NAC News – Edition 619 (St Hyacinthe/RCN Communications Training Base)
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of May 30th, 2025
Edition: 619 HMCS St-Hyacinthe/ RCN Communications Training Base
Quote: “110 RCN ships and 10,000 sailors take part in Op NEPTUNE, landing 14,000 Canadian soldiers on Juno Beach in the invasion of France. Destroyers: HMCS Algonquin and Sioux, Landing Ships Infantry (Medium): HMCS Prince Henry carrying the 528th Flotilla of eight landing craft assault (LCAs), and HMCS Prince David, carrying the 529th Flotilla of six LCAs. The Bangor Class Minesweepers: HMC Ships Bayfield, Blairmore, Caraquet, Cowichan, Fort William, Malpeque, Milltown, Minas, Mulgrave and Wasaga (31st Flotilla); HMCS Thunder (4th Flotilla, RN), HMC Ships Georgian, Guysborough, Kenora and Vegreville (14th Flotilla, RN) and HMCS Canso (16th Flotilla, RN). Landing Craft Infantry Large: 260th, 262nd, and 264th Canadian Flotillas, each with 10 RN landing craft manned by RCN personnel. Motor Torpedo Boats: 29th and 65th Flotillas, with eight and seven boats respectively.” Editor – With 6 June looming and its D-Day importance, this listing is highlighted from the RCN/Maritime History Section!
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 a NAC member – note, the first year’s NAC/Branch membership dues are waived)
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NOTICES
The Memory Project (Editor – I was contacted recently and asked to canvas the NAC membership. The Memory Project is a volunteer speakers bureau that arranges for veterans and Canadian Armed Forces members to share their stories of military service at school and community events across the country. This is such a natural fit for our membership and goals of NAC. Please Become a Speaker)
19-22 June 2025 Halifax Fleet Week. Naval vessels from Canada and Allied nations will gather for public tours and demonstrations. The event features educational programmes, community activities, and a showcase of modern naval technologies, celebrating maritime heritage and international cooperation in Halifax Harbour.
21 June 2025 Noon Ottawa time. NAC AGM For review here is the 2025 AGM webpage (note – info is good, but the documents at this site haven’t been populated yet) and last year’s 2024 AGM Link.
26-27 September 2025 The Canadian Maritime Security Network (CMSN) will host a conference on the future Canadian Seapower 2025. Venue – University of Calgary. Today, Canada faces a more complex and dangerous security landscape than at any time since the Second World War. The country is at an inflection point, facing two great power competitors, a complicated ecosystem of malign non-state actors, persistent pressures eroding the rules based international order, and an uncertain partnership with the U.S. Registration opens 1 May 2025.
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
Carney says Canada is looking to join major European military buildup by July 1 and Carney Government Working to Reach a Defence Deal With the E.U. | Your Morning (Editor – 5:02 min CTV video) and bizarrely Defence minister defends sovereignty after Trump promises Golden Dome access for $61B — or annexation
FULL SPEECH | King Charles delivers speech from the throne (Editor – 28:02 min CBC broadcast)
Canada faces ‘massive challenge’ as NATO eyes new 5% spending target: expert
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CANADA
Naval facility in Canadian Arctic stalled by ‘concerns’ with jetty
How Canadian Ports Keep Global Trade Flowing Smoothly! | ΛLΙΞΝ )Editor – great explanation and stats in an 8:29 min video) and more details Why the US and Canada Are Betting $8BN on This Waterway (Editor – 11:31 min video)
New Report Projects 60% Surge in Ship Traffic on Canada’s West Coast by 2040
CDAI: Getting Defence Procurement Right In a Time of Great Power Competition
Minister David McGuinty addresses CANSEC military trade show – May 28, 2025 (Editor – 24:55 min video)
Financement du régime de retraite de la fonction publique & Funding of the Public Service Pension Plan
Royal Canadian Air Force to unveil names and liveries for Future Aircrew Training program aircraft & L’Aviation royale canadienne dévoilera le nom et la livrée des aéronefs du Programme de formation du personnel navigant de l’avenir (Programme de FPNA) and pictures The Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) Program
1610 kg of cannabis intercepted by CBSA officers in Halifax & Des agents de l’ASFC interceptent 1 610 kg de cannabis à Halifax
How 3D printing in Halifax is extending the life of Canada’s aging submarines
L3Harris to Support Canada’s National Security with Imaging Technology
Cadets should be mandatory for young Canadian newcomers, says former honorary colonel (Editor – P.T. Barnum once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”)
Vancouver Naval Museum: The Shipbuilding Monument (Editor – Still looking for donations! Site includes a superb 3:51 sec historical video)
HMCS Labrador: An Operational History (Editor – noticed this one from 2017. It is one of a 14 article series from the CMSN “Arctic Operational Histories”)
BBC Houston first vessel of the “Lakermax”-series completing passage into the great lakes
First LNG modules arrive at Woodfibre site in Squamish
BC Ferries’ new battery-powered ship touches water at Damen Galati yard
Seaspan unveils new state-of-the-art operations centre at Vancouver Drydock
Experience HMCS Ojibwa – The Sub that Served in Secret (Editor – Port Burwell, ON)
NAC Naval Affairs Undersea Cables (Editor – given the Baltic situation a hot topic of interest) (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: May 27, 2025
Noem announces ‘largest transformation’ of US Coast Guard since 1915 (Editor – 2:19 min news video)
U.S. Destroyer, Coast Guard Make $13.7M Caribbean Drug Bust
USNS Comfort To Deploy To South, Central America for Continuing Promise 2025
Pentagon Taps Navy SEAL for Top Enlisted Role
Keel Laid for Future USS Quentin Walsh
Reconciliation Bill Moves $4.5B for Virginia-class Buy in 2026
Crew of Futuristic Carrier USS Ford Will Wear Electronic Fatigue Trackers
CIMSEC: Every Commander a Wargamer: Reforming Wargaming Education for the Fleet
Most books pulled from Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in latest DEI turn
CIMSEC: If the U.S. Navy can’t Repair Ships in Peacetime, how will it do so in War?
OSI Completes TDNS HAT for Chilean Navy Submarines
Panama-Flagged Vessels Must Notify Authority Of Ship-To-Ship Transfers
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INDO-PACIFIC
Four people killed in South Korean Navy plane crash — news agency
China Issues No-Go Zone in Disputed Waters Claimed by US Ally (Editor – South Korea)
China’s countermeasures against Philippines at Tiexian Jiao necessary, legitimate and lawful: FM with Chinese Aircraft Carrier Operating Near Senkakus; USS Nimitz Back in the South China Sea while FM spokesperson responds to why aircraft carrier Liaoning is so close to Japan
Philippine Coast Guard orders 40 fast patrol boats from France’s OCEA
USNI Proceedings: The PLA Navy Comes of Age: Big Decks and More (Editor – 44:12 min podcast) with China’s first electromagnetic catapults-equipped aircraft carrier holds intensive sea trials: official media yet they are only now China extends strike range of Type 055 destroyer with airborne early warning system: CCTV
Lockheed Martin, Fujitsu strengthen Japan collaboration with SPY-7
U.S. Ramps Up Defenses for Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia
North Korea arrests senior official over warship launch failure then North Korea detains 3 shipyard officials over the failed launch of a naval destroyer (Editor – volunteers to go to the Ukraine!)
Bangladesh to procure 6 improved KSS-I submarines from South Korea to protect its maritime territory
India set to revive Minesweeping capabilities amidst Chinese threat in Indian Ocean
US oldest operational warship in NZ (Editor – USS Blue Ridge-class command ship)
Containership MSC ELSA 3 Sinks Off Indian Coast, All 24 Crew Rescued
China Criticises Plan To Return Darwin Port To Australian Ownership
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
Trump Warns Putin “Playing with Fire”
Russian Military Performance and Outlook
Exocet : le fer de lance des missiles français
How the West is helping Russia to fund its war on Ukraine while Falling Russian Oil Prices Drive Exports’ Value to Two-Year Low
Russia and Ukraine swap 307 soldiers on 2nd day of prisoner exchange
The terrifying new weapon changing the war in Ukraine
Baltic:
Finland Reports Russia Has Begun Naval Escorts for Shadow Fleet Tankers (Editor – wonder what the Russian ROE are?)
Estonia’s Long-Range Coastal Defence System: Blue Spear SSM (Editor – 5:32 min video)
General:
Tensions rise as superpowers scrap for a piece of the Arctic
Russia Prepares to Add Newest Nuclear-Powered Submarine to the Northern Fleet
Exclusive Report: Türkiye Reveals Combat Capabilities of First Indigenous MİLDEN-Class Submarine
Hellenic Coast Guard Crew Charged for Deaths of Dozens of Migrants
HMS Dragon monitors Russian vessel off north west coast of Scotland
Europe is plagued by too many naval yards, French Navy chief says
Hanwha Ocean unites with Polish shipbuilding duo to work on Orka submarine project
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins officially takes over as First Sea Lord in HMS Victory ceremony
USS Harry S. Truman Transits Strait of Gibraltar, Sailing West
UK sanctions halt floating repair dock for Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet
Naval Group Rolls Out France’s Fourth Barracuda-Class Nuclear Submarine
Kalibr missile across Barents Sea
Upgraded destroyer hunts submarine in Barents Sea
Leonardo PROTEUS unmanned helicopter at CNE 2025 (Editor – 3:40 min video)
Saab wins contract to integrate Sea Ceptor system on Visby-class corvettes
First Type 31 frigate, HMS Venturer rolled out from the build hall in Rosyth
First Greek FDI Frigate Starts Sea Trials
UK set to deliver another minehunter to Romania in summer 2025
Finnish Navy’s first Pohjanmaa-class corvette hits the water
Watch officer of ship that crashed into garden fell asleep, police say then Second Officer Charged in Containership’s Grounding Near Norwegian Home finally Cargo ship towed away from Norway home it nearly struck but of course Norway Confirms Bridge Alarms Were Turned Off Before Boxship Grounded
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MIDDLE EAST
Red Sea:
British Carrier Strike Group enters Red Sea (Editor – TG includes VDQ)
US aircraft carrier leaves the Red Sea after record airstrike on ISIS (Editor – 2:49 min video)
General:
First Littoral Combat Ship with MCM Mission Package Arrives in Bahrain
Un drone intercepté par la France après des frappes américaines au Yémen
En mer d’Arabie, une frégate de la marine française saisit et détruit cinq tonnes de stupéfiants
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
90 days to economic collapse: UN and experts sound alarm over security at sea (Editor – perhaps this should be in the “Significant Articles” section)
Serco completes dedicated marine science voyage to Denman Glacier
David Attenborough’s Ocean documentary has a scene straight out of Dune (Editor –watch the appalling process in 1:36 min video)
Breakthroughs Solving our Plastic Waste Problem! (Editor – 16:34 min video)
Inside the Extreme Life of Divers Repairing Billion $ Underwater Cables (Editor – 15:01 min video)
Study Reveals Growing Crisis of Fatigue and Healthcare Access Among Seafarers
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SCUTTLEBUTT
Mariner’s Mirror: Seapower Past & Present 3: The Arctic (Editor – 1:05:00 hr podcast)
The unique vessels behind the miracle of the Dunkirk evacuation (Editor – 4:00 min video)
Cold War’s Arctic Triumph: The First Submarine at the North Pole (Editor – 11:48 min video)
This is how ships are repaired in Russia. (Editor – extraordinary procedure in a short video)
“Giant Killers” WWII Elco naval division PT boat promo film electric boat Bayonne, NJ xd49334 (Editor – 30:07 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
31 May 1920 The cruiser HMCS Niobe is paid off.
June 1943 (the exact date is unknown) Commander Isabel Macneill OC, OBE, WRCNS as a LCdr and one of the graduates of the first course, was appointed commanding officer of Conestoga the navy’s shore establishment in Galt (now part of Cambridge, Ontario. She was the first female to command an HMC “Ship” (a commissioned shore establishment with the HMCS designation is referred to as a “stone frigate.”) in the British Commonwealth during the war. Macneill was responsible for the training of nearly 6,000 Wrens during the war. In 1945, HMCS Conestoga was closed and Macneill was appointed a Staff Officer Wrens to the Commander Atlantic Coast. In 1954, the navy decided it would create a permanent female component of the RCN and called upon Macneill to assist. The following year Cabinet approved the motion and, for the first time in any of the Commonwealth’s navies, women were formally integrated into the regular force. In 1957, Macneill left the RCN for the last time. After the Second World War, she became a prison superintendent.
1 June 1758 Vice Admiral Edward Boscawen of the Royal Navy arrives at Gabarus Bay, 10 km west of Louisbourg, just after midnight in dense fog from Halifax, Nova Scotia; with thirty-nine warships, supply ships and ten transports, crowded with 13,000 regular troops, Highlanders, light infantry, rangers, and colonial militia. The expedition is commanded by Maj Gan General Jeffery Amherst, with his field commander, Brig Gen James Wolfe; the British do not attempt to land troops until June 8 because of heavy surf.
1 June 1759 – A British fleet, under Admiral Saunders, leaves Louisbourg for Quebec carrying James Wolfe and his army.
1 June 1813 HMS Shannon, Captain Philip Broke, captures USS Chesapeake, Captain James Lawrence, in a 15-minute fire fight off Boston harbour; tows her to Halifax as a prize. About 50 sailors were killed and 90 wounded aboard Chesapeake; while on board Shannon, Broke was severely wounded, with 23 killed (including Shannon’s first lieutenant) and 56 wounded. In 226 men were killed or wounded and is considered one of the bloodiest single ship actions of the age of sail, it would mark a turning point in the war for the Royal Navy. Chesapeake’s survivors were interred at Melville Island military prison for the duration of the war; several her crew were buried at nearby Deadman’s Island. Some of Shannon’s dead were buried at the Royal Naval Burying Ground, now part of Canadian Forces Base Halifax.
1 June 1831 Sir James Ross first discovers the position of the North Magnetic Pole on the west coast of Boothia Peninsula; takes possession of the North Magnetic Pole and adjoining territory in the name of King William IV and erects a cairn; spends his third Arctic winter in Victoria Harbour. Boothia, Nunavut
1 June 1840 Samuel Cunard navigates his 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer Unicorn to Halifax; after two-week trip from Liverpool with 27 passengers.
1 June 1876 The Royal Military College of Canada opens in Kingston, Ontario, with a class of eighteen cadets.
1 June 1941 HMCS Bytown is commissioned as a depot ‘ship’ created to allow RCN personnel in Ottawa, to be paid. All uniformed personnel needed to be borne on the books of a ‘ship’ for accounting purposes, even if they were serving at a shore establishment. This is a tradition held over from the Royal Navy, and these ships are often referred to as “Stone Frigates”. Bytown served in this role for the Naval Service Headquarters (NSHQ), and the Ottawa Half-Company, the Naval Reserve Division that became HMCS Carleton on 1 November 1941. Two years after Bytown was established, the HMCS Bytown Naval Officer’s Mess would open. HMCS Bytown was paid off 7 December 1964. The HMCS Bytown mess closed 22 Mar 24
1 June 1943 The first German mines are swept in the approaches to Halifax harbour.
1 June 1968 Canada signs the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in New York along with the US, Britain, USSR, and 57 other countries.
2 June 1891 Shipping – RMS Empress of Japan is the second of the Canadian Pacific Steamships “Empress” ships to arrive at Vancouver harbour, via the Suez Canal and Hong Kong; Canadian Pacific Steamships had signed a contract for subsidized mail service between Britain and Hong Kong via Canada.
3 June 1910 The Honourable Louis P. Brodeur is appointed the first Minister of the Naval Service.
3 June 1944 Flight Lieutenant R.E. McBride, flying an RCAF Canso aircraft, sinks U-477 with four depth charges. Receives award of Mention in Dispatches.
3 June 1963 Canada declares 12 Mile Limit; (19.3 km) exclusive fisheries zone off the Canadian coast; effective May 1964. Canadian jurisdiction over sea fisheries used to be confined to waters within the traditional three-mile territorial limit. In 1964, Canada extended fisheries control nine miles beyond the territorial sea; in 1971, the three-mile territorial sea and nine-mile fishing zone were replaced by a twelve-mile territorial sea measured from straight base- lines drawn from “headland to headland”. Also in 1971, special fishing zones were established by Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy on the Atlantic Coast, and in Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait, and Dixon Entrance on the Pacific coast.
3 June 1991 Letters Patent Instituting and Creating in Canada the Insignia for Mention in Dispatches, 3 June 1991. Members of the Canadian Forces on active service and other individuals working with or in conjunction with the Canadian Forces on or after 1 November 1990 are eligible for the award of the Insignia. Arrange for the names of recipients to be published in the Canada Gazette.
4 June 1742 The first warship built in New France called the Le Canada is launched. She is a 6th rate built for the French Navy.
4 June 1812 US Congress votes for war against Britain; the conflict will begin 18 June 1812, when President James Madison officially proclaims the United States to be at war.
4 June 1976 Canada declares it is extending its 12-nautical-mile coastal fishing zone to 370 km (200 nautical miles) offshore fisheries jurisdiction zone, effective January 1, 1977; mature northern cod were estimated at 75 million, down from 900 million in 1962; Canada to set numbers of fish harvested and quotas for foreign fleets, because fish stocks are being depleted by new technologies such as sonar and freezing facilities which let the ships stay at sea longer.
5 June 1741 Vitus Bering, a Danish-born navigator in service to the Russian Navy, sails from Kamchatka Peninsula to explore North America.
5 June 1792 Spanish navigators Dionisio Galiano and Cayetano Valdés leave Nootka Sound and sail into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, reaching Puerto de Núñez Gaona (Neah Bay, Washington), where a Spanish post is being built by Salvador Fidalgo.
5 June 1944 Sixteen RCN Bangor Class minesweepers help clear the English Channel in preparation for the D-Day landings. In the largest minesweeping operation ever undertaken, 247 minesweepers were deployed to sweep ten approach lanes across the English Channel, clear the disembarkation and fire support sectors of the assault area, and then sweep the final paths to the beaches.
6 June 1943 HMCS Prince Robert is recommissioned as an anti-aircraft cruiser.
6 June 1944 110 RCN ships and 10,000 sailors take part in Op NEPTUNE, landing 14,000 Canadian soldiers on Juno Beach in the invasion of France. Destroyers: HMCS Algonquin and Sioux, Landing Ships Infantry (Medium): HMCS Prince Henry carrying the 528th Flotilla of eight landing craft assault (LCAs), and HMCS Prince David, carrying the 529th Flotilla of six LCAs. The Bangor Class Minesweepers: HMC Ships Bayfield, Blairmore, Caraquet, Cowichan, Fort William, Malpeque, Milltown, Minas, Mulgrave and Wasaga (31st Flotilla); HMCS Thunder (4th Flotilla, RN), HMC Ships Georgian, Guysborough, Kenora and Vegreville (14th Flotilla, RN) and HMCS Canso (16th Flotilla, RN). Landing Craft Infantry Large: 260th, 262nd, and 264th Canadian Flotillas, each with 10 RN landing craft manned by RCN personnel. Motor Torpedo Boats: 29th and 65th Flotillas, with eight and seven boats respectively.
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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