NAC News - Edition HMC MTB 466 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition HMC MTB 466

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of June 17th, 2022

Edition HMC MTB 466 (72 feet-type “G” class Motor Torpedo Boat. She was one of the many boats destroyed by fire at Ostend, Belgium, on 14 Feb 1945 with the loss of one RCNVR officer of her crew. Oostende Naval Memorial)

Quote of the week: “The importance of naval training cannot be exaggerated. The proper handling of modern warships in action is extraordinarily difficult. Both officers and ratings have exacting and specialized tasks to perform, and all the separate functions must co-ordinate precisely under the direction of a single mind. The problem is much increased by smoke, noise, and imminent danger, and also by the awkward fact that any individual or group on board, no matter how important, or the ship’s communications system, may at any moment be put out of action.” The Naval Service of Canada, Its Official History Vol 1, Origins and Early Years. pg 349. Gilbert Norman Tucker, PH.D. Director of Naval History Section 1952

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 David Soule executivedirector-nac@outlook.com if you wish someone to be added to the NAC News email distribution. (Influencer or good candidates to become a NAC member, and note the first year’s NAC & Branch membership dues are waived)

NOTICES

Job Posting – Executive Director NAC

Naval Reserve 100th Anniversary 2023. The UNTD Association of Canada has started a list. Please inform David Soule if you know of other events as they develop.

Time to Get Involved in Your National and Branch Organizations. If you have an interest in becoming more involved with your Branch or with National level programmes either as a potential member for the Board of Directors, part of our naval affairs team or can offer other talents such marketing our “products” and brand to increase our membership numbers please contact me or your branch president/representative. We need your talent and NAC always needs a fresh pool of willing volunteers. So why not step forward and get more involved in some very worthwhile endeavours. We need you!

27 June 2022 – 1200 (Ottawa time) NAC National AGM – via GoToMeeting. Supporting information has been posted on the National website as well as on WildApricot where you can register. Note the easiest way to appoint a proxy and vote on pre-meeting motions is to use an email vice mailing me the forms or emailing the forms as attachments. Instructions are on the pages at the links. Let’s keep this as simple as we can.

Navy Bike Ride 2022 (Editor – Great Jerseys! This virtual edition is open to all. Registration is open for this free event, which will run from 12 June – 7 August. If you’re keen, join the “Naval Association of Canada” Bike Team. Barry Walker is our “Fearless Leader”!

NEW 28 June 2022 10:00 am (Vancouver time) Live launch of Climate Change Vulnerability of the Canadian Maritime Environment, Clear Seas’ latest research report looking at the effects of climate change and the strategies that the Canadian maritime sector can take to adapt to meet this rising threat. The webinar will highlight the study’s findings, including the climate hazards that affect Canada’s waterways and users, and the best practices that can help the maritime sector adapt to climate change. To Register.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

China warns Taiwan independence would trigger war and China Alarms US With Private Warnings To Avoid Taiwan Strait plus Taiwan: Are the US and China heading to war over the island?

CDS and CAF CWO Message to the Defence Team: Release of The CAF Ethos: Trusted to Serve

Army gets its first Indigenous commander as Lt.-Gen. Jocelyn (Joe) Paul takes over

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CANADA

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships Vancouver and Winnipeg to deploy for Exercise RIMPAC 2022 and Operations PROJECTION and NEON

Un-crewed Underwater Technologies in the Arctic (Editor – 21:40 min audio of article available)

Liberals mull giving Irving an extra $300 million to build warships

Crown drops case in shipbuilding leak trial

Canada and Denmark reach settlement over disputed Arctic island, sources say

Brown Visits Counterparts in Canada to Talk Arctic, NORAD Modernization, F-35

Former HMCS Malahat member Petty Officer Second Class Fiona Borland remembered as caring and selfless

Working as a Meteorological Technician at sea and about time First navy Meteorological Technician sails with HMCS Ottawa

45 Metres DOWN – Navy Clearance Divers (Editor – 47 sec RCN video)

RCN to Test OSI’s Collision Avoidance Technology

Canadian Coast Guard partners with Indigenous coastal communities to enhance marine safety

Legion responds: Arbour report on sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces

Personal details leaked of 109 military sexual misconduct class action members

Retired Lt. Gen. Trevor Cadieu charged with two counts of sexual assault

Military officer who worked with cadets facing sex-offence charges after police investigation (Editor – COATS’s ever vigilant concern)

HOPA Ports looking forward to another strong year

VAC Programs and Services (Editor – available through NAC Veteran’s Corner page if you misplace the link)

Lookout Newspaper, Issue 23, June 6, 2022

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: June 13, 2022

UPDATED: Navy, Marine Corps Hold Aviation Safety Pauses Following Three Crashes

Senate Defense Authorization Bill Halts Half of Navy’s Planned Ship Retirements

USS Forrest Sherman heads to Mediterranean, just two months after concluding surge deployment

Navy to Christen Amphibious Transport Dock Ship Richard M. McCool Jr.

Navy Awards $537M Option for Third Constellation Frigate Chesapeake

U.S. Coast Guard, Dutch Navy Intercept 1,000 Kilos of Cocaine

MDA Awards Raytheon $867M Standard Missile-3 Block IIA Contract (Editor – BMD)

Drone Swarms That Harassed Navy Ships Off California Demystified In New Documents

Construction Of Airbase On Tinian Island In Case Guam Gets Knocked Out Has Begun

New AUKUS Caucus Bill Calls for U.S.-Australia Sub Training Pipeline

US Navy USS Minneapolis Saint-Paul (LCS 21) Commissions and Begins Sail-Around Transit

Construction Begins on NOAA’s New Oceanographic Research Ships

U.S. Judge Orders Tanker Owner to Pay $44 Million Over Deadly Destroyer Collision (Editor – maritime law can be strange)

Navy Accepts Delivery of Ship-to-Shore Connector LCAC 104 and Updates, Developments and Advances in Combat and Patrol Craft

House Appropriators Want Navy to Save 5 Littoral Combat Ships From Decommissioning

President Biden Calls Out Foreign Shipping Companies During Port of Los Angeles Visit

HII Successfully Demonstrates Coordinated Manned and Unmanned Operations a better pic HII develops unmanned launch and recovery system for amphib ships

Armed Gang Steals 20 Boxes of Gold Ore and Electronics in Manzanillo

CIMSEC: Sea Control 354 – Sub shipyards for northern Ohio with Capt Edward Bartlett (Editor – topical 35:12 min video)

Alabama Shipyard: On the Mobile waterfront, a sleeping giant has awakened

Colombian Navy Confirms Massive Treasure Aboard Spanish Galleon

U.S. Sailing Seized Russian Megayacht to Hawaii with New Crew

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INDO-PACIFIC

Japanese PM Kishida Lays Out Indo-Pacific Strategy in Shangri-La Speech

American Carrier Strike Groups in Philippine Sea Ahead of RIMPAC 2022

Naval Group receives compensation for Attack Class cancellation and now a different wrinkle IAEA members must approve Australian N-subs: China and a sitrep PODCAST: News wrap — Chapter closed: Subs program turns new page (Editor – first sub item of particular interest)

Could US ratification of UNCLOS deter Chinese aggression?

JMSDF Monitors Chinese Type 815G in Tsushima Strait (Editor – AGI)

Why can’t China send warships near the US or UK? (Editor – a short# video)

Defective Chinese Frigates give nightmares to Pakistani Navy

US, Japan coast guards conduct counter-narcotics exercise in Pacific

ROK Navy Names New KDX III Batch II Destroyer ‘Jeongjo The Great’

Royal Navy joins US-led Pacific peace and goodwill mission

Philippines Protests China’s ‘Illegal’ Acts In Disputed South China Sea Atoll

Philippine Navy buying more new ships

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Ukrainian Navy Ship In Dramatic Escape, Survives Russian Artillery Attack

Russia’s slowing invasion – is force structure to blame? (Editor – not naval but a useful analysis)

Ukraine deploys harpoon missiles and U.S. Sending Vehicle-Mounted Harpoon Launchers for Ukraine Coastal Defense

Russia launches Kalibr missile on ammunition dump in Ukraine

The Sea Mines Floating Between Ukraine’s Grain Stocks and The World initially

Kremlin Says No Deal On Turkish Navy Escorts Of Grain Ships To Ukraine but then Russia Offers Safe Passage to Ukrainian Grain Ships as Turkey Floats the Possibility of Mine-Free Corridors

Europe:

NATO, Russia, and Competition for Strategic Influence in the Baltic

Finland will not go into NATO without Sweden, president says

€100bn boost sees Germany join world’s top three defence spenders

Russia Starts Exercises with 60 Warships in Baltic Sea (Editor – 1:45 min video included)

Russian Shipyards Lay Six Ships For The Russian Navy

UK and US Navies sign fuel storage agreement for Scottish depots (Editor – more to a navy than just ships at sea)

JMSDF Training Squadron at Toulon Naval Base in France (Editor – 3:19 min video)

Royal Navy’s newest submarine HMS Audacious completes her maiden deployment

French Navy Kicks Off “SQUALE” ASW Exercise In Toulon

Royal Navy’s survey ship prepares for new record-breaking mission

HMS Dauntless back at sea after two years with engines fixed

In-focus: the Royal Navy’s inshore survey vessel HMS Magpie

Naval Group Lays the Keel of the First Dutch MCM Mothership

Japan government bank extends freeze of loan to Arctic LNG 2

Iran Reports Greece Released Disputed Tanker and Returning Cargo

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MIDDLE EAST

Iran Tests New Trade Corridor To Ship Russian Goods to India

French frigate Surcouf trains with Kuwaiti Navy

Rough Seas: Tracking Maritime Tensions with Iran (Editor – interactive graphic)

U.S. Coast Guard Seizes Heroin Shipment in Gulf of Oman

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

Sea Cargo Charter: Industry giants disclose climate impact of their shipping activities and IMO puts adoption of $5 billion maritime R&D fund on hold

Reinsurers Could Face $2B in Claims Over the Ever Given Grounding

SA Navy’s patrol vessel SAS King Sekhukhune to be commissioned in Durban on Wednesday

FS Borda Makes Port Call in Lagos, Nigeria

NATO Ships Conduct Port Visit in Algiers

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SCUTTLEBUTT

How American Submarines Can Target 90% of the World’s Population from the Ocean’s Depths (Editor – 11:07 min video)

Dressed to Kill: A History of Naval Uniform (Editor – 45 min podcast)

The Supermarine Seafire – Second Time’s a Charm! (Editor – 59:57 min video)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

18 June 1940 French cruiser Emile Bertin arrives in Halifax with $305 million in gold from the Bank of France; gold released after the war.
18 June 1944 The Great Lakes freighter SS Albert C. Field (Upper Great Lakes & Saint Lawrence Transportation Co., Toronto) was pressed to wartime service in July 1940. With a British crew and a cargo of lumber, her first sailing was eastbound in convoy SC-6 which departed Sydney NS on 27 October. (Three of the 39 merchant ships in the convoy were sunk by U-boats.) Shortly after her 14 October arrival in Millford Haven (a coal mining port in Wales), the ship was transferred to the UK Ministry of War Transport to be managed by William Cory and Sons Ltd. She had become a Collier, delivering coal (the life blood of coal-fired steamships in the Battle of the Atlantic) to strategic UK ports. Three and a half years later (and a couple weeks after the D-Day landings), the Albert C. Field sailed from Cardiff, Wales and joined 17 merchant ships in Convoy EBC-14 bound for the Normandy beachhead. She was carrying 2,500 tons of munitions and 1,300 bags of mail. On 18 June 1944, when about 15 nm SW of the western tip of the Isle of Wight, the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. The ship was hit by a torpedo and quickly sank. Four of the crew and some embarked military personnel were killed.
19 June 1812 The United States formally declares war against Great Britain.
19 June 1951 HMCS Cayuga begins the second of three tours to Korea.
20 June 1923 HMCS Brunswicker, a current day Naval Reserve Division, was raised as a RCN Volunteer Reserve half-company in Saint John, NB.
20 June 1942 Japanese submarine I-26 shelled Estevan Point BC lighthouse and radio-direction-finding station and marking the first enemy attack on Canadian soil since the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1871. I-26 fired 25–30 rounds of 5.5-inch (140 mm) shells at the lighthouse but failed to hit its target. Although the attack resulted in no damage or casualties, the subsequent decision to turn off the lights of outer stations caused difficulties for coastal shipping. Five RCN patrol vessels and a RCAF Supermarine Stranraer flying boat were dispatched to search for the submarine but failed to locate I-26 which had fled north and then returned to Japan.
20 June 1942 HMCS Edmundston (corvette) rescues 31 crewmembers from the SS Fort Camosun that had been disabled by a Japanese submarine near the Washington coast.
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 (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 (submarine) commissioned at Chatham Dockyards.
23 June 1995 HMCS Winnipeg Commissioned at Esquimalt BC.
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 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.
24 June 1944 – The Canadian built (United Ship Yard, Montreal) but British crewed SS Fort Norfolk was sunk by mines, after unloading her cargo at Juno beach, Normandy. Seven crew members and one DEMS gunner were casualties.
25 June 1940 HMCS Fraser is lost with 47 crew lost after colliding with a British warship, HMS Calcutta in the Bay of Biscay.
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 1994 HMCS Saguenay is sunk off Lunenburg as a diving park.

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, I thank NAC member Bill Dziadyk for his able assistance and detailed work. 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)