NAC News – Edition 605 (Gloucester)
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of February 21st, 2025
Edition: 605 HMCS Gloucester Quotes: “America’s unparalleled network of allies and partners sets it apart from every other great power in history. When international challenges or opportunities arise, many countries turn to the United States to share their assessments and to collaboratively plan the way forward. Today, many U.S. allies and partners across Europe and the Indo-Pacific are turbocharging their defense budgets. Sustaining these investments will be critical given the multiple and varied threats ahead”.…” These tighter relationships are a net positive, and increasing the size, scope, and scale of collaboration is a crucial deterrent and an asset. More broadly, working by, with, and through allies and partners to tackle global threats—those of today and tomorrow—is ultimately more effective and less pricey.” Prevailing in an era of comprehensive conflict, Brookings Institute, Mara Karlin, 12 February 2025
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@navalassoc.ca if you wish someone to be added to the NAC News email distribution. (Influencer, or good candidates to become an NAC member – note, the first year’s NAC/Branch membership dues are waived)
NOTICES
25 February 2025 ShipTech Forum 2025 Super Early Bird registration is open! The National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON. Not able to attend in person – all speaker sessions will be live streamed.
5-6 March 2025 CDAI: Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence Celebrating its 93rd edition in 2025, the Conference at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel stands as Canada’s premier defence and security assembly. The conference centers its discussions around a wide spectrum of security and defence matters, orchestrating a sequence of impactful keynotes, presentations, and dialogues led by distinguished experts in the fields of security and defence from Canada and across the globe. Impressive speakers!
NEW 25-26 March 2025 Symposium canadien sur la maintenance navale – Canadian Naval Maintenance Symposium Hôtel Mortagne 1228 Rue Nobel, Boucherville, QC
15-16 April ABCMI & Coast Innovation Forum, Vancouver Convention
Centre – Registration can be done at ABCMI & COAST Innovations Forum
3 May 2025 Battle of the Atlantic 80th Anniversary Gala, London ON. The Gala will be hosted at the beautiful Hellenic Centre (133 Southdale Rd, London, ON) on Sat 03 May and the unveiling of the Wall of Honour at the Battle of the Atlantic Memorial will be held the next afternoon (Sun 04 May) at HMCS Prevost, during their annual Battle of the Atlantic Parade. Gala Tickets are sold online through “Ticket Tailor” and can only be purchased through that site by clicking the link below (you cannot “search” for the event on Ticket Tailor, or “Google it”, you can only get to the purchase point through these two links.) https://buytickets.at/boagala2025 The BOAM Website under the “event page”
15–18 May 2025 CNMT has graciously extended the invitation to all NAC members who may not be CNMT trustees to join them for the 80th Anniversary of VE Day & Battle of the Atlantic Commemoration at Londonderry. There are events and activities planned for each day. If you plan to attend, please reach out to Gary Reddy at co@cnmt.ca. He will point you in the right direction for further details. The City Hotel Derry is offering special rates for attendees: Double/Twin B&B: £159 per night or Single B&B: £149 per night. To book your room, please call the hotel.
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
Top general says military relationship with U.S. is solid as Trump’s threats continue
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CANADA
CNR: Interview with Commodore Jason Armstrong Director General Naval Force Development (Editor – the full Canadian Naval Review which this excellent article is from is available through subscription at the CNR link above. The February 2025 CNR is out for those of you that do subscribe)
HMCS Margaret Brooke in South America and Coverage – On its way to Antarctica, the Arctic patrol vessel HMCS Margaret Brooke arrived in Argentina
Canadian Maritime Security Network | Analysis Russia in the Arctic What to Expect and How to Respond
«La relation du Canada avec les États-Unis ne peut être sauvée», dit l’ancien numéro 2 de l’armée
Rencontre avec la sénatrice Rebecca Patterson
Canadian Armed Forces says it’s on track to meet this year’s recruitment goal with Canadian Armed Forces Recruitment Process Modernization update & Le point sur la modernisation du processus de recrutement des Forces armées canadiennes
Having U.S.-controlled system running Canada’s new warships too risky, warns former navy commander
Canada’s weak spot: Why Trump wants our Arctic. (Editor – 1:03:37 hr podcast. See NAC Naval Affairs paper below)
Canada announces Arctic foreign policy overhaul
Un commandant de la Marine a été relevé de ses fonctions au milieu d’un déploiement
20 Rescued After Cargo Ship ‘MSC Baltic III’ Runs Aground Off Newfoundland Coast and MSC Baltic III’s 20 Mariners Rescued by Royal Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorants (Editor – 13:50 min video) then Salvage Team Boards Grounded MSC Baltic III Off Newfoundland as Response Continues
Subsea fibre optic cable deliberately cut for the 2nd time between N.S. and N.L.
La MRC lance un concours d’innovation
Canadian shipyard in talks to buy US shipbuilder amid trade war talk more Canada’s Davie Planning Major Investment in U.S. Shipyard
Where the walls tell the tales: Exploring the Crow’s Nest Officers’ Club in St. John’s, N.L.
Victoria’s cruise port aims for shore power integration amid fiscal uncertainty
NAC Naval Affairs Arctic Sovereignty (Editor – NAC Naval Affairs Papers, Briefing Notes, Niobe Papers, and much more. Please share with anyone you think may benefit from the knowledge, after all, that’s what our naval affairs programme is all about – enlightening Canadians)
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USA & AMERICA
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 18, 2025
Report to Congress on Navy Virginia-Class Submarine Program and AUKUS Submarine
A US Coast Guard Perspective on Arctic Security (Editor – 24:43 min podcast)
Navy’s Plan for Frigate Parent Design Caused Delays, Former Acquisition Chief Says (Editor – all sorts of lessons to learn)
USNI Podcast: The Future Is Here: Thoughts on Warship Design and Acquisition (Editor – Admiral John Richardson, U.S. Navy (Retired) interview in a 37:37 min video)
Do US super-carriers make sense any more? The BBC goes on board one
Report to Congress on Nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile
BWXT wins $2.1bn US Navy nuclear reactor components contracts
Mapping China’s influence around the Panama Canal (Editor – great explanation)
Ecuadorian Navy Seizes One Ton of Drugs from Containership Near Manta (Editor – street value $40M? Supply and demand…who is using all these drugs?)
Why Build a $250 Million Rock Wall in the Ocean? (Editor – impressive 14:19 min video)
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INDO-PACIFIC
Top U.S. Officer Warns That China is Rehearsing Plans to Take Over Taiwan (Editor – no less than Adm. Sam Paparo, Commander Indo-Pacific Command)
Canadian Frigate HMCS Ottawa Transits Taiwan Strait nice picture of the Ottawa, but China Condemns Canadian Warship In Taiwan Strait (Editor – same old story) then Taiwan Strait Not China’s, Taipei Says After Canadian Warship Passes Through
Australia Monitors ‘Unusual’ Presence of Chinese Warships with Chinese expert slams Australian media’s hype on PLA warships’ presence near Sydney
USS Tripoli Moving to Japan to Serve as Forward-deployed Big Deck
China claims new anti-sub technology
Chinese Navy Helicopter Intercepts Philippine Cessna Over Scarborough Shoal
South China Sea: Beijing resources ministry gauges depth of new Vietnamese port on reef and China opposes construction on illegally-occupied islands, reefs: FM responds to Vietnam’s reclamation on Bai Jiao
Navy’s surveillance aircraft, naval ship arrive in Indonesia amid BrahMos deal and How 6 more P-8I aircraft from US will bolster India’s naval edge in Indian Ocean
New Zealand Fires Penguin Missile for the First Time
Analysis | Could China’s future Type 004 replace the USS Gerald R. Ford as the world’s most powerful aircraft carrier? (Editor – a bridge too far?) a more sensible progression
Japan Navy’s JS Kaga Conducts First Operational Mission as Light Aircraft Carrier in Philippine Sea
Japan launches fourth Hibiki-class auxiliary ocean surveillance ship for the JMSDF
Scores of whales to be euthanised after mass stranding in Australia
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
Trump echoes Russia as he upends US position on Ukraine (Editor – this sadly will not end well)
General:
Commanding Officer of USS Harry S. Truman Relieved (Editor – inevitable)
La médiatisation du renseignement comme outil de communication stratégique
How Europe can pay for rearmament (Editor – not a maritime article, but a broader one that does embrace naval expansion. The Canadian government also needs to act decisively)
Russian presidential aide calls for balanced Navy development
Royal Navy Escorts Russian Evacuation Flotilla through English Channel and UK Tracks Russian Ships Carrying Ammunition From Syria
Is Trident really necessary? – answering common objections
HMS Somerset in high-stakes cat-and-mouse chase with allied submarines in Arctic (Editor – Perisher)
Oil Tankers Rocked by Mystery Blasts After Trips to Russia (Editor – mines of some sort?) then Italy Prosecutors Open Terrorism Probe Into Oil Tanker Explosion
Naval Group charges rival ThyssenKrupp with selling out submarine tech
Aselsan aces Göksur missile’s first live firing
Russian Navy to deploy more Admiral Gorshkov frigates as Severnaya Verf shipyard confirms new orders
France Issues a Tender for Acquisition of 24 New Maritime Surveillance Coastal Patrol Boats
Réflexion Marine n°2 – 1626 : La naissance d’une ambition maritime française
Putin’s secret weapon: The threat to the UK lurking on our sea beds with EU In Talks To Fund Fleet To Repair Damaged Subsea Cables
The Navy With More Admirals Than Warships (Editor – about the RN, 10:34 min video)
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MIDDLE EAST
Red Sea: (Editor – not sure how much longer this sub-section will be needed)
Red Sea: Council prolongs the mandate of Operation ASPIDES
Sea Control 563 – Red Sea Combat with CDR Brian C. Sánchez (Editor – CO of USS Gravely in the Red Sea – 17:36 min podcast)
Suez Canal Chief Says Red Sea Crisis Did Not Create Sustainable Route to Replace Canal
General:
US aircraft carrier Truman collides with merchant ship near Egypt, but no injuries are reported and USS Harry S Truman Hull Pierced | Heading to Port for Damage Assessment | What May Have Happened? (Editor – 23:57 min video) then USS Harry S. Truman Pulls into Souda Bay for Repairs After Collision
Navy aims to expand maritime security cooperation in latest multinational Middle East exercise then International Maritime Exercise 2025 Concludes
Abu Dhabi in UAE Welcomes 21 Warships for NAVDEX 2025 Defense Exhibition Showcasing Global Naval Power
Iran Releases Footage of “World’s First” Sub-Launched Suicide Drone
Iranian Navy fires AI-guided missiles during large-scale military exercises in the Persian Gulf
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
G-7 Allies Weigh Tightening Russian Oil Price Cap
Majority of global shipping fleet operates under compliant flag states, ICS says (Editor – first links on the page was broken so here is the interesting source 2024/2025 Flag State Performance Table )
European naval force helps free ship seized by suspected Somali pirates off Horn of Africa
Meta plans globe-spanning sub-sea internet cable
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SCUTTLEBUTT
The Super Weapon that Turned German U-Boats into Scrap (Editor – Hedgehog development in a 10:11 min video. Although not mentioned, please see 21 Feb RCN/Maritime History item in last week’s edition for summary about Commander Sir Charles Frederick Goodeve OBE FRS who was born in Neepawa, Manitoba as he was instrumental in the Hedgehog development)
HMS X1 – Optimal Sub or Sub Optimal? (Editor – curious evolution explained in a 50:51 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
22 February 1941 The freighter SS A.D. Huff (Atlantic Transportation Company, Montreal) was sailing independently from London to St. John’s. An old 4-inch gun was mounted on the poop deck, with a single DEMS rating to supervise his merchant seamen gunners. Mid-morning on 22 Feb, Huff had about 520 nm remaining in her transit to John’s, when a small biplane appeared overhead. The aircraft signalled for the ship to stop. The Master tried to outrun the threat using his ship’s best speed which was only 8 knots. By midday, the German battle cruiser KMS Gneisenau was on the horizon. Almost at once there was the distant thud of heavy guns and two huge shells splashed in the ship’s wake. The Gneisenau continued periodic shelling of the merchantman with her 11-inch guns. The Master ordered his puny 4-inch gun fired at the oncoming vessel, but the DEMS gunner probably wisely refused. Then hits began to be more direct, with a hit on the large anchor windlass on the forecastle. The Gneisenau started using her secondary 5.9-inch guns. The most damaging being two hits to the engine room. The Master then ordered the crew to abandon ship. The ship’s Radio Officer tried to transmit the raider warning signal R-R-R-R, but Gneisenau’s operators jammed the signal. As the lifeboats cleared away from the ship, Gneisenau approached to within 100 yards and hastened the Huff’s demise with gunfire until she sank. Two engine room personnel were killed and 40 crew members including the DEMS gunner were taken prisoner.
22 February 1943 Operation Torch – RCN Flower Class corvette HMCS Weyburn struck a mine laid by U-118 off the Strait of Gibraltar; the explosion killed one seaman of her crew of 77. Before the ship sank, all but two depth charges were rendered safe by throwing the detonators over the side; British destroyer HMS Wivern started to remove the wounded and survivors when twenty minutes later an after bulkhead gives way and the corvette began to sink. The two depth charges then exploded, killing her CO and 10 others (totalling 12), with many more wounding in the water. Wivern’s engines and boilers were hit, leaving the ship dead in the water; 84 RCN and RN sailors were wounded in total.
22 February 1945 HMCS Trentonian is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine U1004 near Falmouth England, six of her ship’s company were lost.
23 February 1942 Two Canadian merchant ships steaming without escorts were sunk by U-129 on the very same day. The first ship was sunk at 0120 in the early morning of 23 February and the second was sunk later in the afternoon at 1504. Each ship had been stalked for hours by U-129 before they were each sunk. Both ships were ore carriers with cargoes of high value bauxite, and they were steaming from Paramaribo, Dutch Surinam (todays Guiana) to Port of Spain, Trinidad. Their wartime cargoes of bauxite would be shipped from Trinidad to various North American locations to be used in aluminum production for various weapons systems. The ore carrier SS George L. Torian (Upper Lakes & St Lawrence Transportation Co. Ltd. Toronto) was sunk at 0120 when she was about 120 nm SE from Trinidad. The U-129 fired a torpedo into the ship’s bow and twenty-eight seconds later, she quickly sank. 13 crew members (including the Master) and two passengers were killed. Four crew members were rescued by a US Navy flying boat. The ore carrier SS Lennox (Canada Steamships Lines Ltd, Montreal) was sunk at 15:04 when she was about 160 nm from Trinidad. Two crew members were killed. The Master and 17 crew members were rescued by a merchant ship and landed at Port of Spain.
23 February 1945 The freighter SS Point Pleasant Park (Furness Withy, Canada Ltd, Montreal) was sailing independently from Saint John, New Brunswick, via Trinidad across the South Atlantic to Cape Town. The cargo consisted of commercial trade goods transported between the ports-of-call while on route to Cape Town and back to Saint John. This round trip would be her third such commercial transit between Saint John to Cape Town. At 1400 with Cape Town being 500 nm to the SE, the ship was hit by a torpedo fired by U-510. The torpedo struck the stern and blew off the screw, killed nine men and slowly flooded the engine room. The crew abandoned the ship. U-510 surfaced and fired bursts from the 37 mm AA gun into the waterline to flood the forward holds, and then the area. Eight days later (2 March) the lifeboat with the Master and 19 crew members made landfall at Mercury Island South West Africa (now Namibia). Ten days later (4 March) 29 crew members, in a lifeboat, were rescued by HMSAS Africana.
24 February 1944 HMCS Waskesiu commanded by LCdr James P. Fraser, RCNR sank the German submarine U-257 in the North Atlantic. In concert with Nene, the contact was gained and lost four times. Ordered to give up the chase, Waskesiu was permitted one more attack, an attack which drove the damaged U-boat to the surface. Waskesiu opened fire with its main armament, scoring four hits on the submarine’s conning tower. Eventually the sustained gunfire crippled the vessel, and the crew abandoned the sinking submarine. She was the first Royal Canadian Navy frigate to score a U-boat kill. Supported by Nene, the two ships rescued survivors of U-257.
24 February 1992 On 4 February Ottawa announced that HMCS Restigouche would sail to the Red Sea to become part of the Maritime Interdiction Force named Operation Barrier. With only 19 days’ notice Restigouche, still fitted with the equipment with which she had been fitted for the Gulf War, left Esquimalt on 24 February, and headed east via the Panama and Suez Canals. On 21 April, Restigouche commenced operations in the Red Sea, joining ships from Australia, France, and the United States. A US Coast Guard vessel assisted with the first two inspections, after which Restigouche was on her own. May was a busy month with 57 boardings and only eight days in port – in Jeddah Saudi Arabia and Safaga, Egypt where the Canadian Logistics Detachment provided for her needs. June followed with more boardings, bringing the overall total to 120, after which there was a 10-day visit to Haifa, Israel, for relaxation and maintenance. Canada Day was celebrated in Safaga, with five more boardings completed before Restigouche left the operations area on 4 July. She set sail eastwards, arriving in Esquimalt on 21 August, circumnavigating the globe in the process.
26 February 1949 During a fuelling stop at Manzanillo, Mexico, 90 Leading Seamen and below of the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan—over half the ship’s company—locked themselves in their messdecks, refusing to come out until the captain heard their grievances. Two weeks later, on March 15, eighty-three junior ratings in another destroyer, HMCS Crescent, staged a similar protest while alongside in Nanjing, China. Within days, on March 20, in the carrier HMCS Magnificent, on fleet manoeuvres in the Caribbean, 32 aircraft handlers briefly refused to turn to morning cleaning stations as ordered. Each episode was defused almost immediately, with the respective captains entering the messes for an informal discussion of their sailors’ grievances. Since the men had offered no hint of violence, no one used the charged word ‘mutiny’. Indeed, in Athabaskan, the captain was careful to place his cap over what appeared to be a list of demands, so that no technical state of mutiny could be said to exist. The incidents caused an investigative Commission to be formed that resulted in The Mainguy Report.
27 February 1930 HMCS Thiepval a battle class armed trawler is lost after striking an uncharted rock in Barkley Sound, BC. No casualties.
28 February 1946 HMCS Cornwallis is paid off (taken out of service) and new recruit training begins to be conducted at local naval depots.
28 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Persian Gulf War ends.
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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