NAC News – Edition 622 (Stone Frigate)
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of June 20, 2025
Edition: 622 HMCS Stone Frigate (Royal Military College, Kingston)
Quote: It took 12 years – and two years late – for Canada to reach the military spending threshold set by the transatlantic allies in September 2014. This represents a considerable change of direction since just last year, when former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that he had no intention of honouring Canada’s commitment to its allies. Unlike his predecessor, Prime Minister Carney is showing a readiness that may seem surprising. After all, just a few weeks ago, during the election campaign, Mr. Carney was only planning to reach the 2% threshold by 2030. What has happened since 28 April 2025? CDAI Opinion, Justin Massie, 11 June 2025 (Ref in “Significant Articles”)
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
Summer Job Opportunities Aboard HMCS Sackville! If you or someone you know, such as grandchildren, students, or recent graduates, is seeking meaningful summer employment in a distinctive and rewarding environment, they would be delighted to connect with them. Send a resume to: office@cnmt.ca or give them a call at: 902-492-1424.
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.
21–22 October 2025 ABCMI’s Business Opportunities Conference & Trade Show at the Vancouver Convention Centre, this flagship event brings together leading companies from across Canada in the marine and defence sectors. Tickets are selling quickly; exhibit spaces are sold out, and the discounted hotel room block is almost full.
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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
CDAI: Canada’s forced military awakening then Canada to join major European rearmament deal as early as June 23: sources
US Sends Third Aircraft Carrier Towards Mideast as Iran Tensions Rise (Editor – this is just the latest in a series of moves the US is making. Once the forces are in place the shift from sabre-rattling to striking may happen fast. Other articles are in the Middle East section)
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CANADA
USS Cole Assists Royal Canadian Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Conduct At-Sea Transfer of Intercepted Contraband (Editor – HMCS William Hall)
Military vice-chief says there are no plans to arm Coast Guard vessels
Canada to meet defence spending target by March 2026: Carney
Navy training exercise around Vancouver Island will include Mexico, United States
Canada Commissions New Arctic Patrol Ship HMCS Frédérick Rolette (Editor – 7:15 min video)
Defence Team News | Sailing to success on Operation CARIBBE & Nouvelles de l’Équipe de la Défense | Mettre le cap sur le succès durant l’opération CARIBBE (Editor – 1:39 min RCN video)
Arctic360 2025 Conference: Canadian Patrol Submarine (Editor – 5 Feb interview with NAC member Cmdre (RCN) Jason Armstrong, Director General Naval Force Development 45:06 min video)
The Royal Canadian Navy get an offer for acquisition of new S-80 attack submarines from Navantia (Editor – 2:21 min video follows up from earlier articles)
CANADIAN ARMED FORCES: Carney’s 2% Poisoned Pill (Editor – Esprit de Corps 5:31 min video)
Watchdog says military police still resisting civilian oversight
Veterans board grants or improves benefits in 9 of 10 cases reviewed
Le Canada ouvre la voie de l’innovation pour une navigation maritime plus sécuritaire &
Canada Leads the Way in Innovation for Safer Maritime Navigation
Canada’s Trigon approves LPG export terminal in Prince Rupert
Canada’s Port of Nanaimo hosts its first LNG bunkering operation
B.C. jet skier fined $5,000 for intentionally approaching marine mammals too closely & Un Britanno-Colombien doit payer une amende de 5 000 $ pour s’être approché intentionnellement en motomarine de mammifères marins
Lookout – 16 June 2025 Volume 70 Number 12 (English) (Française)
Trident: Monday 16 June 2025 Volume 59, Issue 12 (Bilingue)
NAC Naval Affairs Maintaining the Naval Fleet (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: June 16, 2025
ABS Approves Groundbreaking Floating Nuclear Power Module for Maritime Applications & Nuclear-Powered Cargo Ships Promise Cleaner, Faster Transport
Navy lab’s mine warfare technologies put to the test at IBP 25.5, paving way for future advancements
US Navy Upgrades Mine Warfare Capabilities With New Archerfish Neutralizer Contract
USNI: Lessons from Japan and South Korea’s Submarine Builders (Editor – interesting 35:10 min podcast)
Austal USA Launches First Steel Ship, the Future USNS Billy Frank
The Navy’s dynamic sub-hunting duo
Les Marines à Los Angeles : la stratégie d’embrasement de Donald Trump face aux manifestants
U.S. Coast Guard’s New Icebreaker USCGC ‘Storis’ Transits Panama Canal en Route to Arctic
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INDO-PACIFIC
US Pacific Chief Says permanent UK forces ‘not helpful’ while British aircraft carrier strike Group enters Pacific and A fruitful partnership – Kiwi frigate Te Kaha joins UK’s task group with Australian P-8A Poseidon submarine-hunter joins up with UK’s carrier strike group
Should the Philippines worry about Chinese carrier group crossing first island chain?
HMS Spey has conducted a Freedom of Navigation exercise, passing through the Taiwan Strait
Japan Calls Out China Over Unusual Maneuvers, Warns It Could Lead to Accidental Collision
Japan Commissions Eighth Mogami-class Frigate ‘Yubetsu’ 「ゆうべつ」
Indian Navy inducts indigenously built warship INS Arnala
CIMSEC: Direct and Indirect Maritime Security Threats in the Western Indian Ocean
CIMSEC: Connecting Ocean: The Role of Non-African States in African Regional Maritime Security
CIMSEC: India’s Evolving Role in Supporting African Maritime Security Architecture
Indian Navy set to acquire ‘Abhimanu’ unmanned naval collaborative combat air vehicle
How big is China’s Military Industrial Complex? (Editor – not naval, but impactful in many fields, a 8:33 min video)
Taiwan’s indigenous submarine undergoes final stage of harbor trials and then Taiwan starts sea tests of first domestically built submarine as their plan unfolds Taiwan orders two improved Hai Kun-class submarines for stronger patrol and combat performances
CIMSEC: Escalating Threats to Maritime Security in the Western Indian Ocean Region
South Korea’s radical drone carrier concept enters race for maritime power projection
What the capsizing and relaunching of a warship tells us about North Korea’s regime
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
Putin announces creation of separate drone branch in Russian military
Belgium Gives Ukraine SPEED DEMON Tank Russians Can NEVER Touch! (Editor – not naval but interesting shift explained in a 20:27 min video)
Baltic:
Denmark Deploys Marine Drones in Baltic and North Seas
General:
Future Dutch Submarine: TKMS Type 212CD E (Editor – 5:03 min video) and Netherlands joins Orka-class submarine development to secure Arctic and North Sea presence
Irish Navy to monitor undersea cables and pipelines with Thales’ new sonar tech
UK declared FOC for Crowsnest airborne surveillance and control
Dutch Navy Abandons to Acquire US Tomahawk for his submarines to European JSM-SL missiles
UK’s HMS Puncher carries out ‘world’s first’ trial of cold atom clock at sea
Russia Reports Progress on Nuclear-Powered Submarine LNG Carriers
New New Shipping, Rosatom to build container ships for year-round Arctic sailings
Polaris 25, exercice militaire aéro-maritime de grande ampleur entre la France et ses alliés
Décarboner le secteur maritime : un défi écologique, technologique et économique
Marine nationale : un exercice de destruction de drone en Méditerranée comme si vous étiez
Navantia to Produce $814M Combat Supply Ship for Spanish Navy
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MIDDLE EAST
Red Sea:
Israel strikes Hodeidah port, threatens Yemen’s Houthis with naval and air blockade
First Large Boxship Transits Suez Canal in 15 Months
Ambrey: Israeli Ships Told to Avoid Red Sea as U.S. Considers Intervention in Israel-Iran Conflict
General:
American aircraft carriers converging on Iran with UPDATED: Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz Sailing to Middle East, Says Official so American aircraft carriers converging on Iran with US moves 30 jets as Iran attack speculation grows
Over 900 vessels lose GPS in Strait of Hormuz as Iran-Israel conflict disrupts signals then Two Oil Tankers Collide and Catch Fire Near Strait of Hormuz with Navigation Error Suspected in VLCC-Suezmax Crash Off Fujairah Amid Rising Gulf Tensions is this a factor? Ships’ Electronics Increasingly Jammed Since Israel Struck Iran however Strait of Hormuz Shipping Holds Steady Despite Tanker Collision, Widespread Electronic Jamming (Editor – watch the insurance rates soar, and wartime mitigation clauses kick in)
Satellite imagery reveals damage to key Iran nuclear sites
Iran’s Military Capabilities Against Israel, Explained | WSJ (Editor – 3:58 min video) and Iran Has More Missiles Than Israel Has Interceptors. Now What? | WSJ (Editor – 4:42 min video) and At least two US Navy destroyers protect Israel from Iranian strikes — ABC
This 30,000-lb U.S. Bomb Can Destroy Iran’s Deepest Nuclear Bunkers | WSJ Equipped (Editor – 3:41 min video)
Iranian Navy Leaves Bandar Abbas in a Hurry
How Israel plans to checkmate Iran (Editor – not maritime, and from 6 months ago, but explains much in a 15:51 min video)
Shipping on High Alert After Israeli Strikes Hit Iranian Military and Nuclear Sites
Tankers Keep Moving Through Strait of Hormuz as Israel-Iran Conflict Escalates but Oil Shippers Pause Offers to Middle East as Conflict Intensifies
An Overview Of Iran’s Main Gas Field And Oil Infrastructure
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
Funding to protect oceans falls far short of what UN says is needed
CIMSEC: Africa’s Maritime Security Relations and the Global Responsibility to Protect the Sea
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SCUTTLEBUTT
Inside America’s Only Giant Gun Barrel Factory Arming Ukraine | Big Business | Business Insider (Editor – not naval, but one for the gunnery officers, 13:28 min video)
The 1940 Battle of Calabria (Editor – 15:22 min video)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
21 June 1749 A military expedition led by Colonel Edward Cornwallis arrives at the harbour at Chebucto, NS and establishes the Halifax military base.
21 June 1940 HMCS Fraser evacuates from France some Free French troops, and the then Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France, who became subsequently the Canadian Ambassador to France, and even further in the future, the Canadian Governor-General, Lieutenant-Colonel G.P. Vanier.
21 June 1940 The National Resources Mobilization Act is passed provides for conscription for home defence and registration of all adult males and females.
21 June 1942 HMS P-514 left Argentia, bound for St. John’s to join a convoy. She was under the escort of three Canadian corvettes; but in a rough day with poor visibility became separated from her escort for a few fatal hours. Although its normal crew contingent was listed as 33, there were 42 on board. It was thought some may have been catching a ride to rendezvous with other vessels. In the middle of the night, with heavy fog, the Bangor class minesweeper HMCS Georgian sat just off Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, waiting to escort a convoy bound for Sydney, N.S. In a case of mistaken identity HMCS Georgian, which was also there waiting, picked up the unmistakeable sound of diesel engines from a submarine on its hydrophone. The minesweeper’s captain, Lt. Alfred George Stanley, closed in on the signal. Still, there was no reply from P-514. At 3:05 a.m., the submarine was rammed amidships on the port side, broadside on. Her navigation lights were seen to flick on. The submarine then disappeared, there were no survivors. A Board of Inquiry ruled that Gregorian’s CO had acted correctly. P-514’s story reflects many aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic – she had sailed from a newly established USN Argentia Base established as part of the lend-lease process. She was originally USS R-19 (SS-96) a WW1 era boat completed in 1918 then transferred/commissioned 9 March 1942 into the RN as P-514 to serve as an ASW training target to help training the Canadian convoy escort ships operating out of Newfoundland, still then British Colony.
21 June 2001 Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson unveils the National Aboriginal Monument, Ottawa, to commemorate the sacrifice of aboriginals in both world wars and Korea.
22 June 1940 The last class of RCN Volunteer Reserve officers graduate from HMCS Stone Frigate.
22 June 1967 HMCS Onondaga (Oberon Class submarine) commissioned at Chatham Dockyards.
23 June 1919 The Air Board is formed in Canada to control all aspects of aviation, including military.
23 June 1940 Destroyer HMCS Restigouche engaged in French evacuation operations off St Jean de Luz engaged in French evacuation operations.
23 June 1940 Sgt. Henry A. Larsen leaves Vancouver on the RCMP schooner St. Roch bound for Halifax via the Northwest Passage; ship will take southerly route through Arctic islands, and after two winters trapped in the ice, will reach Halifax Oct. 11, 1942; first ship to make the voyage from west to east, and in both directions, and to circumnavigate North America; St. Roch declared national historic site in 1962; berthed at Vancouver Maritime Museum.
23 June 1961 The Antarctic Treaty comes into force. The continent is declared a scientific reserve and military activity is banned.
23 June 1968 HMCS Okanagan (Oberon Class submarine) commissioned at Chatham Dockyards.
23 June 1995 HMCS Winnipeg Commissioned at Esquimalt BC.
25 June 1755 HMS Mars (captured French Le Mars 64-gun third-rate (1740) while attempting to enter Halifax NS in poor weather and in the dark of night, ran onto a dangerous shoal just off the coast, not far from Herring Cove. The inquiry reported that the cause of the foundering was ‘pilot error’. The notorious shoal where the Mars sank has been known as Mars Rock ever since.
24 June 1762 A French fleet commanded by Chevalier de Ternay captures Bay Bulls and St. John’s, Newfoundland.
24 June 1943 HMCS Sault Ste. Marie is commissioned as the first Algerine-class minesweeper produced for the RCN.
24 June 1944 A Canso from RCAF Squadron 162 sank U-1225 north of the Shetlands.
24 June 1944 HMCS Haida commanded by Cdr Harry G. DeWolf, DSO, RCN, with HMS Eskimo and a Royal Air Force patrol aircraft sink the German submarine U-971 in the English Channel.
25 June 1940 HMCS Fraser with 47 crew is lost after colliding with a British cruiser, HMS Calcutta in the Bay of Biscay. She has the dubious honour of being the first RCN ship sunk during the Second World War. Most of her survivors went down with HMCS Margaree four months later.
25 June 1965 RAdm Walter Hose is buried at Windsor, Ont. Considered the founding sponsor of the RCNVR & Naval Reserves, post-RNCVR.
25 June 1950 North Korean forces cross the 38th Parallel and invade South Korea and the Korean War starts; nearly 27,000 Canadians serve, 1,558 are wounded, 516 die.
25 June 1963 HMCS Assiniboine is recommissioned as the RCN’s first helicopter-carrying destroyer.
25 June 1944 Flight Lieutenant (RCAF) David Ernest Hornell (Toronto born) as Captain of a Canso PBY-5A despite fatal damage to his aircraft attacked and sank a U-boat. Hornell landed the plane in rough seas and organized his crew to take turns in the one dinghy they had. The crew were rescued the next day, but Hornell was exhausted and died soon after. F/L Hornell was the first member of the RCAF to earn the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. He is buried in Lerwich New Cemetery, Zetland (Shetland), Scotland.
25 June 1994 HMCS Saguenay is sunk off Lunenburg as a diving park.
26 June 1923 HMCS Queen, a current day Naval Reserve Division, was raised as a RCN Volunteer Reserve half-company in Regina.
26 June 1959 Canadian warships assigned to Atlantic Command participate in the opening ceremonies of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
27 June 1918 Fourteen nursing sisters are among the 234 who die when the Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle is torpedoed by a U-boat.
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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