NAC News – Edition 668 HMCS La Hulloise
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of May 8, 2026
Edition 668 HMCS La Hulloise (River/Prestonian Class Frigate) Quote: “Russia has now occupied about 20 percent of Ukraine for over four years. These four years have granted Moscow time and space to solidify its control over occupied territories using a variety of military, social, economic, political, legal, and bureaucratic mechanisms. Perhaps one of the most tangible examples of Russia’s occupation strategy in Ukraine is the apparent intensification of the campaign to repopulate occupied areas of Ukraine with Russian citizens from Russia. This campaign is critical to Moscow’s effort to “Russify” occupied Ukraine — forcibly remaking occupied areas in Russia’s own image.” ISW, Russia’s Resettlement Strategy in Occupied Ukraine, Karolina Hird, 5 May 2026
Editor NAC News: Rod Hughes (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.
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NOTICES
NEW Editor – NAC News will not be published next week as I will be in Halifax participating proudly as part of the commissioning crew of HMCS Sackville (15 May event listed below). The next two weeks are included in the “This Week in RCN/Maritime History” section.
12 -14 May 2026 Mari-Tech 2026 ABCMI Co-hosting with CIMaRE & SNAME Venue: Victoria Conference Centre, 720 Douglas Street’ Victoria, BC
13 – 15 May 2026 NIBC 2026 Conference – Maritime Arctic Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour hotel, Victoria BC. (Editor – NAC-VI helps financially sponsor this event)
15 May 2026 11:00 am at Sackville Landing. The CNMT has indicated that to mark the 85th anniversary of the launch of HMCS Sackville (English) & (Française) that she will be ceremonially commissioning into the RCN)
NEW 25 May 2026 ABCDMI & Hanwha BC Innovation Day 13:30 – 17:00. Join them for informative presentations, B2B meetings, and a networking opportunity during the cocktail reception. Fairmont Empress Hotel, 721 Government St., Victoria B.C.
27 – 28 May 2026 CANSEC – Canada’s leading defence, security & emerging technology event. EY Centre, Ottawa, ON
25 – 27 June 2026 RCN Historical Conference – CFB Esquimalt, venue possibly HMCS Venture. Details TBP.
13 – 16 July 2026, Monday-Tuesday, Maritime & Arctic Security & Safety Conference (MASS) St. John’s Convention Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLE
China Orders Firms to Defy U.S. Sanctions in Escalation Over Iran Oil Trade
We Have To Actively Take On…’: Carney Says Next World Order Will Come From Europe Amid Trump Chaos (Editor – not maritime but huge implications in a 8:05 min video)
CANADA
Royal Canadian Navy commemorates 81st Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic & La Marine royale canadienne commémore le 81e anniversaire de la bataille de l’Atlantique with Ceremony marks anniversary of Second World War Atlantic campaign (Editor – one ceremony picked to represent the ceremonies that took place across the country) with Joint statement from Ministers of National Defence and Veterans Affairs in commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic & Déclaration commune des ministres de la Défense nationale et des Anciens Combattants à l’occasion de la commémoration de la bataille de l’Atlantique
Hanwha Ocean and Thordon Bearings link up on Canadian patrol submarine project
TKMS and GDMS–Canada to Establish Arctic Sentinel (Editor – pity we closed DRE(P) in 1994)
CDAI: One Year In: Has Carney Strengthened Canada’s Defence? (Editor – 33:24 min podcast)
Ottawa breaks ground on long-delayed Afghanistan memorial after bitter design fight
Le gouvernement du Canada investit près d’un milliard de dollars dans les ports pour petits bateaux afin de stimuler l’économie canadienne et de soutenir les collectivités côtières & Government of Canada invests nearly $1 billion in small craft harbours to grow Canada’s economy and support coastal communities
Liberals restore bill containing incoming GG’s recommendation for Canada’s military
Niobe Papers, No. 25 Navigating the Arctic – A Call for Better Charting of Canada’s Arctic Waters authored by NAC member David H. Gray
4 more sailors lost on doomed 1845 Arctic expedition identified
Canada to pick between Swedish and U.S. radar planes to protect its skies (Editor – maritime warfare implications)
The drone war comes home: Canada scrambles to shield military bases in legal grey zone
CDAI: The Next Challenge in Defence Procurement Reform: Catching up to the Future
CDAI: What Does Canada Gain by Hosting NATO-Backed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank? (Editor – 42:41 min podcast) and B.C. the best spot for global defence bank Headquarters would bring thousands of high-paying jobs to B.C.
CMSN: Analysis – Naval Shipbuilding, Lessons from Down Under, 2015 to 2025
Caring for the fallen: A new volunteer program to maintain war graves in Canada
Lookout: 4 May 2026, Volume 71, Issue 9 & Volume 71, numéro 9, 4 mai, 2026
Trident: Lundi 04 mai 2026 Volume 60, édition 09 & Monday 04 May 2026 Volume 60, Issue 09
NAC Naval Affairs: Bibliography Submarines in Canadian Service (Editor – NAC Naval Affairs Papers, Briefing Notes, Niobe Papers, and much more. Please share with people you think may benefit from the knowledge, after all, that’s what your Naval Affairs program is all about; enlightening Canadians about maritime affairs and the need for the RCN.
USA & AMERICAS
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 4, 2026
How the U.S. Navy is Preparing for a New Era of Warfare (Editor – Interview with CNO in a 15:09 min video)
UPDATED: U.S. Strikes in Caribbean, Eastern Pacific Kill 5 while U.S. Tests Using Drones to Track, Target Suspected Narco Boats
Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Interdicts Suspected Drug Vessel off Haiti
Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is Now in the Atlantic
U.S. Navy Just Commissions Newest Nuclear Fast-Attack Submarine USS Idaho (SSN 799) (Editor – 8:05 min video)
Northrop Grumman delivers 70th E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to US Navy
At the Helm: How the U.S. Coast Guard is Shaping the Future of Maritime Nuclear Power
CIMSEC: A four-ocean navy: a wrong solution to the right problem
CIMSEC: Lost in the small surface combatant wilderness
How Trump class battleship is shaping up ? (Editor – 13:23 min video)
CNO: U.S. Naval Aviators Will No Longer Command Amphibious Warships
U.S. Navy wants first FF(X) frigate in the water by 2028
Zumwalt-class destroyers may receive SPY-6 radars from frigates
HMS Trent sets sail for her third Caribbean deployment
US Navy research ship Robert Ballard hits the water
US Navy christens towing, salvage and rescue ship USNS Solomon Atkinson
INDO-PACIFIC
Pacific Ocean and 22+ marginal seas:
Two former Chinese defense ministers handed death sentence with reprieve for graft
Exclusive: China Coast Guard takes lawful measures against an illegal landing by Philippine crew on Tiexian Jiao (Editor – Sandy Cay is part of the Spratley Islands)
HMS Spey completes freedom of navigation exercise around Spratly Islands en route to Manila
Six States Criticize China for Detaining Panama-Flagged Ships
Japan’s US-2 joins Balikatan exercises in South China Sea
Mogami deal: more than just ships
Aussie firm commissions first US export of drone submarine
‘Littoral Deep Battle’ The Army’s Plan to Defeat an Amphibious Invasion in the Indo-Pacific (Editor – note PPCLI participation)
Indian Ocean and 4 major marginal seas:
Indian Navy receives receives sixth Nilgiri-class frigate from MDSL
EUROPE
Black and Caspian Seas:
Canada commits $270M to Ukraine as Carney addresses European summit in Armenia
Baltic Sea:
Ukraine strikes Russian Kalibr missile carrier, patrol boat in Leningrad Oblast, Zelensky says
Swedish Coast Guard Seizes Suspected False Flag Tanker In Baltic Sea and Sweden arrests Chinese captain of suspected Russia-linked vessel
Mediterranean Sea and its 15 marginal seas:
HMS Dragon simulates evading missile strikes in the Eastern Mediterranean
General:
Standing ready: HMS Prince of Wales leads task group on Arctic security mission
All Royal Navy recruits to start their training at HMS Raleigh
Another warship quietly withdrawn – Royal Navy now down to just 5 frigates
A Couple of Bad Days for Russian Shipping…AGAIN! | An Yang 2 | Koala | 50 Let Pobedy (Editor – three topical maritime incidents (icebreaker collision is one) in a 15:11 min video)
MIDDLE EAST
US says it has targeted Iranian military facilities after responding to attacks on navy ships and U.S. Confirms Iranian Attack on U.S. Navy Destroyers in Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Navy Fighter Shoots Out the Rudder of an Iranian Tanker
US Official Says Boxship Operator Was at Fault For Iranian Missile Strike
France moves aircraft carrier to Red Sea with eye on Hormuz mission
Iran Launches “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” to Administer Hormuz Tolls with Iran to ensure security in Strait of Hormuz after threat eliminated — IRGC
Almost 1,600 vessels stuck near Strait of Hormuz — CNN
UK monitoring team says Hormuz traffic has fallen 90% during conflict
No large weapons on board sunk Iranian boats — Pentagon
US Naval Blockade Squeezes Iran’s Oil Exports, Forces Crude Onto Floating Storage
U.S. warns shipping firms could face sanctions over paying Iran’s Strait of Hormuz tolls
U.S. Pushes First Ships Through Hormuz Under ‘Project Freedom’ as Iran Warns of Clash
CENTCOM: No US warship hit despite Iranian claims of missile strike
Explosion Hits Ship as Trump’s Hormuz Push Meets Reality
U.A.E. says it intercepted 3 missiles fired by Iran, the first since ceasefire took hold
US strikes Iranian fast boats as Iran attacks UAE oil facility
Oil tanker hijacked off coast of Yemen and taken towards Somalia
Ships Cluster Further From Hormuz Strait as Iran Widens Grip
Saudi Arabia Set For Oil Windfall After Hormuz Boosts Prices
GLOBAL INTERESTS
CIMSEC: the Aramid shield: snare drones for an active undersea defense capability
IMO Climate Talks Stay Alive as Carbon Plan Survives U.S. Pushback at MEPC 84
WHO confirms hantavirus on cruise ship, evacuations planned for nearly 150 people — including 4 Canadians then Plans underway to evacuate 2 passengers from cruise ship struck by hantavirus then Hantavirus strain that spreads between humans found in cruise ship passengers but Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic, UN health agency says
SCUTTLEBUTT
Yamato: The World’s Largest Battleship Sunk in WWII (Editor- 1:23 min video)
Why Canada Has a Giant Hole in the Middle of Its Map (Editor – noteworthy perspective in a 14:59 min video)
The Mariner’s Mirror: The Naval Fiction Interviews: Philip K. Allan and Alexander Clay (Editor – 30:00 min podcast)
Why American PT boat crews removed their torpedoes before their most successful mission (Editor – 1:50 min video)
THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
9 May 1918 Lieutenant (RNVR) Rowland Bourke was commanding Motor Launch 276 when the events that would earn him a Victoria Cross occurred. The British had attempted an operation to block the port of Ostend, Belgium so it could not be used by the Germans who were occupying it. In the aftermath of the overnight daring but bloody naval assault, Bourke took his ship into the enemy harbour to look for any remaining survivors of the raid. Lt Bourke was born in London, England and emigrated to Canada in 1902 living in Dawson City in the Yukon and Vernon, BC. A naturalized Canadian he was the only Canadian Naval VC winner during WW1, and one of only four Canadians serving in or with the RCN/RN to be VC recipients. Bourke also received the Distinguished Service Order for earlier heroic acts. He is buried in Royal Oak cemetery, Victoria BC.
9 May 1941 – SS Esmond (Newfoundland registry) suffered no casualties after being torpedoed by U-110 and sinking between Iceland and Greenland.
9 May 1942 MV Calgarolite had nobody killed after being torpedoed by U-125 50 miles southwest of Grand Cayman Island, Caribbean.
10 May 1942 SS Kitty’s Brook (Newfoundland registry) – 9 crew killed when hit by one torpedo from U-588 and sank 35 miles southeast of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
10 May 1945 HMCS Rockcliffe an Algerine-class minesweeper accepted the surrender of U-889
11 May 1898 Canadian brothers Harry and Willard Miller born in Noel Shore, Nova Scotia while serving as USN sailors on board the U.S.S. Nashville in Cuban waters, both earned the US Medal of Honour. During a ship’s boat undersea cable-cutting operation and facing the heavy fire of the enemy they both displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout the action.
11 May 1922 The Royal Naval College of Canada was closed, and for the next twenty years the training pf the Dominion’s professional naval officers was carried out in the Royal Navy. The reduction of naval strength during the 1920’s made a separate Canadian institution impracticable, and the small need of officers for a minor force was satisfied by periodically sending a handful of candidates to the United Kingdom as “special entry” cadets. The Department of National Defence purchased Hatley Park for $75,000 and in 1940 became HMCS Royal Roads, a junior naval officer training site. From 1940 to 1942, more than 600 volunteers completed fast-track, 90-day naval officer programs. These new sub-lieutenants were assigned to escort vessels protecting convoy ships from submarine attack as they made dangerous crossings of the North Atlantic and later the Barents Sea. In the fall of 1942 HMCS Royal Roads became the Royal Canadian Naval College.
11 May 1942 SS Nicoya, sailing from Montreal to Liverpool, UK is the first merchant ship sunk in the Battle of the St. Lawrence. The British merchant ship is struck by two torpedoes from U-553 off Cape des Rosiers, Gaspé, sinking in a few minutes. Six merchant sailors were killed.
11 May 1945 German submarine U-190 surrendered to HMCS Victoriaville and HMCS Thorlock and was later escorted into Bay Bulls, Newfoundland.
11 May 1961 HMCS Grilse a USN Balao-class fleet submarine was commissioned into the RCN. She served in the antisubmarine training role for ships and RCAF maritime patrol aircraft.
12 May 1940 HMCS Ypres while operating the harbour entrance “gate” was accidently rundown by HMS Revenge. She was the first loss of the RCN during WW2. There were no casualties, it is said that the next time HMS Revenge passed through the boom the crews of both gate vessels took up abandon-ship stations. Ypres was a one of 12 Battle-class trawlers built during WWI that were employed as gate vessels in the Halifax area. The gate was back in operation by the 16th. Another old Battle-class trawler, HMS Arleux, replaced Ypres. She was also rammed later in the war by the giant liner RMS Queen Mary, although she was not sunk.
12 May 1942 The German submarine U-553 sinks the British freighter Nicoya and the Dutch steamer Leto 16 kilometers off the Gaspe coast between Gaspe and Anticosti Island. Most of Nicoya’s 87 crew and passengers got safely away, however Twelve of Leto’s 43 passengers and crew perished. The sinking of Nicoya and Leto did not, as conventional wisdom would have it, signal the commencement of the German attack on Canadian shipping: that had been going on for a while. But it did signal the start of a campaign that brought the shooting war into the church halls and kitchens of coastal communities and deposited the flotsam and jetsam of war along their shorelines. It was impossible to stop tongues from wagging, the press from bleating and Parliament from debating the deep penetration of the enemy into Canadian waters. Most wanted to know how the Royal Canadian Navy could have let it happen.
12 May 1945 HMCS Victoriaville (frigate) escorts the surrendered U-Boat 190 into Bay Bulls, Newfoundland (not yet part of Canada).
13 May 1943 HMCS Drumheller commanded by Lt Leslie P. Denny, RCNR, HMS Lagan, and an aircraft from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 423 Squadron combine to sink the German submarine U-753 in the Atlantic Ocean.
13 May 1945 German submarine U-899 officially surrendered to the RCN near Shelburne, N. S. becomes the only German sub to surrender in Canadian waters during Second World War. Canadian ships, alone or in company with other ships and planes, sank a total of twenty-seven U-boats during the Second World War. Despite the undoubted and ongoing U-boat successes during the 2,060 days of war, 25,353 merchant ship voyages carried 181,643,180 tons of cargo from North American ports to the United Kingdom under Canadian escort. Over the bridge which the navy helped to build and maintain 90,000 tons passed daily towards the battlefields of Europe. In the Canadian ships lost, there were 1,797 Canadians who lost their lives, 319 were wounded, and 95 became POW’s. They paid a price yet created an achievement which would have been flatly dismissed as impossible before the war.
14 May 1914 The Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR) is authorized as part of the RCN. Nine years before the 1923 creation of the RCNVR, the Canadian government of Robert Borden embarked on the creation of a naval reserve. The RNCVR was to consist of 1,200 men who agreed to serve in wartime with the RN or the RCN. It was organized in three divisions: Atlantic, Lake or Central, and Pacific. The cap tallies bore the initials RNCVR, a crown or crown & anchor and the name of the division. Rank stripes of officers as well as the stripes on sailors’ collars were wavy. The government, however, did little to organize the RNCVR and once WW1 broke out, did nothing on the grounds that any trained men who could be used as instructors would be urgently needed elsewhere. Local initiative led to the creation of a half company in Victoria and a full company in Vancouver. During WW1 8,000 officers and ratings joined the RNCVR for service at home or overseas, including those in the Overseas Division. The RNCVR crewed 160 vessels, mainly patrol vessels protecting the shores around Canada and convoy escort duty.
14 May 1917 Lieutenant R. Leckie (eventual Chief of Air Staff of the RCAF), but at the time was Royal Naval Air Service, flying a Curtiss H-12 flying boat shoots down the German Zeppelin L.22 over England.
15 May 1940 HMCS Prince Henry (ex-North Star, ex-Prince Henry) purchased from Clarke Steamship Company for $606,740, and preparations were begun to convert her to an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC). The Washington and London Naval Treaties placed limits on the number of cruisers that could be built by the participating nations. Canada was governed by the limits placed on the Royal Navy. An important role of heavy cruisers was service on distant stations and as the ‘patrolman on the beat,’ keeping watch over the trade routes of the world. By late ’42 to early ’43, the AMC’s were being withdrawn from escort service and converted to troopships, a vastly less costly and complicated process as well as a more important role.
15 May 1941 Ten corvettes in UK shipyards are formally commissioned as RCN ships. HMC Ships; Trillium, Arrowhead, Mayflower, Fennel, Spikenard, Hepatica, Quesnel, Snowberry, Bittersweet, and Windflower. The transfers were part of an exchange that eventually never happened, but Canada retained the ships.
16 May 1945 HMCS Matane is sent to escort 14 surrendered U-Boats from Trondheim to Loch Eriboll.
17 May 1963 Approval is given for the RCN to begin work on the first Canadian military hydrofoil, HMCS Bras D’Or.
19 May 1845 The HMS Erebus with its sister ship HMS Terror sailed out of the river Thames, carrying 128 officers and men under the command of Sir John Franklin. Their mission: to locate and transit the fabled Northwest Passage, the long-sought pathway from Atlantic to Pacific through North America’s ice-strewn Arctic inlets. It would take until September 2014, a search team to find wreck of Erebus, sitting in just 11 meters (36 feet) of water. Two years later, another team found the almost-pristine wreck of Terror, in deeper water 30 miles from its companion.
19 May 1943 SV Angelus sailed under the French tricolor for 19 years until on 11 May 1942 the ship was captured by the Canadian warship HMCS Prescott (K 161) whilst on the Grand Banks. She was sunk by shellfire from U-161 south of Nova Scotia. 8 crew were killed. (K161 captured her, and U-161 sank her)
20 May 1941 The unescorted SS Rothermere (Newfoundland registry) was hit in the engine room by one torpedo from U-98 southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland. The ship sank by the stern after being hit for a second time. Rothermere had 18 crew members and three gunners killed. 32 crew members, one gunner and one passenger were picked up by the Icelandic steam merchant Bruarfoss and landed at Reykjavik.
21 May 1917 The Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) is established by Royal Charter. Today the commission is responsible for the commemoration of 1.7 million individuals – and care for graves, cemeteries, and memorials at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries and territories. The Commission consists of six member countries – the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa.
21 May 1939 King George VI unveils the National War Memorial (known as “The Response”) in Ottawa. In his address to an estimated 100,000 persons who gathered to witness the ceremony, King George spoke of the symbolism of the memorial and the sacrifice to which it was dedicated: “The memorial speaks to her world of Canada’s heart. Its symbolism has been beautifully adapted to this great end. It has been well named “The Response.” One sees at a glance the answer made by Canada when the world’s peace was broken and freedom threatened in the fateful years of the Great War. It depicts the zeal with which this country entered the conflict.”
22 May 1931 HMCS Saguenay is commissioned at Portsmouth – one of the first ships built for the RCN. The captain was Commander Percy Nelles a member of the original cohort of cadets who had entered in CGS Canada in 1909.
Significant RCN Dates – If you notice any omissions or errors please inform me. Pointing out any more modern significant dates is encouraged. 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. Recently “Guardians of the North” written by NAC members Rich Gimblett & Karl Gagnon. 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) Last and far from least Gary Weir’s For Prosperity’s Sake RCN historical project site.
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