NAC News - Edition HMC MTB 468 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition HMC MTB 468

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of July 1st, 2022 – Canada Day 155

Edition: HMC MTB 468 (WWII 72 feet British Power Boat built Motor Torpedo Boat. July was an active MTB month during WW2, see the history calendar)

🇨🇦 Happy 155^th Birthday Canada 🇨🇦

Quote of the week: “The Dominion should be in a position either to protect its own trade routes or to cooperate adequately with Great Britain in providing the protection that is necessary. It is absurd to suggest that anything like this is possible with six destroyers, four of which are antiques, and a few minesweepers.” The Gazette, 4 May 1939

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!

14-16 November 2022 Registration for Maritime Security Challenges 2022 in Victoria BC is open! The past two years have seen an explosion of major events and trends that are shaking the world: a once-in-a-century-pandemic; a land war in Europe; international energy and food crises; the rise of authoritarian political movements and governments; more dramatic weather; and decades-high inflation. Many of these issues are playing out at sea, as shipping costs soar, navies modernize to protect their national maritime claims, and state rivalries flourish in the maritime domain.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

Madrid Summit Declaration included Nato plans huge upgrade in rapid reaction force with Nato summit: Five challenges for the military alliance and Bigger battle groups, more reinforcements: What overhauling NATO means to Canada and with a twist Kishida arrives at NATO locked and loaded

Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden sign agreement paving the way for Finnish and Swedish NATO membership

RCNBF Celebrates 80 Years (Editor – the rejuvenated RCNBF lives on to do great work)

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CANADA

Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2021) (Editor – like a broken record)

New Fleet Commander highlights changing culture and new ships as priorities

Canada Sends 2 Warships to Baltic Sea to Bolster Security (Editor – HMC Ships Kingston and Summerside)

HMCS Margaret Brooke completes warm weather trials ahead of Op Nanook deployment

Royal Canadian Navy relieves Pacific fleet ship commander for ‘inappropriate conduct’ and official statement Statement by the Commander of Canadian Fleet Pacific

Canadian sailors mentor Caribbean divers

Construction begins on RCN’s fifth Harry DeWolf-class AOPS

Canada’s naval presence in the Indo-Pacific: incremental growth

Why was Canada kept in the dark about “AUKUS”?

Naval Memorial Unveiled In Saint John

CIMSEC: Sea Control 357 – artificial waterways in international water law with Dr. Tamar Meshel (Editor – 24:51 min podcast)

Irving Shipbuilding president Kevin Mooney resigns

Editor – With the recent announcements on Canada’s plans to spend $4.9 billion upgrade NORAD capabilities, it’s worth taking a second look at a first-rate presentation by Andrea Charron’s talk to the Naval Associationlast year in a 50:27 min video)

Editor – Do you have friends asking about the RCN? Point them towards the NAC Naval Briefing Notes. They are concise explanations of everything you’ve always wanted to know but were afraid to ask. See BN#7 on why navy ships cost so much and take so long to build.

Government MPs vote down attempt to create Victoria Cross review board

60 seconds with Humanist Chaplain Captain Marie-Claire Khadij (Editor – 1:45 min CAF video)

Defence Team News | 29 June 2022 (Editor – Indigenous spiritual symbols were unveiled for engraving on CAF headstones at the National Military Cemetery 2:13 min video)

Lookout: Volume 67, Issue 25, June 27, 2022

Trident: Monday 27 June. Volume 56, Issue 13

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: June 27, 2022

TOPGUN: The Navy’s First Center of Excellence (Editor – topical given the latest Topgun movie)

U.S. Navy Commissions 21st Virginia-Class Submarine

Navy Cancelling Early Discharges and Offering Extensions to Keep More Sailors in Uniform

CIMSEC: 40 years of missile warfare: what the losses of HMS Sheffield and RFS Moskva tell us about war at sea

SM-6 Missile Used To Strike Frigate During Massive Sinking Exercise In Pacific

Mass Produced Destroyer – USS Arleigh Burke #shorts (Editor – 60 sec video)

House defense bill calls for US-built ships to modernize strategic sealift fleet

A Pelican, a Walrus, and No Man: Creative Aerial Solutions for Mine Warfare

NASSCO Christens the USNS John L. Canley (ESB 6)

Blog: The US is using a mine in Greenland to counter China (Editor – one of the reasons the north matters so much)

Four former Navy officers convicted in ‘Fat Leonard’ bribery trial

Video: Norwegian Sun Curtails Cruise After Hitting Ice in Alaska

Coast Guard Cutter Campbell Returns Home after 80-Day Patrol

Coast Guard Cutter Thetis Returns Home from 77-day Counter-Narcotic Deployment

Russian Superyacht Docks In San Diego Flying American Flag

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INDO-PACIFIC

RIMPAC 2022 Kicks Off in Hawaii With 21 Partner Nation Ships (Editor – Frigates HMC Ships Vancouver and Winnipeg)

U.S. Carrier Abraham Lincoln to Participate in Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2022

French Navy Plans on Sending FREMM Frigate to Next RIMPAC

US Navy Supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Departs Guam

China’s ‘post-American’ naval ambitions

The Maritime Counterinsurgency Project Begins

US starts sanctioning China for supporting Russia

Advancing AUKUS Readying the Nation for Nuclear Subs and Time for industry to step up but despite the enthusiasm Marles concedes ‘extremely optimistic’ 2030 SSN delivery

Australians embrace AUKUS but remain resistant to nuclear weapons

CIMSEC: alliance management requires all hands

Indonesian Navy Gets New CN235-220 MPA, AS565 Mbe ASW Helicopters

USS Samuel B Roberts: World’s deepest shipwreck discovered

US sends destroyer to South China Sea after provocative spy plane flyover in Taiwan Straits (Editor – confrontational tone and rhetoric in this Chinese article)

Israel Shipyards Launches First Two Fast Patrol Craft for Philippine Navy

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Snake Island: Why Russia couldn’t hold on to strategic Black Sea outcrop and Russia Quits Snake Island Opening Danube To Ship Grain

Russia invasion: Putin still wants to take most of Ukraine – US so if The Ukraine War: The Longer The War, The More Likely It Is To Be Won By A Sea Power and Does Russia really want a war at sea?

Ukraine Attacks Crimean Oil Platform For Second Time In A Week

18 Patrol Boats Sent to Ukraine Set for River Duty, Says Pentagon

Exclusive: Boris Johnson signals UK’s willingness to demine, help export grain from Ukraine

Are Russian Artillery Barrels at End of Life? (Editor – not a naval video but a real-world gunnery issue)

Russia’s naval expansion in Crimea

Russian legislators question Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard (Editor – another example of why the north matters)

First Cargo Ship Leaves Ukraine’s Occupied Port of Berdyansk and Tracking where Russia is taking Ukraine’s stolen grain

Europe:

Russia’s Third Project 885M (Yasen-M) Submarine Starts Sea Trials

Russian Black Sea Fleet oldest submarine Alrosa armed with Kalibr missiles to undergo sea trials soon

Germany gets a $100 billion military upgrade (Editor – not a maritime 14:40 min video but of interest…I wonder what one on Canada would look like) and Thales Aboard F126 Frigates of the German Navy (Editor – 5:33 min video)

Biden Administration Basing Two More Destroyers in Rota, Spain

Last Cruise For French Rubis-Class SSN ‘Saphir’ – ‘Suffren’ About To Take Over

Poland signs contract for additional Kormoran II MCMVs

France and Romania Ink Naval Cooperation Agreement

History made as women command all four of Royal Navy’s major training bases

Navy frigate hones skills on NATO’s biggest sub-hunt exercise

RAPIDFire: The New French 40mm Naval Gun System by Nexter & Thales (Editor – 7:46 min video)

UK to delivered first New superfrigate, HMS Venturer will be sent for royal navy (Editor – informative 8:01 min video)

German Navy Bids to Acquire Rostock Shipyard

Russian LNG Ship Concludes Northern Sea Route Voyage but Europe-Asia Arctic route loaded at one-tenth of capacity and then Russia moves to take control of Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project

Record Marine Heatwave Hits Mediterranean Sea

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MIDDLE EAST

Potential New Stealth Missile Boat Under Construction In Iran

Hundreds Injured, 13 Killed When Chlorine Tank is Dropped in Aqaba

U.S. 5th Fleet Gains First LCS, USS Sioux City, in Historic Deployment

Russian Superyacht Reappears In Dubai After Going Dark and Megayachts Run Low On Safe Harbors As Russia Sanctions Take Hold

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

Study: Melting Arctic Ice Could Transform International Trade Routes and Weaken Russia’s Grip on Arctic Shipping

Operation Focus ups EUNavFor Med inter-operability

The Magnetic North Pole Is Rapidly Moving Because of Some Blobs

Nearly a quarter of Earth’s seafloor now mapped

Study: Only 35% of major shipping companies pledged to become net zero by 2050

ONE Announces Industry-First Weight Discrepency Surcharge for Overweight Containers

Sailboat to Collect and Process Ocean Plastics Gets Design Approval

ClearSeas: invasive species & marine shipping

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SCUTTLEBUTT

Jane Fawcett: British Code Talker Who Located the Bismarck

Maritime Innovation 1: The Propeller (Editor – 30 min podcast, plus two short videos)

The Caribbean in WW2 – Oil, Sugar and the French

The Giant Stealth Weapon that Almost Destroyed the Pacific Fleet (Editor – long-lance torpedo 11:08 min video)

Why Do Fast Ships Shake? (Editor – 10:15 min video)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

2 July 1944 Canadian MTB 460 (Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat) struck a mine in the English Channel. The commanding officer and 9 men 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 1944 Four Canadian motor torpedo boats sink two German merchant ships and damage other vessels in the English Channel.
3 July 1970 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. 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.
4 July 1943 Canadian vessels of the 29th and 65th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotillas conduct raids on the French coast near Cherbourg.
5 July 1940 – The Great Lakes freighter SS Magog (Canada Steamship Lines Ltd, Montreal) departed Halifax on 21 June 1940 in convoy HX-52 bound for the UK, with a cargo of lumber. This was Magog’s first convoy, and she could not maintain the convoy’s speed of 8.33 knots. With a cruising speed of only 7.5 knots, she was a straggler on the very first day. She then crossed the Atlantic independently and arrived in the western approaches on 5 July (2 days behind the convoy). About 75 nm SW of Ireland (Fastnet Rock), at 12:51 (GMT+2), the submerged U-99 (Otto Kretschimer) fired a torpedo into the Magog. The Master and crew abandoned ship into a lifeboat. The U-boat then surfaced and fired another torpedo which broke the ship in half. The stern sank, but the foreship remained afloat on the cargo of timber even after the U-boat fired three rounds from the deck gun into it. The survivors were later picked up by the Swedish merchant Fidra and landed at Queenstown, Ireland.
5 July 1950 HMC Ships Athabaskan, Cayuga, and Sioux sail from Esquimalt, BC, to join the United Nations naval forces operating in Korean waters.
6 July 1943 – The Canadian built (Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon, PQ) SS Jasper Park was delivered to Canadian government (Park Steamship Company Ltd.) on 1 October 1942. On 5 July at 12:40 (GMT+2), U-177 (Robert Gysae) sighted dark black smoke on the horizon. The coal-fired Jasper Park was about 780 nm east of South Africa and 360 nm south of Madagascar. She had her torpedo nets deployed and was zigzagging on a mean course of 245 degrees aiming to safely round the Cape into the Atlantic. At 16:00, U-177 visually confirmed that the target was a freighter and four hours later (21:25) fired a fan of two torpedoes at the ship. The first torpedo immediately sank after exiting the tube. The second torpedo was snagged by the torpedo net and exploded harmlessly. The U-boat withdrew and maneuvered ahead for another attack. The next morning (6 July) at 10:05, U-177 fired a fan of three torpedoes. The ship was hit twice. She did not immediately sink, so a coup de grâce torpedo was fired and it became snagged in the netting and did not explode. A few minutes later, the Jasper Park did sink (32°45’S 42°16’E). Four crew members from the Engineering Department were casualties. The master, 44 crew members and six gunners were picked up by HMA Ships Quiberon and Quickmatch and were landed at Durban.
6 July 1944 HMC Ships Ottawa commanded by Cdr James D. Prentice, DSO, RCN with HMCS Kootenay commanded by A/LCDR William H. Wilson, RCN, along with HMS Statice, sank the German submarine U-678 while on patrol in the English Channel.
8 July 1760 The final Battle of the French-British war for Canada between the RN and Acadian militia and Mi’kmaq (Mi’gmaq) militias was fought in the mouth of the Restigouche River. It was not on land but at sea that the French lost the battle for Canada. It was because of French naval weakness that the outnumbered French and Canadians in North America were unable, indefinitely, to deny Acadia, the Ohio, Lake Champlain, Quebec, and Montreal, to the invading British and Americans of Amherst, Wolfe, and Johnson.
8 July 1940 – The freighter SS Humber Arm (Bowater´s Newfoundland Pulp & Paper Mills Ltd, Corner Brook) departed Halifax in convoy HX-53 (42 merchant ships) on 25 June 1940. She was bound for Liverpool with a cargo of steel, newsprint, lumber, and pulp. The mid-ocean transit was uneventful. However, at 07:53 (GMT+2) on 8 July 1940 while the convoy was entering the St. Georges Channel between southern Ireland and England, the Humber Arm was torpedoed by U-99 (Otto Kretschmer). The Humber Arm was sunk (50°36’N, 9°24’W) about 50 nm south of Ireland. The master, 41 crew members and one passenger were picked up by HMS Scimitar and HMS Vanquisher and were landed at Milford Haven, Wales.
8 July 1944 Canadian MTB 463 was lost to a mine in the English Channel. No crew were lost, although 5 men were wounded.
8 July 1954 Canada’s first icebreaking arctic patrol vessel, HMCS Labrador, was commissioned. With a crew of 225 officers and men and three helicopters, the LABRADOR was not simply an icebreaker. She was commissioned to patrol northern waters and show the flag, conduct hydrographic and scientific surveys, and provide a rescue and salvage service.

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)