NAC News - Edition K491 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition K491

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of December 9th, 2022

Edition: K491 HMCS Orangeville (WWII Castle-class corvette)

Quote – After the war, a Top Secret report written by staff at the Admiralty’s Director of Naval Intelligence concluded that “the enemy achieved a high degree of success against codes [I.e. the decoding tables] used for communicating with merchant ships. The money saved by failing to provide proper code for our mercantile marine was a bad investment, costing us hundreds of times over in money, as well as grave loss of ships and life.” S.S. Nerissa, the Final Crossing, pg. 61. William Dziadyk, Second edition 2021

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 Kevin Goheen 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

NEW INFO 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. Cross Canada listing of Events taking place during the Centennial of the Canadian Naval Reserve in 2023

(Editor – At the last UNTDA AGM the members approval a new membership structure that marks a turning point in the evolution of the UNTDA. The decision was formalized to change from an association that was built around the UNTD programme from 1943 to 1968 to a new national, more diverse, and inclusive Naval Reserve association with several important decisions: incorporation of the UNTDA from an unincorporated voluntary association to a Canada Non-profit Corporation; approval of our first by-laws; increased their Board of Directors to a maximum of 20; and perhaps most significantly the expansion of their membership base to welcome all naval reservists, active and retired, of all ranks. UNTD Association of Canada

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

Ukraine will negotiate with Russia on the battlefield, MPs tell Canadian audience

Putin: Nuclear risk is rising, but we are not mad and NATO seeks to deter Russia but doesn’t want confrontation — German chancellor (Editor – this is from the TASS site)

Finland presents NATO membership proposal to parliament while awaiting Hungary, Turkey ratification

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CANADA

NAC Starshell Fall 2022 Issue 96 now available

Editor – The 2022 Admirals Medal recipient will be Rear-Admiral (Ret’d) Ian Mack, with the formal presentation taking place during the BOA Gala Dinner 3 May 2023 in Ottawa. See page 50/51 of the latest Starshell for the Admiral’s citation as well as previous recipients’ award details. Congratulations to them all!

Minister Anand to welcome HMCS Vancouver and HMCS Winnipeg home from Indo-Pacific Region and then HMCS Winnipeg and Vancouver Welcomed Home by Families, Friends and Dignitaries and I missed this one earlier Indo-Pacific strategy adds more pressures to navy amid ship, sailor shortages

Sweden says it’s set to hit NATO’s defence spending target — unlike Canada

Minister of National Defence announces that permanent residents are welcome to apply now to join the Canadian Armed Forces

Canadian Surface Combatant: skyrocketing costs could jeopardize future military procurements (Editor – therefore we need our Naval Affairs programme to give a more balanced perspective. NAC Naval Affairs Program Briefing Note # 9 CSC)

MV Asterix: an unexpected shipbuilding success story

Kraken Wins Royal Canadian Navy Contract For Minehunting Program and Minister Anand announces Remote Mine-hunting and Disposal System contract award to increase safety for Royal Canadian Navy ships and crews

Navy’s new Arctic ship sidelined until April because of mechanical problems

Resurrected Davie Shipbuilding aims to become North America’s most modern shipyard

Vard Marine to Design Landing Craft Tank for the Bangladesh Navy

Cape Breton veteran awarded first critical injury benefit solely for PTSD

Rape survivor belittled about her mental health at DND sponsored symposium (Editor – why are there so many people that still don’t get it!)

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin acquitted of sexual assault

Government Addresses MAiD Revelations

Long-lost B.C. gold up for grabs after sunken ship discovered in Salish Sea

Course underway for new ship’s divers (Editor – loved being a diver, even enjoyed the challenge of the course)

Canadian Legacy Project Going Above and Beyond to Support Veterans

Lookout: Volume 67, Issue 48, December 5, 2022 with HMCS Vancouver: Maintaining the ship’s sensors and satellite communications

New NAC Niobe Papers, No. 18 Uncrewed Maritime Systems, author Ann Griffiths, PhD

The Crow’s Nest newsletter Scuttlebutt Fall 2022

VAC: A new Table of Disabilities

Over…but not forgotten Veterans Voices of Canada continues to document our Heroes of all generations.

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Dec. 5, 2022

Compromise $857B Defense Policy Bill Authorizes 11 Battle Force Ships, $25M for Nuclear Cruise Missile Research

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Wraps 15-Month Repair Period, Five U.S. Aircraft Carriers Underway and USS Harry S Truman Enters Norfolk Naval Shipyard for Refit

Submarines – Extreme Technology – Big Bigger Biggest (Editor – 46:19 min video) and this is the latest US stealth submarine that is difficult for the enemy to detect (Editor – complementary 4:09 min video)

USCGC Bertholf Returns Home following 77-day Counter-Narcotic Patrol, $14M Worth of Cocaine Seized

Life Inside the Crazy Bomb Farm on a Nuclear US Aircraft Carrier (Editor – a bit repetitive but cool images in a 6:48 min video)

Dutch Patrol Ship Finds 5,000 Kilos of Cocaine Floating in Caribbean

This is America’s RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (Editor – 8:32 min video)

NASSCO Lays Keel of 4th John Lewis-Class Fleet Replenishment Oiler

U.S. Sets New Records for Oil Exports as EU Looks for New Supplies

Charleston Claims Title of Deepest Harbor as East Coast Ports Expand

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INDO-PACIFIC

Canada to send more warships through Taiwan Strait

Chinese military sharpening amphibious assault skills, state TV report on landing drill says

New Zealand Navy idles ships as labour crisis hits (Editor – the RCN potentially faces this challenge too)

Nimitz Carrier Strike Group Departs San Diego for Pacific Deployment

Nuclear submarine final assembly is Australia’s moonshot for energy and security or

Video: Australia Completes 3D Survey of WWII Japanese Submarine (Editor – 1:07 min video)

Makin Island ARG, Marines Drill with Indonesian Forces in the Java Sea

Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo completes exercise with US Navy

Japan Coast Guard’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian UAV (Editor – 2:48 min video)

India’s Proposed Plan to Revive Domestic Shipbuilding Industry

US Navy sends a message to adversaries with a rare submarine port visit in Indian Ocean

P75I Submarine Programme Of The Indian Navy Is In Troubled Waters

Rafale-M Fighter edges out F/A-18 Super Hornet in equipping INS Vikrant

Boeing Delivers First P-8A Poseidon to New Zealand

Indian Navy puts plans on hold to build IAC-2 but is considering repeat order of INS Vikrant

Type 071E landing platform dock China built for Thailand completes sea trial

PLA naval destroyer Changsha arrives in Bangladesh for International Fleet Review

Indonesian Navy to carry out mid-life modernization of nine ships

Navy focusing on Underwater Capabilities: Eastern Naval Command Chief

China’s Exports Plummeted Nine Percent in November

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Ukraine war: Fighting set to slow for winter months, says US intelligence

Ukraine war: Price cap on Russian oil will hit Putin immediately – US then Russia’s European Crude Sales Collapse and Tanker Jam Off Turkey as Price Cap on Russian Crude Kicks In to mitigate West Asks Turkey To Help Clear Tanker Jam but finally

Turkey Says to Continue Blocking Oil Tankers Without Proper Insurance with the result that Oil Tankers Stuck Near Turkey Costing Millions to Wait

General:

HMS Glasgow Enters Water for the First Type

CIMSEC: Sea Control 395 – Russia’s new maritime doctrine with Samuel Bendett (Editor – 31:05 min podcast)

NATO Units Increase Readiness in Baltic Sea during Freezing Winds

French Navy wants its own carrier based drones

UK MoD extends life of Royal Navy’s Merlin helicopters to 2030

Get this party started: How the Royal Navy’s fist female admiral kick-starts the day to a dance floor bangerand New Royal Navy commodore appointed at HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland

The Reasons Why UK’s Astute-class is So Wary of By The Whole World (Editor – neat footage in a 8:03 min video)

Turkish Indigenous VLS ‘MIDLAS’ Performs First Ever Launch

French Special Forces conduct daring parachute jump onto moving warship

On to the next million!’: HMS Scott celebrates sailing one million miles

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MIDDLE EAST

Photos: U.S. Navy Seizes 50 Tons of Ammunition in the Gulf of Oman and US Navy says trawler carrying arms haul was bound for Yemen

Iranian patrol boat tried to temporarily blind US Navy ships in Strait of Hormuz, US says

Iranian Warship Closes In On HMS Duncan | Warship: Life At Sea | Channel 5 (Editor – 4:41 min video)

Navantia Delivers 3rd Avante 2200 Corvette to Saudi Arabia

Task Force 59 Launches Aerial Drone from Coast Guard Ship in Middle East

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

Fitch: Container Shipping Outlook Deteriorates as Freight Rates Fall

Three Chinese PLA Navy warships arrived in Djibouti

INTERPOL Captures Terrorist Suspects, Money, Drugs at Maritime Borders

Sign of the Times: New World’s Largest Containership Sails Light on Maiden Voyage

Rogue Wave Kills Passenger on Viking’s Newest Polar Expedition Cruise Ship

Products tanker pirated twice in Gulf of Guinea: Italian Navy assists

Why Are Gulf of Guinea Pirates Shifting to Illegal Oil Bunkering?

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SCUTTLEBUTT

The Submarine that Crashed into a Mountain (Editor – 11:36 min video) I could resist linking the two Everything Went Wrong – The Tragedy of HMS Thetis – Submarine Disaster (1939) (Editor – 15:05 min video)

The Submarine Japan Would Stop at Nothing to Destroy (Editor – 11:25 min video)

HMS Jervis Bay – Guide 312 (Editor – 7:08 min video) and a now Canadian connection The fearless, near-forgotten story of HMS Jervis Bay

The Anti-Ship Missile that keeps the Russian Fleet Away (Editor – 10:00 min video)

Tall Ship With a Long Career in Cinema Heads to the Scrappers

How to Map the Ocean Floor: The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876 (Editor – 27 min podcast)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

10 December 1939 The first Canadian troop convoy of 7,400 soldiers sails for Britain escorted out of Halifax by HMC ships Ottawa, Restigouche, Fraser, and St. Laurent.

10 December 1941 – The two US Navy colliers USS Nereus (commissioned 10 September 1913) and USS Proteus (commissioned 9 July 1913) were built to the same plans by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Norfolk, Virginia. Both ships were decommissioned in March 1924 and remained inactive (“mothballed”) until March 1941 when both the SS Nereus and the SS Proteus were provided to the UK Ministry of War Transport under the lend-lease program. Saguenay Terminals Ltd, Montreal then became the owner/manager of both ships. The SS Nereus was accepted and trialed by a Canadian crew before departing New York City on 19 June 1941. She arrived in St. Thomas on the 25th and four days later, with a cargo of bauxite, she was bound for Port Alfred (near the large Alcan smelter in Saguenay, Quebec). Her first load of bauxite was delivered on 9 July 1941. She made six such round-trip bauxite deliveries from St. Thomas to the Canadian Alcan smelter. On 10 December 1941, the Nereus departed St. Thomas, with her seventh load of bauxite. She was bound for Port Alfred, via Portland Maine. The ship was reported “overdue at Portland”. The SS Nereus, with a heavy cargo had rapidly sunk without a trace sometime after the 10th of December. There is no evidence that enemy action caused the loss. The Master (John Thomas Bennett) and crew of 59 were casualties. Two weeks earlier, on 23 November 1941, her sister-ship the SS Proteus, with a heavy cargo of bauxite, departed St. Thomas, bound for Port Alfred, via Portland Maine. She also quickly sank without a trace of when, cause, or location. The Master (Walter Henry Millar) and the crew of 57 were casualties.

12 December 1941 – The SS Shinai was registered in Canada to “George L. Shaw”, however during the war, the ship only provided freight services between Hong Kong and several Asian ports. On 12 December 1941, the ship was alongside in Kuching, North Borneo, when the Japanese invaded and occupied the region. The ship was seized by Japan and renamed the Shinai Maru. The crew became POWs and at least one crew member, the Chief Engineer died while a prisoner. The Shinai Maru was sunk by American aircraft on 17 September 1944.

12 December 1942 – Destruction by fire of Knights of Columbus Hostel, St. John’s, Nfld. Ninety-nine people died (80 of whom were Service personnel) and a further 109 were critically injured. Sixteen RCNVR / RCNR sailors were lost in the fire. Stoker 2nd Class Goodwin was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal: “notwithstanding the fact that he could have saved his own life and that he himself was very badly burned, this rating assisted in removing two girls from the building, thereby saving their lives. He was then overcome by flames and lost his life.” All sixteen RCNVR/RCNR sailors are buried in the St John’s (Mount Pleasant) Cemetery in St John’s, Newfoundland. This tragedy was felt in eight Canadian cities with the largest loss felt at HMCS Chippawa in Winnipeg.

12 December 1969 RCN retires aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure after 12 years of service; “Bonnie” never saw combat, but was scrambled during the October Missile Crisis; later sold for scrap. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her departure closed out 26 years of Canadian operation or ownership of aircraft carriers…and the loss of a wonderful capability for combat, peacekeeping, and humanitarian operations.

13 December 1940 HMCS Royal Roads is commissioned as a training establishment for Volunteer Reserve Probationary Sub-Lieutenants. Five classes were instructed there, each containing between 100 and 125 men. This programme came to an end in September 1942 when the naval college took over the buildings. The three establishments, Stoen Frigate, Royal Roads, and Kings, trained about 3,800 executive officers, and at the peak the navy’s strength there were roughly 4,000 executive officers in the R.C.N.V.R.

14 December 1915 Flight Sub-Lieutenant A.S. Ince, RNAS while flying as observer in a Viewpoint aircraft shot down in flames a German two-seater. The victory, the first confirmed success credited to a Canadian airman, won for Ince the DSC, the first decoration awarded a Canadian in the RNAS.

15 December 1944 The Canadian built (under the US Lend-Lease programme by United Ship Yards, Montreal) but British crewed SS Fort Maisonneuve departed New York on 29 November 1944 in convoy HX-323 (41 merchant ships) bound for Liverpool. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on 13 December and the Fort Maisonneuve continued to her destination Antwerp, Belgium via the Scheldt Estuary, Netherlands. On 15 December, the SS Fort Maisonneuve had just entered (51°24’N 03°21’E) the Estuary when she struck a mine and sank. There were no casualties

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)