of Canada (IPAC) announced their first ever Industrial Participation Conference, titled The Changing Landscape of Industrial Participation in Canadian Federal Procurements Conference to be held at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa.
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
Tasha Kheiriddin: Liberal inaction permitting China to colonize Canada (Editor – an opinion piece and not a maritime issue but sovereignty is pertinent to all Canadians)
China’s naval ambitions: a $1.4 trillion modernization plan amid rising geopolitical tensions
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CANADA
HMCS Ottawa, HMCS Vancouver and MV Asterix deploy for the Indo-Pacific (Editor – post departure follow-on RCN 2:41 min video) plus Japan, Canada Strength Security Cooperation with Eye on China, North Korea, Taiwan Strait
Keel laid for Canadian Navy’s 6th AOPS (Editor – future HMCS Robert Hampton Gray)
New Arctic navy ship sails into Nunavut waters
The world’s most northerly shipwreck
Veterans, advocates want to see changes at Veterans Affairs under new minister amid ongoing backlogs corollary National Council of Veterans Association Notes “discriminatory double standard” Regarding Pensions
Canadian Defence Review (Editor – the latest edition is a Special RCN Edition packed with naval articles.)
“A First-Class Opportunity.” Haida Sentry gives the public a taste of the Navy’s history and future
‘Double-whammy’ of wildfires and low river levels disrupting barge travel to N.W.T. communities
Federal government buying Norwegian ferry as interim replacement on N.S.-P.E.I. run
Lookout: Volume 68, Issue 33, August 21, 2023
Trident: Monday 21 August 2023 Volume 57 Issue 17
NAC Naval Affairs Programme Briefing Note #22 The Canadian Coast Guard and the RCN roles and responsibilities (Editor – please share to anyone you think may benefit from the knowledge, after all, that’s what our naval affairs programme is all about – educating Canadians)
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USA & AMERICAS
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 21, 2023
U.S. Navy Ships in San Diego Head to Sea Ahead of Hurricane Hilary
The Insanely Large Apocalyptic Drone of the Seas (Editor – a wow 10:12 min video)
USS Augusta to Commission in Eastport, Maine
USS Zumwalt Arrives in Mississippi for Hypersonic Weapon Installation
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard completes USS Tucson availability
Lockheed Martin wins $350 million contract for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter helmet mounted
HII to build two REMUS 620 UUVs for NOAA
US Pentagon changes supplier of Virginia-class submarine propulsors
U.S. Sounds Alarm on China’s Leading Ship Logistics Software LOGINK
Chinese-backed port project in Peru to be the ‘gateway from South America to Asia,’ official says
World’s Largest Shipboard Battery Will Power Ferry on Rio de la Plata
Iranian Tanker Seized By US Begins Unloading but U.S. Begins Offloading Iranian Oil from Tanker as Iran Calls it “Piracy”
Panama Canal to Extend Transit Restrictions
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INDO-PACIFIC
Warning: no strategic warning time (Editor – NAC member Fraser McKee suggests that “If you simply substitute ‘Canada’ for ‘Australia’ throughout it is almost exactly our problem as well.”)
New Report Warns U.S., Allies of Two Front War with China, North Korea
Russian, Chinese navies to expand scope of joint drills — commander
North Korea Reveals A New Cruise Missile-Armed Corvette
Blue Ridge Returns to Yokosuka, Concludes Summer Patrol
Australia Moves Forward With Tomahawk Missile Procurement
South China Sea: China warns of external influence in lead-up to code of conduct talks
Chinese Nuclear Submarine Suffers Serious Accident, Report of All Crew Members Perishing in the Incident but Chinese submarine crash in Taiwan Strait: Taiwanese Defense Ministry refutes social media claims
USS Howard Suffered ‘Soft Grounding’ Near Bali Ahead of CO Removal
Japan Joins U.S. For Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) Development
New Zealand to welcome two Indian warships in August for first time since 2016
Philippines To Resupply South China Sea Troops After Beijing’s Block and Philippine Military Tells China’s Coast Guard to “Behave” and Growing Tension with China Requires More Surveillance off the Philippines, Report Finds
Australian Exports to China Come Roaring Back, Led by Lithium (Editor – what a strange love-hate relationship the West has with China)
Korean Shipbuilding Orders Reach 12-Year High Adding to Country’s Exports
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
U.S. estimates nearly 500,000 soldiers wounded, killed in Ukraine war: NYT report
The return of the enemy: Putin’s war on Ukraine and a cognitive blockage in Western security policy (Editor – not a maritime essay but of strategic significance)
Wagner chief Prigozhin on board plane that crashed north of Moscow, Russian civil aviation agency says and details Prigozhin Is Dead: A Timeline of the Wagner Boss Since His Failed Mutiny | WSJ (Editor – 3:33 min video – good riddance!)
Russia Says It Destroyed Ukrainian Vessel Near Black Sea Gas Facilities
Ukraine’s New Underwater Drone Marichka Breaks Cover
Russia May Sink Blockships to Protect Kerch Strait Bridge
Third Of Ukraine Crop Exports Wiped Out After Black Sea Block
Insurers Raise Premiums for Black Sea Tankers as Tensions Mount
General:
The Fishermen’s Revolt Against Russia
‘Incredible’ that navy has only two vessels conducting patrols
Portugal Navy’s tracks Russia Navy corvette Merkury in Atlantic Ocean
Turkey appoints first female admiral as part of military overhaul
Russia Ships Naphtha to China via Northern Sea Route with Despite Sanctions, Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 On Track for Startup in 2023 and Russian Bulk Exports Surge Despite Western Pressure
Wildfire Shuts Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait to Ship Traffic (Editor – wildfires and seaway disruption – I do recall a huge Mars waterbomber scooping from Esquimalt harbour to work a local fire some 15 years ago – an impressive sight.) then Shipping Backup Begins to Clear as Turkey Reopens Dardanelles Strait
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MIDDLE EAST
USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall and 26th MEU Now in the Persian Gulf
IRGC forces US helicopter carrier to ground choppers in Strait of Hormuz but DoD Officials Refute Claims Iranian Military Forced Marine, Navy Helicopters to Divert Course
Republic of Philippine Navy Assumes Command of Multinational Counter-Piracy Task Force
Qatar unlikely customer for Gulf region’s first Turkish-made amphibious assault ship: analyst
Ship Tracker Reveals Iran’s Surging Oil Exports
Lebanese Navy to soon receive 3 protector class boats from the US, eyes 3 more
Navy helps in international 22-tonne, half-billion-dollar drug bust
Tanker and LNG Carrier Collide in Suez Canal
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
Gigantic Russian flag unveiled on Arctic Ocean
Brics 2023: Why Iran, Ethiopia and Others Want in on the Economic Bloc | WSJ (Editor – not a maritime story but one with global implications in a 4:55 min video)
Global ocean roiled by marine heatwaves, with more on the way and the impact is real in sad ways Climate change: Thousands of penguins die in Antarctic ice breakup
Nigerian Navy Burns Suspected Smuggling Tanker Without Court Order
Ports Without the Right Infrastructure Need a New Shore Power Solution
Silverstream’s air bubble systems picked for 10 LNG carriers
Ocean cleanup group removes record 25,000 pounds of trash from Great Pacific Garbage Patch in one extraction and closer to home Great Pacific Garbage Patch cleanup team hauls in 55 tonnes of plastic waste
Ship Sent to Repair Cut Internet Cables Off Africa’s West Coast
Spanish Police Bust Cocaine Smuggling Ring in Canary Islands
French Navy’s amphibious assault ship Mistral visits Senegal despite tensions in Niger
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SCUTTLEBUTT
The Mariner’s Mirror HMS Poseidon: China’s Secret Salvage of Britain’s Lost Submarine (Editor – intriguing story in a 36 min podcast)
Oto Melara 76 Super Rapid Compact Naval Gun (Editor – an impressive weapon development in a 12:08 min video
The Most Powerful Tugboats Ever Made: This is The Largest Tug Supply vessels in the World (Editor – 13:29 min video)
The Missing Sister – Where is the Shipwreck of IJN Kongō? (Editor – 10:57 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
26 August 1939 World War II – The British Admiralty transmits the single word ‘funnel’ – the agreed-upon signal transfers control of Canadian merchant ships from the owners to the RCN.
26 August 1940 US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister W. L. MacKenzie King signed the Ogdensburg Agreement calling for a permanent board for the defence of Canada and the US 8-days ago and The Permanent Joint Board on defence holds its first meeting in Ottawa, Ontario.
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). Flying Officer Gray was the navigator of a Wellington aircraft which was shot down into the sea by a U-boat in the Atlantic. The crew managed to extricate themselves from the aircraft and despite a severe wound in the leg, Gray succeeded in inflating his own dinghy and then assisted his captain. After helping others into the raft, he recognized that it could not hold more than 2 persons. Although suffering intense pain, he refused to get into the dinghy. Gray held on to its side for some hours eventually becoming exhausted. He eventually lost consciousness and died.
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 then liberate POWs. Of the 1,975 Canadians sent to Hong Kong, 290 were killed and 493 wounded during the battle and its immediate aftermath – proof, said veterans decades later, that they had resisted fiercely and courageously before surrendering to the enemy. Another 264 Canadians died as prisoners of war, while 1,418 survivors returned to Canada – many of them deeply bitter at the cruelty of their Japanese captors.
31 August 1946 The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is disbanded. A women’s division was re-constituted in 1951 during the Korean War as part of a re-organized Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve). In 1955, a women’s component of the regular navy was authorized, but no longer as a separate service. The name Wrens remained popular with female sailors, however, and continued in use after disbandment of the RCN with unification of the armed forces in 1968. The name was particularly popular in the naval reserve, which maintained a higher proportion of serving women than the regular force.
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 are 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.
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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