NAC News – Edition 632 HMCS Cataraqui
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of August 29, 2025
Edition 632 HMCS Cataraqui Quote: “The Canadian Patrol Submarine Project will safeguard Canada’s sovereignty and strengthen partnerships with our allies by delivering next-generation submarines to the Royal Canadian Navy. The advanced submarines will give our Navy the confidence and capabilities to respond effectively to emerging threats, while creating opportunities for Canadian industry. Identifying TKMS and Hanwha as the qualified suppliers marks an important step toward the procurement of this critical capability.” The Honourable Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State (Defence Procurement), News Release 26 Aug 2025 (Editor – more articles and videos in the Canada section)
Rod Hughes: Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca (Comments welcome to help improve this service.) The content of this bulletin includes articles from entities not subject to the Official Languages Act. Consequently, these articles may be provided by the institution in only one official language, including the links, and we do not have the copyright to modify or translate them. Links to keep in touch with the NAC and RCN can be found at the bottom of this email. Contact executivedirectorNACcoordinator@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)
NOTICES
NEW Two events. Pirate of the Adriatic Book Launch, Author Sean Livingston (NAC Serving CAF Member).
17 Sept 2025 HMCS Carleton, Ottawa. The mess bar should be open for refreshments, RSVP to: Christopher.Walkinshaw@forces.gc.ca Business Dress
18 Sept 2025 12:00 – 13:30 (local) Rideau Club, Lunch is $76.00 (Club Members $66.00) RSVP to: reservations@rideauclub.ca Business Casual. Copies of the book will be sold at both events by Perfect Books Ottawa ($30.00 each) If you can’t make either of these days you can always shop on line!
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. To register.
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. See the website for our draft Programme and list of Exhibitors. Tickets are selling quickly; exhibit spaces are sold out.
UPDATED 4 November 2025 7.30 – 18.30 Ottawa time Deep Blue Forum 6th Annual Conference. Theme: The Future of the Submarine Enterprise – People Harnessing Technology, in a System of Systems. The National Arts Centre, 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa Today is the last day that the Super Early Bird Registration is Open! Contact The ticket discount code for NAC members is DB25_NAC Keynote Speaker, Paula Folkes – Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Defence and Marine Procurement
24 February 2026 ShipTech Forum 2026, The National Arts Centre, Ottawa.
1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5W1
THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES
Canada narrows choice of new submarine suppliers to Germany, South Korea and officially Government of Canada advances to next step in Canadian Patrol Submarine Project procurement & Le gouvernement du Canada passe à la prochaine étape du processus d’approvisionnement du Programme de sous-marins canadiens de patrouille
Carney extends Canadian military mission in Latvia to 2029 (Editor – Operation Reassurance & Opération Réassurance) with Canada scrambles to fill equipment gaps as it extends Latvia mission
CANADA
Gen. Wayne Eyre on a new era for Canada’s military (Editor – 59:23 mi podcast)
Editor – these items are sequential Canadian Patrol Submarine Project requirements and roadmap (Editor – 4:18 min video interview with Cmdre now RAdm (RCN) Jason Armstrong [NAC member] Down to Two: Carney and his Choice for Submarines (Editor – 1:35 min video) then Canada narrows choices for new submarines to Germany and South Korea and Why Canada’s Submarines are Critical for Defence | Your Morning (Editor – 4:54 CTV interview with CGAI’s David Perry in a 4:54 min video)
Korean firm promises speedy delivery as Canada narrows field for submarine contract
A New Era for Canada’s Submarine Fleet: Canadian Patrol Submarine Project Moves Forward
Defence Team News | Strength in partnership during Exercise TRIDENT FURY (Editor – 1:41 min RCN video) Nouvelles de l’Équipe de la Défense | La force du partenariat durant l’exercice TRIDENT FURY
Canada to Launch Talks on Shipping LNG to German Customers so Arctic trade route expansion in northern Manitoba to be discussed following agreement and Ottawa to back new port infrastructure, signs critical minerals agreement with Germany
CDAI: Is a Defence Procurement Agency Really the Answer? (Editor – 40:21 min video)
National Honour Recipients Announced
CP-140 Aurora: The 40-Year-Old Spy Plane Fighting Russian Submarines (Editor – first-class 45:31 min video. Not sure when MPA’s became “spy planes”, I could live with “surveillance”?)
Canada’s Davie Sees US Shipyards as Key to Winning Icebreaker Contract
Persian Gulf War veterans’ fight for “past due” recognition
Asked about Chinese ferry deal, Gregor Robertson says ‘Buy Canada’ policy needs work
Taxpayers “reaping the benefits”: An inside look at the $34B Trans Mountain Pipeline mega project (Editor – 2:15 min Global News video)
Top Ten Biggest Seaports In Canada (Editor – 4 year old but a useful summary in a 27:22 min video)
Ranger Rick Newell Receives his CD5 (Editor – rare occurrence in a 4:02 min video)
Lookout: 25 August 2025 Volume 70 Number 17 (English) (Editor – see page 12 for NAC Merritt Chisholm sword presentation) (Française) (Rédacteur en chef – voir page 12 pour la présentation de l’épée de Merritt Chisholm du NAC)
Trident: 25 August 2025 Volume 59 Issue 17 (Bilingue)
NAC Naval Affairs: Starshell Spring/Summer 2025 Issue 103 (Editor – Starshell is delivered to members in hard copy, but it is eventually available through the NAC website so if you have someone you’d like to have see the latest or past versions please do so with this link. The magazine is too good to languish in obscurity!)
(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)
USA & AMERICA
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: August 25, 2025
Pentagon fires intelligence agency chief after Iran attack assessment
Navy Reserve, Naval Special Warfare Leaders Removed from Command with Former CIA Director Petraeus says Putin is ‘the obstacle to peace’ in Ukraine (Editor – imbedded 6:47 min video, about 5 minutes in there is a startling segment on the 16, yes 16 US Gen/Flag officer firings!)
US Navy deploys USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in Alaska for joint exercise with Canada then USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group Completes Exercise Northern Edge 2025
Air Boss: Navy Committed to Maintaining 11 Aircraft Carriers, Ford-class Program (Editor – there is an embedded 58:02 min video) while US Navy air chief awaits decision on F/A-XX fighter jet to keep aircraft carriers dominant in future conflicts
US Navy’s Ghost Fleet Deployed in Japan (Editor – intriguing 1:12 min video)
TKMS: Brazilian Navy’s first Tamandaré-class frigate aces sea trials
Coast Guard Offloads Record Drug Haul in Port Everglades
US Navy and Raytheon test tracking capabilities of SPY-6(V)4 radar
Pentagon Wants 3-Star Sub Czar to Lead All New Construction Programs Under DEPSECDEF and highlights CSIS The AUKUS Inflection: Seizing the Opportunity to Deliver Deterrence
Maine Maritime Academy’s New Federal Training Vessel Christened at Hanwha Philly Shipyard
South Korea Bets Big on Reviving Troubled U.S. Shipbuilding to Woo Trump part of which South Korea’s Hanwha to Invest $5B in Philly Shipyard Expansion, Add 10 New Tankers
U.S. Resumes Imports of Venezuelan Oil Under New License to Chevron
Coast Guard Arrests Drunk Containership Captain Six Times Over Legal Limit in Seattle
INDO-PACIFIC
A Dozen Countries Drill in Indo-Pacific Exercises and Australian, Canadian, Philippine Warships Drill Near Scarborough Shoal
India chooses German Type 214 submarine over Spanish S-80 to counter Chinese and Pakistani fleets
UK’s Chagos Islands deal ‘significant victory’, says Pope
Why we should ditch Virginia-class purchase while H&B Defence to Spearhead Development of New Nuclear Training Courses for Australian Defence Industry
USS New Orleans Leaves Okinawa for Sasebo on its Own Power
Vietnam Steps Up Island Building In South China Sea and of course China vows to stand maritime ground as Vietnam ‘expands’ Spratlys construction
China-Philippine tensions mount at disputed Second Thomas Shoal as resupply deadline looms (Editor – in case you are having trouble like me keeping the shoals straight here is an explanatory article I found South China Sea: a visual guide to the key shoals, reefs and islands and Wikipedia’s map)
Russian Pacific Fleet frigate conducts Kalibr and Uran missile launches in Sea of Japan
Defense Alert: First Joint Russian Chinese Submarine Patrol Reshapes Asia Pacific Naval Balance
Signs of a new drone boat surface from China’s Victory Day parade rehearsal
Update: USS New Orleans with Fire Aboard USS New Orleans Extinguished
INS Khanderi to receive DRDO’s indigenous AIP system by July 2026
Indian Navy inducts two more Nilgiri-class frigates to Eastern Fleet
U.S., Philippine Forces to Hold 500 Military Exercises in 2026
Defence strengthens edge against GPS denial and the Canadian perspective Canadian Maritime Security Network | Analysis, The Military Applications and Implications of Quantum Sensing Technologies for Maritime Security
EUROPE
Black Sea:
“Canada will always stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” says Carney on Ukraine Independence day (Editor – 2:35 min Global News video. Politics will not let this war end soon) Russia’s foreign minister derides ‘clumsy’ Western efforts on Ukraine war as NATO meets
Russian army destroys Ukrainian ship for first time using unmanned boat — expert
Ukraine Claims Drone Strike On Russian Ust-Luga Port
Video: Ukraine Damages Russian Missile Boat in the Sea of Azov (Editor – with short video)
The UK Just STRUCK Russia Where It Hurts Most — Without Firing a Shot (Editor – 17:45 min video)
Canada’s First Ballistic Steel Facility to Transform Defense Industry (Editor – 9:09 min video. Highly successful Canadian built Roshel Senator APC)
The Long-Term Costs of War – The Price of Life, Economics of Casualties & Russia’s War (Editor – blunt and appalling 1:03:03 hr video)
Baltic:
Baltic States Seek to Fight Back Against Russian Signal Jamming
“Black Box” on Tanker Eagle S Failed to Record During Cable Break
General:
American carrier group sails with Norway in the North Sea then NATO Hunts Russian Submarine In Norwegian Sea After Possible Threat To US Aircraft Carrier
Russia declares a fishing ultimatum to Norway
Nuclear-powered multi-purpose submarine Perm heads out for sea trials
Three advanced combat ships enter service with Russian Navy — Defense Ministry
Germany Develops First Submarine-Launched Surface Drone for Silent Recon and Strike Roles
German Navy risk stretching too far to safeguard several theatres
HMS Defender fitted with Sea Ceptor missile silo
How RFA Proteus Protects the UK’s Hidden Lifelines (Editor – 6:43 min video)
SH Defence performs at-sea demo of the CUBE minelaying system (Editor – 4:15 min video)
Finland deploys Israeli Gabriel anti-surface missile to boost naval strike power
Russia’s Sanctioned Arctic LNG Plant Boosts Output to New Record while Russian Crude Exports Slide on Drone Strikes and Trump’s Tariffs
MIDDLE EAST
Red Sea:
Editor – gone quiet again.
General:
Iran is Facing a Return of UN Sanctions – What Happens Now?
Navy Officer Takes the Helm at Central Command
Iran Navy fires cruise missiles in first major strategic exercise after Israel war
Israel Is Pulling Out Million Tons of Sand from the Mediterranean Bottom to Get to Asia (Editor – 17:01 min video)
GLOBAL INTERESTS
Why Golf Ball Dimples Are Revolutionizing Propellers (Editor – 13:35 min video)
SCUTTLEBUTT
The Cheapest Nastiest Ship of WW2 (Editor – 8:48 min video)
The Mariner’s Mirror: Nazi Midget Submarine: Seehund (Editor – 36:00 min podcast)
HMS Venturer vs U-864 – The only Sub vs Sub Underwater Battle (Editor – 29:31 min video)
Japan Shocked When USS Washington (BB-56) Shattered Their Naval Doctrine
Bigger Than Anything Else Ever Built (Editor – USSR Typhoon submarine in a 21:31 min video)
THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
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 in the Atlantic Ocean, with a loss of 544,000 tons.
31 August 1942 HMCS Morden CO LT John J. Hodgkinson, RCNR sank 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 Prime Minister 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 The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Royal Canadian Naval Reserve (RCNR) & Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) are placed on active service. Of the Commanding Officers of the 48 Canadian ships during WWII that sank enemy warships and submarines there were 29 RCN, 20 RCNR, and 13 RCNVR.
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-247 off Land’s End, England. This was HMCS Swansea’s fourth submarine under two separate CO’s.
2 September 1998 The Swissair passenger liner Flight 111 crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia killing all 229 on board. The immediate response was the establishment of Operation Persistence with more than 2,400 Canadian Armed Forces members, 450 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers (whose contributions came as part of Operation Homage) and hundreds of Canadian Coast Guard personnel took part. The CAF contribution consisted of 1,300 RCN, 700 army, and 400 air force personnel served in the operation. HMCS Preserver became the command ship for the recovery efforts at sea. Military helicopters and patrol planes searched for human remains and wreckage floating in the water. Divers, remote underwater vehicles, and the submarine HMCS Okanagan searched the ocean floor. The Swissair Flight 111 tragedy was the second-deadliest air accident to ever occur in Canada. Many of the CAF members who took part in the operation were young reservists. The recovery efforts were physically and emotionally exhausting for most involved and difficult memories and some service members suffered from post-traumatic stress disorders. The risks of Canadian military service are not only found during deployments in war-torn countries around the world, but domestic operations can also take a high toll.
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 The 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 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 2003 Merchant Navy Veterans Day Act. Throughout Canada, in each year, the third day of September shall be known as “Merchant Navy Veterans Day”.
3 September 2016 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 1939 Canadian Pilot Officer Selby Roger Henderson while serving with the RAF 206 Squadron became the first Canadian to participate in an operational sortie during WW2. He was the lead navigator in a bomber force attacking German warships. Later in November 1939, when pilot a reconnaissance aircraft on duty over the North Sea, Henderson encountered two large enemy flying boats. He engaged the leading boat with the utmost resolution; bursts were seen to enter the engines and after-part of the flying boat’s hull; the enemy rear gunner was incapacitated and eventually the flying boat went down partially out of control. Henderson then attacked the second enemy aircraft with equal determination and silenced its fire before exhausting all his ammunition. He was gazetted for this action.
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 American colours in the captured 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.
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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