NAC News - Edition K490 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition K490

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of December 2nd, 2022

Edition: K490 HMCS Kincardine (WWII Castle Class corvette, British build but served in four nations’ navies)

Quote – “There’s a danger that if we lose faith in our own democracy, we’re not going to be able to live up to our own democratic ideals abroad, especially in the confrontation with authoritarian regimes like China and Russia.” 17 November 2022, Shadi Hamid, Fox News

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

5 Dec 2022 CRCN38 VAdm Angus Topshee will share virtually his thoughts about the current state of the Navy, in terms of operational success, readiness, personnel challenges and upcoming projects at NAC-O December Speaker’s Night. To Register

The 2023 Centennial of the Naval Reserves is fast approaching. You can find information on activities planned in all the NRDs on the UNTDA website along with the programme and on-line registration for a major conference and celebration organized by the UNTD in Victoria 9-12 May 2023. You will find both at http://www.untd.org/

2022 NAC Endowment Fund Campaign is now underway! Please consider a donation to our Fund as it supports a wide range of maritime related activities. Check out the donation form at this webpage.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

Statement by NATO Foreign Ministers Bucharest, 29-30 November 2022

Canada’s Need For A Comprehensive Arctic Strategy Amid Russian And Chinese Threats

Canadian military would be ‘challenged’ to launch a large scale operation: chief of the defence staff

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CANADA

Canadian Navy’s 4th AOPS HMCS William Hall launched

Operation GLOBE

The first Canadian to go to space heralds the importance of celestial travel (Editor – I never tire of reminding everyone that he was a naval officer first!)

EXCLUSIVE: Canada to pay double on US torpedo deal first struck in 2014 (Editor – buying and maintaining weapon systems is expensive…no surprise there)

‘Inappropriate’ fighter pilot nickname leads to charges against 2 senior Air Force officers

External Monitor Announced to Addresses Sexual Misconduct and Harassment Issues

Impact of manufacturing tolerances on propeller performance (Editor – “light reading” from NAC member Bodo Gospodnetic, who points out conclusion 3 pg. 63)

Royal Canadian Air Force’s Non-Duty Travel Program Opened

Backlog Battles at VAC

Trident: Monday November 28, 2022 Volume 56, Issue 24

Lookout: Volume 67, Issue 47, November 28, 2022 and Canadian Navy’s 10 o’clock soup tradition

The Signal (Editor – November 2022 Venture Association Newsletter. Thank you Dick Duffield)

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Nov. 28, 2022

Aboard USS Gerald R. Ford during its first deployment – Part 1 (Editor – note RAdm (RCN) David Patchelpens in a 8:36 min video) and an excellent Exclusive Access: US Navy’s New Aircraft Carrier – USS Gerald R. Ford (Editor – 10:02 min video)

House, Senate Agree to Authorize 3 Flight III Destroyers in FY 23 NDAA Negotiations

Destroyer USS Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee formally joins US Navy

First Woman to Serve as a U.S. Submarine XO Reports for Duty

CIMSEC: Sea Control 393 – Beyond the CWC concept with Capt Bill Shafley (Editor – 36:55 min podcast)

USS Tripoli Nearing San Diego After Almost 7 Months at Sea, USS Makin Island Now in U.S. 7th Fleet

USCGC Stratton Returns to Almeda from Bering Sea Patrol

Venezuelan Oil Exports Flow Using False Documents, Ships Linked to Iran

Frontier of Subsea Mining: Brazil’s Blue Amazon

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INDO-PACIFIC

Pentagon: Chinese Navy to Expand to 400 Ships by 2025, Growth Focused on Surface Combatants and PLA Navy’s another Type 055 large destroyer Anshan achieves operational capability, ‘ready for far sea missions’(Editor – I wonder what their actual sea days are? They seem limited. How do you achieve/maintain combat readiness without that?)

China ‘regularly’ intercepting Canadian military plane enforcing North Korea sanctions: DND

Japan Seriously Considering Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Procurement

Japanese, Korean Fighters Scrambled in Response to Joint Russia-China Bomber Patrol

Fujian Carrier Strike Group (Editor – worthy explanation/pics in a 7:03 min video)

USS Michigan Operates in 7th Fleet

PLA warns away trespassing US warship near Nansha Islands; trajectory shows US warship makes sharp turn in provocative move (Editor – Nansha District is the municipal district of Sansha, Hainan, which governs the islands and reefs of the disputed Spratly Islands and their sea areas.) and USS Chancellorsville Performs South China Sea FONOP, Draws Chinese Protests

China fighters ditching Russia for homegrown engines

Sister ships HMS Spey and HMS Tamar reunite in Japan with stunning backdrop of Mount Fuji

Is India about to Test China Specific K-4 Submarine Launches Ballistic Missile?

Philippines: Navy to Buy 15 More Fast Gunboats from Israel

Thailand prepared to pull out of submarine deal with China

US Navy America-class Amphibious Assault Ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) Visits Tasmania

Philippine Navy Commissions Two Shaldag Mark V Patrol Boats

Watch: The world’s largest ship equipped with a wind deflector turns heads as it tours European ports (Editor – not “the” solution, but perhaps a simple useful part of it)

Cunard Cruise Ship Skips Call in Bali Due to COVID Cases On Board

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Ukraine war: Zelensky aide reveals up to 13,000 war dead

Ukrainian commandos made an amphibious landing on the Kinburn Spit

“This month was hell!” Russian sailors are called off their vessels because of mobilization

Russia Seeking Shipping Insurance Recognition to Dodge Oil Cap

General:

Royal Navy Vice Admiral Appointed NATO Commander

Russia passes law limiting freedom of Northern Sea Route navigation

ANTARES Mission – Allied Operational Cooperation in the Mediterranean

Norwegian Coast Guard Christens The First Jan Mayen-Class Vessel

Repair Work On Russian Aircraft Carrier Is “On Schedule”

CIMSEC: the 2022 maritime doctrine of the Russian Federation: mobilization, maritime law, and socio-economic warfare

Aselsan Introduces GOKDENIZ 35 mm Dual Barrel Close-in Weapon System (CIWS)

A guide to the Type 26 Frigate then BAE Systems Starts Floating Off First Type 26 Frigate and a complementary 2:04 min video Royal Navy’s first Type 26 frigate to enter water for first time

Navy destroyer HMS Defender returns home as she completes ‘epic’ 2022 mission

Huge increase in number of American submarines in Scotland

French Navy’s frigate La Fayette completes her midlife modernization

£15.4 million contract for first cutting-edge Navy crewless submarine and UK Navy to take drone-teaming operations underwater with new submarine

Wow! Three New Ships are to be built to support Royal Navy carrier groups (Editor – 2:22 min video)

UK drops funding of future Type 32 Frigate and Multirole Support Ships, for now

Alexandrit class minesweeper Petr Ilyichev joins Russian Navy

Italian Navy’s Fifth PPA Launched by Fincantieri

Germany, Norway Seek NATO-Led Hub for Key Undersea Structures

Massive EU Sting Operation Takes Down Cocaine “Super Cartel”

As EU oil ban approaches, a Russian tanker tests Arctic route to China

Ukraine Arranges Donation of 60 Cargoes of Grain to Low-Income Nations

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MIDDLE EAST

Italy’s PPA Thaon Di Revel Concludes EMASoH Participation

Watch Israel test its anti-missile Barak weapon at sea (Editor – 1:14 min video included)

Navantia to Build Multi-Mission Combat Ships for Saudi Arabia

UK: Royal Navy’s MCMV HMS Chiddingfold operates Seafox drone

Latvia Joins International Maritime Coalition in Middle East as 11th Member

Task Force 55 Welcomes New Commander at Pierside Ceremony in Bahrain

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

UNCTAD: Review of Maritime Transport 2022 (Editor -much to ponder – uncertainty often breeds conflict)

Submarine Cable Map (Editor – interactive map. Amazing how many there are.)

Oil Prices Plunge On China Unrest

Medusa-12 military exercise underway in the Mediterranean sea

Italian Navy Assists Disabled Tanker After Pirates Steal Cargo

Bravo Zulu for Ex Oxide

Angolan Navy receives Ocean Eagle trimaran patrol boat from French CMN

Bilateral Relations: Nigerian Navy Receives Italian Navy Ship Nave Borsini

Korean Tanker Boarded by Pirates for the Second Time in Gulf of Guinea

Large areas of Arctic seabed damaged by trawlers

Watch: The Insane Logistics Of Shutting Down The Entire Cruise Industry (Editor – curious story in a16:41 min video)

Container Shipping Industry Passes Earnings Peak

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SCUTTLEBUTT

Biggest US Battle in the Pacific: Okinawa 1945 (4K WW2 Documentary) and associated the Avoidable Sinking of Japan’s Secret Supercarrier SHINANO (Editor – 11:38 min video)

Admiral Jackie Fisher – High Tech, High Strung, High Tempered (The Ships) (Editor – his revolutionary technical championing in a 1:08:18 min video. So many lessons to absorb!)

The Mariner’s Mirror Freak Ships of the Nineteenth Century III: Cigar Ships (Editor – 14 min podcast)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

3 December 1944 The SS Cornwallis (Canadian National Steamships Ltd., Montreal) was moored in the Bridgetown, Barbados harbour, when U-514 fired a series of torpedoes into the harbour. The Cornwallis was sunk in shallow water. She was raised, repaired, and returned to service in August 1943. On 3 November 1944, the Cornwallis departed Trinidad with a cargo of bagged sugar and molasses in barrels. She was bound for St John, NB via Barbados and Sandwich, Massachusetts. On 2 December, she departed Sandwich. The next day, about 25 nm south of Bar Harbour, Maine and with 125 nm remaining to St John, the SS Cornwallis was sunk (43°59’N 68°20’W) by a G7es (T5) acoustic torpedo fired by U-1230. The master, 35 crew members and seven DEMS gunners were killed. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine.

3 December 1969 As the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure is decommissioned, the aviation fuel tanks are emptied and cleaned, but one of the tanks does not vent properly; two sailors are overcome by the fumes and another two lose their lives during the rescue attempt.

4 December 1940 HMCS Prince Henry is commissioned as an Armed Merchant Cruiser.

4-6 Dec 1950 A United Nations task force under Captain J.V. Brock, RCN, in HMCS Cayuga, and consisting of HMC Ships Athabaskan and Sioux, His Majesty’s Australian Ships Warramunga and Bataan, the USS Forest Royal, covered the seaborne withdrawal of civilians and elements of the 8th Army (US) threatened by enemy advances in the Chinnampo area, Korea.

5 December 1950 HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Cayuga bombard the port of Chinnampo, Korea (04-05 Apr).

6 December 1917 Halifax Explosion. A huge explosion in Halifax harbour destroys the naval facilities and much of the city. HMCS Niobe, by then a depot ship, was moored only 700 yards from the ammunition ship Mont Blanc, which caught fire after a collision with the Belgian relief ship Imo in Halifax harbour. NIOBE was the first ship to give the alarm after the collision, and Warrant Boatswain Albert Mattison and six ratings left NIOBE and boarded the Mont Blanc to scuttle her. They all died in the resulting explosion which destroyed much of Halifax. NIOBE was extensively damaged in the explosion and her superstructure and funnels were wrecked. Numerous fires were started on board which destroyed the ship’s records.

6 December 1940 – On 10 September 1940, the SS Watkins F. Nisbet (Upper Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Ltd., Toronto), with a cargo of wood pulp and lumber, departed Sydney NS in convoy QC-4 (32 ships) bound for Liverpool. The Great Lakes freighter was considered “Not suitable for deep sea trading”, and on her arrival in the UK, she would be “allocated” to the UK government “C. & S.S. division”. She arrived in the UK on 26 September and became a collier. Two months later, the ship departed the port of Barry (near Cardiff, Wales) fully loaded with another cargo of coal. On 6 December 1940, during a storm, the SS Watkins F. Nisbet ran aground and broke apart in Malltraeth Bay on Llanddwyn Island (west of Liverpool). There were no casualties among the crew of twenty.

7 December 1941 Canada declares war on Romania, Hungary, Finland, and Japan (same day Japan attacks Pearl Harbor).

7 December 1941 HMCS Windflower is lost and 23 of her crew perish after a collision with a Dutch freighter SS Zypenburg on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

8 December 1918 The Royal Canadian Naval Air Service (RCNAS) is discontinued and the cadets being trained are demobilized.

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, 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)