naval affairs

NAC News – Edition J364 HMCS Coquitlam

NAC News – Edition J364 HMCS Coquitlam

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of July 3rd 2020

Edition – J364 HMCS Coquitlam (WW2 Llewellyn Class minesweeper, with a brief naval life, and a sad ending)

Rod Hughes – Editor NAC News rhughes@shaw.ca  (comments welcome to help improve this service)

Contact David Soule executivedirector-nac@outlook.com if you wish someone (who may be a member or perhaps a good candidate to join) to be added to the NAC News email distribution.

★   Editor’s stars of the week

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Keep in touch with the RCN

TWITTER      @RCN_MRC  @Comd_MARPAC   @MARPAC   @RCN_MARLANT                           #RCNavy or #MarineRC

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NOTICES

  • Recruiting Challenge – Yes, I mean you! Bruce Beliveau, NSNAC President and the newly appointed NAC National Board Vice-President, he issued the challenge to his branch members to recruit 2 folks each, this coming year.  So why not try this for your branch and NAC – There is really nothing to lose – This is your organization – From what I hear from fellow members like yourself,  you like our organization for a variety of reasons – So why not try and at least encourage a friend or two to come to a branch meeting and join us!  Or steer them toward our website and naval affairs webpages.  The worst that can happen is they so “no” and then never talk to you again (and perhaps that is a good thing!) – the best is they say “what the heck I will give it a go!  You’re a fun bunch of folks who offer an interesting program!”.  We have nothing to lose by trying this approach.  So “Giddy-Up” and “Yippee Ki Yay!”.
    I hope everyone has a great summer! (as best you can!)  Stay safe!
    Yours, David Soule
    Executive Director – NAC
  • Conference of Defence Associations and CDA Institute presents – Quantum Supremacy webinar – Friday 10 July 2020 at 1000 EDT – Spaces are still available so feel free to register.
  • ★ RUS(NS) Distinguished Speaker – 15 July 2020 Rear-Admiral Gilles Couturier, RCN (retired), CEO, Federal Fleet Services Inc., will present “MV Asterix – Gov’t of Canada leased replenishment vessel.”   Registration is required.  To register, email RUSI(NS) by close of business Monday, 13 July.  When registering, please provide your name and your association or unit.  The event will be by Zoom.  Instructions will be emailed by end Tuesday, 14 July.
  • Navy Bike Ride 2020 – Battle of the Atlantic Challenge: This is a virtual event and you can register thru the summer.  The event runs 13 June to 30 August 2020.  Check it out! While the original one-day ride event was cancelled, this virtual bike ride event is a great opportunity to support your Navy, support their charities of choice and keep fit.  Check it out!  Your NAC will be a sponsor – an Orca class sponsor!  And it’s free! (but do feel free to step up and buy the tee and while you are at it – donate to their charities of choice!)
  • Vanguard Launches First-Ever Canadian Submarine Event (Editor – The next big RCN procurement challenge!  The Deep Blue 2020 Forum, a one-day event, will take place on 29 October 2020, details to follow)

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CANADA

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USA & AMERICAS

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INDO-PACIFIC

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EUROPE

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MIDDLE EAST

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

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SCUTTLEBUTT

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SIGNIFICANT RCN DATES – JULY

(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”, Roger Litwiller’s excellent web site, the encyclopedic guidance from Fraser McKee, and anywhere else I can find credible information.)

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 First Canadian registered merchant ship sunk in Battle of the Atlantic, CSL’s S.S. Magog, by U-99 (KL Otto Kretschmer) SW of Ireland.  No casualties.
  • 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 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 1944 Canadian MTB 463 was lost to a mine in the English Channel.  No crew was lost, although 5 men were wounded.
  • 8 July 1954 Canada’s first icebreaking arctic patrol vessel, HMCS Labrador, is commissioned.
  • 9 July 1914 HMCS Rainbow begins preparations for the international seal patrol in the North Pacific Ocean.
  • 10 July 1943 Canadian landing craft drop soldiers of the 1st Canadian Division off on the coast of Sicily during the Allied invasion known as Operation HUSKY.
  • 15 July 1920 RNCVR is disbanded.  All troops released.
  • 15 July 1958 The first review of the Royal Fleet ever held in Canadian waters takes place under the eyes of Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret off the coast of Vancouver Island at Royal Roads.
  • 16 July 1914 First RNCVR seaman taken to sea in HMCS Rainbow to augment the RCN crew for a Bering Sea Fur Patrol; but diverted to assist her participation in the ‘Kamagata Maru Incident’ at Vancouver.
  • 17 July 1940 HMCS Skeena rescues the crew of a torpedoed merchant ship, the SS Manipor, in the waters north of Scotland.
  • 19 July 1943 HMCS HURON (Destroyer) is commissioned at Newcastle on the Tyne, England.
  • 20 July 1944 HMCS MATANE (frigate) is hit by a German glider bomb off Brest and badly damaged.
  • 23 July 1951 The RCN (Reserve) begins recruiting women for service with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (the Wrens) for the first time since the Second World War.
  • 24 July 1917 The Military Service Act is passed allowing for conscription of single men.
  • 24 July 1942 HMCS St. Croix commanded by LCdr A. Hedley Dobson,  DSC, RCNR sank the German submarine U-90 while on patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean.
  • 29 July 1948 HMCS Royal Roads is transformed into a Canadian Service College and begins training flight cadets, as well as naval cadets.
  • 29 July 1972 HMCS Iroquois, the first of the DDH 280 class destroyers, is commissioned.
  • 31 July 1940 HMCS Prince Robert, after conversion from a merchant vessel, is commissioned as an armed merchant cruiser.
  • 31 July 1942 HMCS Skeena commanded by A/LCdr Kenneth L. Dyer, RCN with HMCS Wetaskiwin commanded by LCdrf Guy S. Windeyer, RCN sank U-588 in the North Atlantic.
  • 31 July 1942 The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) is authorized.