NAC News – Edition 528
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of September 1st, 2023
Edition: 528 Quote: “Within the Russian system a certain amount of vengeance is baked in. It wouldn’t be just Putin who would want to see the demise of Yevgeny Prigozhin. It would also be from the uniformed military for what he did.” 24 August 2023, Fiona Hill, NPR
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
NEW Halifax International Fleet Week 07-10 Sept 2023 (Editor – BZ Halifax! Have fun)
NEW 29 Sept 2023 HMCS Donnacona invites you to their Centennial “Gala-at-Sea”. 1800 for 19:00 Grand Quai 200 De la Commune St W, Montreal, QC, H2Y 4B2. Tickets $160, RSVP by 1 Sept 2023 (today!) for the preferential rate, dress Mess Kit/Black Tie. (Editor – I’ve asked for another way beyond Google Docs at the link to register)
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. Registration is free for public sector!
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
Sampson: Celebrate Canada’s support of shipbuilders (Editor – the truth is so helpful)
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CANADA
RAdm. Josee Kurtz Takes Helm of Royal Canadian Navy on the East Coast (Editor – BZ Admiral, she is the first woman to hold the position.)
HMCS Haida — the ‘fightingest’ ship in the Royal Canadian Navy — turns 80
Canadian Coast Guard welcomes the CCGS Gabarus Bay into service
Military dropping policy ordering members to report sexual misconduct or racism
Cellula Robotics Ltd. begins sea trials for its unmanned underwater vehicle
Marine Essentials Curriculum Development Project (Editor – education, a fundamental piece of the shipbuilding puzzle) and on the other coast Horatio Alger Seaspan VTE Scholarships
Canada’s oldest Second World War veteran laid to rest in British Columbia (Editor – 2:08 min video included.)
Korea: War without end (Editor – 8:36 min video)
B.C. Ferries reports sailings cancelled due to crew shortages have doubled in the last year
Federal Retirees and the transition to Canada Life
Lookout: Volume 68, Issue 34, August 28, 2023
NAC Naval Affairs Programme Briefing Note #23 Kingston Class Patrol Ships (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. 28, 2023
Record Warm Waters Providing ‘Rocket Fuel’ for Idalia’s Rapid Intensification and drives Navy Ships, Aircraft in Florida Sortie to Avoid Tropical Storm Idalia
US Navy christens 1st in a class of new towing, salvage and rescue ships
Dutch naval crew seizes €60 million in drugs in Caribbean busts
Inside the Navy’s largest exercise: In command and under pressure
Acting Commanders Set to Take Charge of Naval Academy, Naval Air Forces and NAVSEA
Report to Congress on Navy Shipboard Lasers
3 US aerospace primes actively facing off for Navy’s next-gen strike fighter, F/A-XX
Sikorsky nets $2.7 bln deal to build 35 CH-53K helicopters for US Navy
Pilot killed in US military jet crash in San Diego
Navy to Christen Future USNS Navajo
First Accommodation Barge Launched as U.S. Navy Addresses Shipyard Living
Panama Canal Restrictions Likely to Last for the Next Year and The rival to the Panama Canal that was never built
Crazy Reason US Navy is Testing its Most Advanced Drone on US Aircraft Carrier (Editor – 15:06 min video)
Panama Canal Shipper Pays $2.4 Million to Skip the Line
New All-Electric Container Cranes Arrive at Port of Savannah
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INDO-PACIFIC
Kim Calls for Boosting North Korea’s Navy and more details North Korean Navy to become part of nuclear deterrence force — Kim Jong-Un
Exercise Noble Chinook Held in North western Pacific (Editor – includes HMCS Vancouver, HMCS Ottawa, MV Asterix)
Russian Navy warships return after joint-patrolling 13,000km Pacific Ocean with Chinese vessels
U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander on Strategy & Maritime Governance (Editor – USNI 43:25 min podcast)
- China Sea Becomes Part of China on Beijing’s New “Standard Map” and naturally India and Malaysia protest China’s land claim in a newly published map ahead of the G20 summit
Philippines stands up to Beijing in South China sea tussle
US Military Eyes New Port in Philippines Facing Taiwan
China has launched bigger, faster version of 054A guided missile frigate, online photos suggest and China launches new Type 052DL destroyer in Dalian
PLA holds extensive, nonstop anti-submarine drill in South China Sea
US- Indian Navies Complete Week-Long Anti-Submarine Warfare Training In The Indian Ocean
India to launch Mahendragiri, the final Shivalik-class stealth warship
France’s New Submarine Suffren Calls in Abu Dhabi
Australia Procures New Smart Sea Mines
Three US marines killed in Australia helicopter crash
Future Japan’s aircraft carrier Izumo conducts drills with Australia & Philippines
Chinese navy says it’s testing the planet’s most powerful coil gun
U.S. Coast Guard Undertakes First Joint Ops with Papua New Guinea
Australia’s Antarctic Research Vessel Can’t Reach its Own Fuel Pier
The SSN-AUKUS submarine: A brief guide
China to double its LNG import capacity (Editor – wow)
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
Prigozhin Plane Crash Analysis: Early Evidence Suggests Bomb, Sabotage | WSJ (Editor – who will believe the Russian investigation results?!) the question Wagner in Africa: Precarious future after Prigozhin’s reported death but whatever Wagner mercenaries must swear allegiance to Russia – Putin insightful 6:19 mi video Russia expert Fiona Hill says Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash is “par for the course”
Late Putinism: Mafia State (Editor – not a maritime article but a useful perspective)
‘Dying by the dozens every day’ – Ukraine losses climb (Editor – so sad and unnecessary)
Second Vessel Leaves Odesa Through Temporary Black Sea Corridor
EU Urges Russia To Renew Black Sea Grain Deal
General:
Russia’s latest strategic sub begins transit to permanent base on Pacific coast — source
Ripples From Putin’s Invasion Reach the Arctic
British forces track Russian warships near UK
Why are no Royal Navy attack submarines at sea?
Russian inner bastion exercise overlaps into Norwegian economic zone
Finnish warship to attend Exercise Sandy Coast 23 in the North Sea
Viking scores big, nets order for 34 boats for Hellenic Coast Guard
German Naval Yards Applies To Build An “Ammunition Disposal Platform” With Partners
Spain Makes Record Cocaine Seizure in Reefer Boxes Arriving From Ecuador
Video: P&O Cruise Ship Breaks Away From Moorings and Drifts Into Tanker
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MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia Assumes Command of Coalition Task Force Sentinel and Royal Saudi Navy Assumes Command of Combined Task Force 152
Iran Navy IRGC to receive two new submarines into its fleet
Salvage Team Departs FSO Safer After Completing Oil Transfer Project
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
Container Shipping Lines Rake In $8.9 Billion Profit in Q2
The Mariner’s Mirror: Rewriting Women into Maritime History (Editor – the first of three podcasts with a 20 min podcast that’s hoping to “reframing the narrative of a predominantly masculine industry, and by promoting opportunities to encourage more women into the sector)
On patrol with Tunisia’s coast guard: Nine boats in 24 hours
South Africa and Germany aiming to hold long-delayed naval exercise in 2024
IMO Piracy Report: 20 ships attacked during July
Charting a Quieter Course: Advancing Strategies to Mitigate Underwater Noise from Ships
Shipowners embrace new absolute zero emission challanges
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SCUTTLEBUTT
The British Occupation of Japan (Editor – 9:12 min video)
Freshwater Flattops; The Corn Belt Carriers Wolverine and Sable (Editor – 9:50 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
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, the 13,581-ton passenger 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 Baird and three other Canadians, the first Canadian casualties of the Second World War. 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.
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. 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 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 HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Trail together pick up 17 survivors from the Canadian merchant ship Donald Stewart that was torpedoed and sunk northeast of Cape Whittle in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in position 50°32’N, 58°46’W by German U-boat U-517.
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.
4 September 1990 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces formation of Operation Scimitar, to provide air cover for the two destroyers and the supply ship sent to the Persian Gulf in late August of 1991 as part of Operation Friction, tasked with enforcing the United Nations trade blockade against Iraq.
5 September 1814 Lt (RN) Miller Worsley, flying captured American colours in the USS Tigress, takes the USS Scorpion at anchor after fierce hand-to-hand fighting; sails both ships west to Fort Michilimackinac.
5 September 1918 The Royal Canadian Naval Air Service is authorized and begins operations in Nova Scotia.
6 September 1910 In July 1910 the Director of the Naval Service went to England to attend the trails of the two cruisers and to take them over from the Admiralty. Before they were transferred a number of alterations were carried out, to make them more suitable as training ships. The Niobe was commissioned in the Canadian Service at Devonport on September 6, 1910, with Cdr. W.B. Macdonald, R.N., a native of British Columbia, as her Captain, and on the occasion a silk ensign was presented to the ship on behalf of the Queen.
6 September 1940 HMS Duchess arrives in Halifax harbour, bringing the members of the Tizard Mission and a black metal box containing, amongst other things, six examples of the cavity magnetron. This would later be described as “the most important cargo to reach our (i.e. North American) shores”.
6 September 1940 The USN destroyers USS Aaron Ward (DD-132), USS Buchanan (DD-131), USS Crowninshield (DD-134), USS Hale (DD-133), USS Abel P. Upshur (DD-193), USS Welborn C. Wood (DD-195), USS Herndon (DD-198) and USS Welles (DD-257) arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia. These are the first of the “flushdeck” destroyers to be transferred under the “Destroyers-For-Bases” deal. Contrary to popular opinion, none of the eight ships to be transferred were taken directly from reserve status and handed over to the RN. All eight ships had been recommissioned at least during 1939 and all had been engaged in operations on the neutrality patrols. Two ships were recommissioned considerably earlier and had served for extended periods with both the US Atlantic and Pacific Fleets: Crowninshield (1930) and Buchanan (1934). All eight destroyers were decommissioned from the USN on 09 Sep and commissioned into the RN on the same day. USS Crowninshield was commissioned as HMS Chelsea (I35). She reached Devonport, England, on 28 Sep 1940 and was assigned to the Sixth Escort Group, Western Approaches Command, for local escort duty. In Nov 42, Chelsea became one of eight ‘flushdeckers’ lent to the RCN. She served with Canadian forces until the Dec 43, operated with both the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and Western Escort Forces. Chelsea returned to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on 26 Dec 43 and, in early 44, was reduced to reserve status in the Tyne estuary. On 16 Jul 44, she was transferred to Russia and renamed Derskni.
7 September 1816 Steamship Frontenac launched at Bath, west of Kingston; first steam powered vessel on the Great Lakes.
7 September 1942 HMCS Raccoon Torpedoed and sunk by U 165, while escorting convoy QS.33 in the St. Lawrence River. There were no survivors. 37 perished.
7 September 1943 HMS Nabob (an aircraft carrier) is commissioned into the Royal Navy with a Canadian crew and a Royal Air Force complement.
7 September 1955 HMCS Sioux sails home from the U.S. naval base at Yokosuka, Japan, ending the Royal Canadian Navy’s involvement in the Korean War.
8 September 1939 Mackenzie King says no to conscription; stresses munitions-making, and building up RCN and RCAF.
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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