NAC News – Edition 674
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of June 26, 2026
Edition 674 Quote: “B.C. is home to more than 2,200 marine-focused companies. Among them are big global players like Seaspan, which owns Victoria Shipyard, the West Coast’s largest ship repair and conversion facility, and small startups like Ocean AID, a company that is using AI to optimize activities like ocean plastic cleanup, ghost fishing gear removal and fish counting for resource management. The Association of Marine Industries in B.C. [Editor – now ABCDMI with D for defence] says more than half of the province’s small- and medium-sized ocean tech companies are located on Vancouver Island.” Great Big Sea, Douglas Magazine, Andrew Findley, 6 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.
Contact naccoordinator@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
25 – 27 June 2026 The RCN and the Canadian Nautical Research Society present 13th RCN Historical Conference – Sea Power on the Pacific Rim: History, Heritage, and the Canadian Experience. Venue Wardroom CFB Esquimalt. Registration 0800 – 0900 am.
13 – 16 July 2026 Monday-Tuesday, Maritime & Arctic Security & Safety Conference (MASS) St. John’s Convention Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
19 October 2026 ABCDMI Seaspan Industry Engagement Day Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC
20 – 21 October 2026 ABCDMI Business Opportunities Conference & Trade Show, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC
THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLE
Geopolitical Instability Remains Shipping’s Top Concern for Fourth Straight Year
A submarine economic boom is just around corner. So are the challenges.
CANADA
The navy is getting new submarines. What will Canada use them for?
CDAI: Canada is About to Choose its Next Submarine (Editor – 41:49 min podcast)
Australian role in Canada’s submarines
20 New Warships for Canada? The Continental Defence Corvette – Discussion (No Ai) (Editor – useful summary in a 14:45 min video)
CAF Members Granted Permission to Wear International Decorations
Ottawa said military would send sexual offence cases to civilian police. It retained nearly 70%
Special Operations Coxswain: Become Canada’s Maritime Edge (Editor – sign me up 1:07 min CAF video)
OpED: A Canadian Toll on U.S. Commerce
Ralmax looks to revive plans to build a new graving dock on Victoria’s Upper Harbour (Editor – follow up 2:02 min news video)
BBC SINGAPORE: Brand New LakerMax Heavy Lifter Anchored at Port Dalhousie (Editor – 12:07 min video)
L’ASFC saisit plus d’une demi-tonne d’opium dissimulé dans un chargement de papier &
CBSA seizes more than half a tonne of opium concealed in paper shipment
Dismantling Underway for the Beached Wreck of MSC Baltic III in Canada
One-of-a-kind cargo ship arrives in Halifax (Editor – 2:07 min CTV News video) and more Unique high-tech sailing cargo ship makes 1st Canadian stop (Editor – 2:46 min video)
Rapport sur le Régime de retraite de la fonction publique pour l’exercice terminé le 31 mars 2025 & Report on the Public Service Pension Plan for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2025
Retirement Income Sources & Sources de revenu de retraite
NAC Naval Affairs: Bibliography Canadian Surface Combatants (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 programme is all about; enlightening Canadians about maritime affairs and the need for the RCN.
ARCTIC, 7 marginal seas and Canada’s archipelago (Editor – moved section)
Canada solidifies agreement with Australia to buy Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar system and Multi-billion dollar deal with Canada secures ‘largest-ever’ military export | 9 News Australia (Editor – great 2:57 min video) quite a system and a look at the gear Jindalee Operational Radar Network)
MDA Space Lands $688 Million RADARSAT Satellite Contract
USA & AMERICAS and the Caribbean Sea
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: June 22, 2026
US Navy to solicit proposals for $30b shipyard infrastructure contract while US couldn’t repair battle-damaged ships in war with China, study finds
This U.S. Submarine Is the Most ADVANCED Machine You’ve Never Heard Of! (Editor – impressive boat in a 15:46 min video)
The Navy’s Big 3-D Printing Bet
Seven sailors injured during fire aboard USS Indianapolis
Air Force Wants New 1,000-Nautical Mile Range Missile for Air, Sea Targets
Two Men Killed in U.S. Strike on Suspected Drug Boat in the Caribbean
ThayerMahan’s Outpost® Acoustic Intelligence Payloads Selected for Large-Scale Deployment (Editor – where is this slick Outpost system going?)
U.S. Navy Sets Sights on 10 Commercial Tankers To Rapidly Expand Logistics Fleet while NASSCO lays keel for US Navy’s ninth John Lewis-class oiler
New officers in Navy tech unit could join at ranks as high as captain
New York City switches on $6 billion HVDC link to fuel Big Apple with Canadian hydropower
Dali Chief Engineer Admits Criminal Conduct in Baltimore Bridge Allision
INDO-PACIFIC
Pacific Ocean and 22+ marginal seas:
USNI News Western Pacific Pulse: June 19, 2026
RIMPAC 2026 Kicks off in Hawaii (Editor – Canadian military to send warships, aircraft and 800 personnel to U.S. RIMPAC exercise) with Why the US Navy Runs the Only ‘Lab’ That Uses Real Warships (Editor – must see warfare explanation in a 18:22 min video)
Les Forces armées canadiennes participent à l’exercice VALIANT SHIELD 2026 & Canadian Armed Forces participates in Exercise VALIANT SHIELD 2026 (Editor – HMCS Charlottetown participant)
PLA’s advanced aircraft carrier Fujian transits Taiwan Strait amid military drills
China confirms Liaoning carrier group responded professionally to Japanese vessel and aircraft harassment during far-sea training with Navy’s carrier battle group back after drill
China’s expansion in two oceans
China and Philippines have a rare naval stand-off near disputed Scarborough Shoal
North Korea Commissions First-in-class Destroyer Choe Hyon
Taiwan Budget Calls for $6.6B for Attack Drones, Unmanned Surface Vessels
SK Oceanplant Delivers Second Ulsan-class Batch-III Frigate to ROK Navy
A tiny fleet of nuclear submarines comes at the cost of a weaker Australian military
Indian Navy warships INS Udaygiri, INS Kavaratti in Vietnam to boost maritime cooperation
US Transfers Four Triton Autonomous Vessels to Philippine Navy
China Lines Up Second LNG Terminal for Sanctioned Russian Cargoes, Sources Say
Largest ever cocaine bust in Australia after police raid underground bunker
Indian Ocean and 4 major marginal seas:
India’s Submarine Deterrent: Why SSBNs Are Built To Prevent Wars
Indian Coast Guard Inducts First Indigenous Hovercraft In Goa
India Gets 3 New Indigenous Warships, Here’s Why They Are Special
Indian Navy Enhances Destroyer Defences With MF-STAR Radar And Collaborative Engagement Capability (Editor – good video that explains Collaborative Engagement concept in the RIMPAC video above)
Indonesian Navy’s new swimmer delivery vehicles boast autonomous systems and multi-role capability
Thailand revives $30 billion coast-to-coast corridor to rival Malacca Strait
EUROPE
Black, Azov, and Caspian Seas:
Ukraine’s Massive New Underwater Drone: Sea Trident ST-1000 (Editor – Gamechanger, I wonder if it can take down Kerch Strait bridge supports?)
Russian attack on Turkish merchant ship kills one, eight crew members rescued – photos
with Ukrainian Navy Saves Crew of Foreign Ship Victress Following Russian Drone Strike
Russia reports large-scale Ukrainian drone attack across 12 regions (Editor – not a maritime article but one about strategic implications)
CSIS: Cracks in the Armor: Russia’s Military Struggles and the G7 Aftermath (Editor – useful summary in a 28:11 min video)
Zelensky stripped of highest Polish honour over WW2 name of army unit (Editor – so much ugly history in the region)
Baltic Sea:
Polish Navy ships to be equipped with VTOL UAVs
Mediterranean Sea and its 15 marginal seas:
Russian Navy Struggling to Maintain a Mediterranean Presence
French Forces Detain Tanker in Continuing Crackdown on Shadow Fleet
General:
Ukraine keeps striking Russian refineries and supply routes. How close is the country to an energy crisis? with Ukraine targets Moscow refineries with drones, causing fuel rationing across Russia (Editor – 5:51 min video)
UK Defence Chief’s warning on funding
Royal Navy maintains continuous 3-month watch on Russian warships in UK waters
Royal Navy attack submarine fleet update – all boats alongside with ‘Massive investment’ needed at home of Royal Navy’s nuclear sub fleet, defence minister says
Britain funding more trials on large drone submarine
Low on Fuel, Russian Frigate Drifts in the English Channel
Keel laid for Russian Navy’s Yasen-M nuclear-powered submarine Murmansk
Royal Navy puts ‘unusual’ wing-like underwater system through sea trials
Germany cancels F126 frigate program, plans to acquire eight MEKO A-200 frigates instead with Germany Ditches Delayed Frigate Program in Major Blow to Rheinmetall
Belgian Navy christens new minehunter Oostende
Spanish Navy trials new interceptor from Santa Maria-class frigate
MIDDLE EAST
IMO Launches Evacuation of 11,000 Seafarers Still Trapped in Persian Gulf and UN says it will evacuate sailors stranded in Strait of Hormuz, as Rubio warns against tolls but then IMO Pauses Persian Gulf Evacuations After Containership is Attacked
Pentagon tells lawmakers it needs $80 billion for Iran war, other expenses: WSJ (Editor – what a colossal misadventure)
IRGC Navy Rejects Oman’s Safe-Passage Plan for Strait of Hormuz
Ship Hit Off Oman After IRGC Renewed Hormuz Transit Warnings
CIMSEC: Hormuz and the Era of Asymmetry: Sea Mines, Unmanned Systems, and the Redefinition of Naval Power
UK Minehunting Force Arrives in Middle East as Multinational Hormuz Mission Takes Shape with HMS Dragon and RFA Lyme Bay join German navy in Red Sea for maritime security operation (Editor – 0:59 sec video, note HMS Dragons red dragon bow art!)
Will the European Strait of Hormuz Force Float?
Thirteen Dead, Dozens Injured, After Blast During Restart at Giant Qatar LNG Site
Iran Asserts Control Over the Strait of Hormuz
Will Passage Fees be Charged in the Strait of Hormuz?
Trump Treasury Issues Sweeping Iran Oil Waiver, Marking Sharp Break From ‘Maximum Pressure’ resulting in More Than 20 Million Barrels Leave Iran as Post-War Oil Trade Reawakens with Iran Resumes Kharg Island Oil Loadings After US Blockade Lifted
CIMSEC: The Price of Doubt: Sea Control in the Strait of Hormuz
CIMSEC: The Insurance Chokepoint: War-Risk Pricing as an Instrument of Maritime Coercion
Israel Plans to Deploy Submarines in Somaliland
Dutch warship shifts course toward Strait of Hormuz for possible deployment
Navantia launches the sixth corvette for Saudi Arabia in San Fernando
Pirates Become More Aggressive Using Gunfire in Attempts to Board Ships
GLOBAL INTERESTS
The Balloon Threat at Sea: How Cheap Airborne Decoys Could Upend Maritime Shipping
Day of the Seafarer 2026: The Human Cost of Keeping World Trade Moving
Global Shipping Needs 114,000 More Officers by 2030, New Report Warns
Containership Fire Breaks Out Every 17 Days as Misdeclared Cargo Remains Major Threat
Number of Containers Lost Overboard Rises for a Second Year, Reports WSC
How Fiber Optic Cables Are Made and Laid Across the Ocean – Inside the Global Internet Industry (Editor -16:26 min video)
SCUTTLEBUTT
The ‘Tiny’ British Carrier That Closed The Atlantic Gap — With Just Six Fighters (Editor – 13:35 min video)
Why The Royal Navy Is Finally Giving Up The Gun It’s Fired Since 1938 — For An American One (Editor – one for the gunners a 15:42 min video)
Kronstadt Dock vs British Shipyard: Physics in Service of the Empire (Editor – 2:26 min video)
Small Ships With Big Tasks – The Smaller Convoy Escorts of WW2 (Editor – 37:07 min video)
THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
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. 343 women joined the Royal Canadian Naval Medical Service during WW2. After the war 20 RCN sisters joined the permanent force and served at military establishments across the country; many more staffed the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospitals to care for hundreds of returning Veterans.
28 June 1922 The National Defence Act is passed, incorporating the Department of the Naval Service, the Department of Militia and Defence, and the Air Board as a new Department of National Defence.
28 June 1977 HMCS Huron (2nd) represents Canada at the Silver Jubilee naval review at Spithead.
28 June 2001 Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson officially dedicates the National Military Cemetery of the Canadian Forces at Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa.
29 June 1941 Lieutenant (A) Lloyd Kenneth Keith, DSC, RNR born in Calgary Alberta was killed in action at Tobruk North Africa while serving aboard HMS Eagle and flying Swordfish with the Fleet Air Arm. He received his DSC for his gallantry and fortitude during the Battle of Crete.
29 June 1992 HMCS Halifax is commissioned as the first of the 12 new Canadian Patrol Frigate programme.
30 June 1921 HMC Submarines CH-14 and CH-15 are paid off. They were Canadian members of the British “H” class, two of ten built during the First World War at Quincy, Mass. They were presented by the RN to the RCN in Feb 1919 and commissioned at Halifax in Jun 1919. Taken out of service in June 1922 because of budget cuts, CH-14 and CH-15 lay rusting in Halifax’s Northwest Arm alongside the paid off light cruiser HMCS Aurora until 1927, when all three vessels were sold for scrap.
30 June 1941 HMCS Wasaga is commissioned, becoming the first Canadian-built Bangor-class minesweeper. The Bangor’s were based on the British Basset-class and sixty were built in Canadian yards spread across both coats and on the Great Lakes. Fifty-one were built in the British yards totalling 111 in the class.
30 June 1944 Flight Lieutenant R.E. McBride and crew flying a Canso from RCAF Squadron 162 severely damaged U-478 north of the Shetlands, the submarine was later finished off by an RAF.
30 June 1950 The Canadian Parliament supports the government motion to assist the United Nations in its position on the Korean situation.
1 July 1922 The cruiser HMCS Aurora was paid off due to cuts to the defence budget.
1 July 1923 The RCN barracks in Halifax, known as HMCS Stadacona, is commissioned.
1 July 1934 Commodore Percy W. Nelles becomes the first Canadian-born and Canadian-trained Chief of the Naval Staff.
1 July 1954 The destroyer HMCS Iroquois sailed for her third and final tour of duty in United Nations Korean operations.
2 July 1944 Canadian MTB 460 (Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat) struck a mine in the English Channel. The Commanding Officer and 10 men of a crew of 17 were lost.
2 July 1940 861 German and Italian prisoners of war are rescued by HMCS St. Laurent after their transport ship was torpedoed on its way to Canada.
3 July 1931 The first ships built for the RCN, Saguenay and Skeena, complete their maiden voyage to Halifax.
3 July 1944 Four Canadian motor torpedo boats sank two German merchant ships and damage other vessels in the English Channel.
3 July 1970 HMCS Bonaventure was decommissioned at Halifax and sold for disposal. The vessel was purchased by Tung Chen S Steel Company of Taiwan for scrap and broken up in 1971. Components from Bonaventure’s steam catapult were used to rebuild the catapult aboard Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, another Majestic-class carrier. One anchor is preserved at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax as the Bonaventure Anchor Memorial. The monument was dedicated in 1973 initially to aircrew lost at sea, but later to all naval personnel who died in service. While Bonaventure was being decommissioned, the aviation fuel tanks were emptied and cleaned, but one of the tanks did not vent properly; two sailors were overcome by the fumes and another two lost their lives during the rescue attempt. The monument consists of the anchor and chains, along with a small chain running from the monument into the water to make the connection between monument and the sea. The anchor faces the mouth of the harbour. The names of navy and air force personnel who died during peacetime are etched into plaques beside the anchor. Her starboard anchor, donated by Maritime Command on 6 May 1998, is on display at Royal Military College Saint-Jean. Her two saluting guns are mounted at HMCS Discovery in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The ship’s bell is preserved at the Shearwater Aviation Museum in Dartmouth, which also hosts a large model and exhibit about the carrier.
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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