NAC News – Edition HMCS St. Pierre K680
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of August 14, 2026
Edition HMCS St. Pierre K680 (River Class Frigate) Quote: “The oceans connect the nations of the world, even those countries that are landlocked. Because the maritime domain – the world’s oceans, seas, bays, estuaries, islands, coastal areas, littorals, and the airspace above them – supports 90% of the world’s trade, it carries the lifeblood of a global system that links every country on earth. Covering three quarters of the planet, the oceans make neighbours of people around the world. They enable us to help friends in need and to confront and defeat aggression far from our shores.” USN/USMC/USCG – A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, October 2007
Editor NAC News: Rod Hughes (Comments welcome to help improve this service.)
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NOTICES
19 October 2026 ABCDMI Seaspan Industry Engagement Day Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC
20 – 21 October 2026 ABCDMI Business Opportunities Conference & Trade Show, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC
27 October 2026 07:30-18:00 (Ottawa time) at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa. Vanguard’s Deep Blue 2026: Registration is open. With the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project advancing, attention is turning to procurement, sustainment, infrastructure, training and Canadian industrial participation.
THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLE
How to actually share America’s defense burden with allies (Editor – segway into infrastructure development and redundancy as part of overall defence spending)
Germany, Norway and Canada start preparations for Type 212CD sub contract
CANADA
Canada’s new East Coast navy commander says people and training are his priority
Les ministres des Anciens Combattants, de la Défense nationale, des Affaires étrangères et de la Sécurité publique soulignent la Journée nationale des Gardiens de la paix & Ministers of Veterans Affairs, National Defence, Foreign Affairs and Public Safety mark National Peacekeepers’ Day
La Garde côtière canadienne accueille officiellement le NGCC Mira Bay au sein de sa flotte à Sydney & Canadian Coast Guard officially welcomes CCGS Mira Bay into service in Sydney
Military pivoting to work closer with industry on drones warfare: commander with Commander of Canadian Joint Forces Command to host RED COBALT Uncrewed Systems Accelerator 2026 & Le commandant du Commandement de forces interarmées du Canada tiendra l’Accélérateur de systèmes sans équipage RED COBALT 2026
« La doctrine la plus essentielle des FAC » : blâmer la personne, protéger l’institution
Robert C. Engen et Allan English & “The CAF’s Most Essential Doctrine”: Blame the Individual, Protect the Institution
Robert C. Engen and Allan English
Was Canada’s Victoria-Class Submarine Deal A Massive Procurement Failure? (Editor – 11:42 min video)
At 100, the Legion makes its biggest push yet for new members
New housing units at CFB Esquimalt expected to cost $86M: DND
Showcasing shipbuilding pride at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards 2026 Open House (Editor – 1:45 min video)
Oil Tankers Arriving in Vancouver in Record Numbers
MSC Baltic III Wreck Being Pulled Ashore in Newfoundland
Lookout: 10 Aug 2026 Volume 71, Issue 16 & Volume 71, numéro 16, 10 août 2026
Trident: Monday 10 Aug 2026 Volume 60, Issue 16 & Lundi 10 août 2026 volume 60, édition 16
NAC Naval Affairs: Niobe Paper No. 3 Transparency in Military Procurement
It’s not Rocket Science with other NAC Naval Affairs Papers, Briefing Notes, Niobe Papers, and much more. Please share with people you think may benefit from the knowledge, after all, that’s what your naval affairs programme is all about; enlightening Canadians about maritime affairs and the need for the RCN.
ARCTIC, 7 marginal seas and Canada’s archipelago
USS Wichita departs Naval Station Mayport to support Operation NANOOK TUUGAALIK 2026 part of Enhanced Canadian Armed Forces Arctic operations reinforce sovereignty throughout 2026 & L’intensification des opérations des Forces armées canadiennes dans l’Arctique renforcera la souveraineté tout au long de 2026
Chinese Operators Gear Up for Busy Arctic Shipping Season however Arctic Ice Damages Tanker as Russia Ramps Up Northern Sea Route Oil Shipments
Rosatom Says Seven Chinese Vessels Will Sail to Europe via Russia’s Arctic Route
Northern convoys’ little-known stories to be presented at exhibition in Arkhangelsk
Canada Cannot Claim What It Cannot Sustain (Editor – no mention of ships or barges which is the current cost-effective go to for heavy lifting)
Russia’s “Derzhava” sneaks into Norwegian waters
USA & AMERICAS and the Caribbean Sea
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 10, 2026
CIMSEC: Reimagining General Quarters for Surface Ships
USS Ronald Reagan set to leave shipyard and return to operational status
Carrier John F. Kennedy Leaves Newport News for Acceptance Trials, 7 Weapons Elevators Delivered
Trump Orders US Aircraft Carriers to Go Back to Steam Catapults (Editor – this will be curious to watch playout)
Trump Opens Door to Foreign-Built Warships in Major Navy Shipbuilding Overhaul
CIMSEC: New Organization, New Rules: Information Warfare Can Thrive in the New OPNAV
US strength once looked endless – until the day the warehouse says otherwise (Editor – note where the article is from)
Brazilian navy enters Argentina for joint exercise amid diplomatic crisis
Ultra Maritime Tests Integrated ASW and Counter-UUV Sonar System During US Navy Exercise
The Stealth Submarine-Sailboat Drone the U.S. Navy Is Using Near Iran | WSJ Equipped (Editor – 6:48 min video)
Jones Act Waiver Extension Deepens Divide Over U.S. Maritime Policy with wrinkle that IRS Rules Out Key Tax Exemption for Foreign Ships Using Jones Act Waiver
Shadow Fleet Tanker Captain Sentenced to 10 Months After Weeks-Long Coast Guard Chase
CSIS: Evaluating Pathways for U.S. Shipbuilding Cooperation with Allies
USS Theodore Roosevelt becomes first carrier with built-in Unmanned Air Warfare Center
Voyager Awarded Raytheon Contract Supporting SM-3
US Seeks New Hypersonic Cruise Missile for Affordable Mass Production
American warship downs drones with laser weapon
Saronic puts first Marauder MUSV through testing at Port of Gulfport
The Problem With Building Trump’s Golden Fleet (Editor – realities explained in a 18:45 min video)
How Subs Navigate Without GPS for 6 Months. (Its Genius) (Editor – 20:41 min video)
Inside USS Kentucky – The Secret Life of America’s Most Powerful Nuclear Submarine (Editor – 45:42 min video)
US Navy decommissions attack submarine San Juan
Raytheon and CET unveil Hadalus UUV
USNI: The Eagle: From a Nazi Ship to America’s Tall Ship (Editor – 38:48 min podcast)
Ship Pays $4 Million to Cut the Line at Panama Canal
Hanwha Makes $1.2 Billion Bid for Austal USA
Car Carrier Abandoned After Catching Fire 630 Miles Off Costa Rica
INDO-PACIFIC
Pacific Ocean and 22+ marginal seas:
Typhoon Dolphin forces more than 1 million people to evacuate in China with Taipei Condemns China’s Traffic Control Order For Taiwan Strait During Typhoon
Beyond the numbers: why China’s carrier force won’t copy the US model
Amphibious assault ship passes combat test
Russia’s Pacific submarine fleet could tip the scales in China’s favour
How Beijing’s hypersonic ‘carrier killers’ could distract US forces in a Taiwan conflict
Philippines’ new South China Sea strategy
USNI News Western Pacific Pulse: Aug. 7, 2026
ROK Navy Tests AI Uncrewed Mine Warfare in Sea GHOST Trial
Vietnam Begins Construction Of Largest And Most Advanced Domestically Built Anti-Submarine Frigate
The privatisation of provocation
SAR Operation Underway as Indonesian Ferry Burns at Sea
Indian Ocean and 4 major marginal seas:
Indian Navy To Induct Medium‑Range Loitering Munition For Ship‑Based Operations
Steel cut for Indonesia’s first Scorpène submarine
Indian Navy And Coast Guard To Acquire 15 Indigenous C295 Maritime Aircraft By 2025
Suspicious Subsea Cable Breaks Prompt Calls for Investigation in Australia
A New Indonesian USV Brings AI and a 150-Kilogram Warhead to the Fight
EUROPE
Black, Azov, and Caspian Seas:
Black Sea Oil Tanker Rates Surge to Record on Drones Barrage
Ukraine Halts Strikes on Tankers Using Russian Port at U.S. Request (Editor – what a strange facet of this war)
Ukraine hits grain terminals at Russia’s Novorossiysk port, killing three
Ukraine Confirms Hits on Four Russian Warships at Novorossiysk
Turkey Restricts Black Sea Ship Traffic After Surge In Attacks but then Turkey Resumes Black Sea Ship Transits Via Straits After Delays
Russia Says It Struck Vessels And Military Facilities Supporting Ukraine In Odesa
Ukraine Continues Attacks on Russia’s Black Sea Patrol Boats
‘We have nowhere to return to’: How Russia is seizing homes in occupied Ukraine (Editor – not a maritime story but impactful for the war)
Romania rushes to sink 4 barges in the Danube to keep a nuclear power plant’s second reactor running then Romania shuts down nuclear reactor as Danube hits record lows
Black Sea Grain Exports Squeezed as Danube Hits Record-Low Levels
Baltic Sea:
Poland Rolls Out First of Three Next-Generation Frigates
Mediterranean Sea and its 15 marginal seas:
Russia, Syria agree on transferring facilities in Tartus to Syrian side
Why Almost All Cruise Ships Are Built in Europe (Editor – a wow 8:45 min video)
General:
Cameras in British Special Ops Drone Boats Found Sending Data to China
UK defends seizing shadow fleet tanker after Putin threat while Putin says Russia will start seizing EU vessels if bloc goes after Russian ships
Why France’s Only Nuclear Carrier Just Left Hormuz (Editor – fascinating 16:57 min video)
Russian warship opens fire near UK as British ship closes in with Royal Navy Reports 25 Percent Increase in Russian Activity in U.K., North Atlantic Waters
All Russian Navy fleets possess unmanned maritime systems units — admiral
NATO warship destroys drones with new Ukrainian weapon
Inside the Royal Navy’s new mine warfare mothership programme
Wreck of Royal Navy destroyer sliced in two during night exercise found after 118 years
How A Single Port Controls Europe’s Economy (Editor – 8:27 min video)
MIDDLE EAST
U.S. signals it can keep up naval blockade indefinitely, increase economic pressure on Iran
US disputes reports of trying conditions on carrier in Gulf then New aircraft carrier heads to Middle East amid concerns about USS Lincoln conditions
Trump Claims Hormuz Control as US, Iran Harden Their Stances war of words continues as Top adviser to Iran’s IRGC says U.S. military is ‘weaker than what we perceived’ in rare interview
Oil Spill From Grounded Shadow Fleet Tanker Could Rival Exxon Valdez then Major Salvage Effort Begins for Grounded Shadow Fleet Tanker Off Oman
China Continues Gulf of Aden Security Mission by Dispatching 49th Fleet
Trump Administration Says Gulf Oil Flows Recover to 15 Million Barrels a Day
UAE Shuttles Iraqi Oil Exports Through the Strait of Hormuz
Why Can’t the US Escort Oil Tankers Through the Strait of Hormuz?
Trump Demands Compensation From Iran as Hormuz Deal Hopes Fade
Four Crew Killed in Red Sea Attack While Missile Strike Reported in Gulf
U.S. Navy Helicopter Fires on Panama-Flagged Containership in Blockade Enforcement extended capability U.S. Navy Hellfire-Armed MH-60R Sea Hawk Strengthens Surface Warfare Posture in the Middle East and interestingly How the US Navy’s MH-60 Seahawk “Disabled” a Ship in Hormuz (Editor – 17:21 min video)
ADNOC Says Three Vessels Attacked This Week as Hormuz Shipping Remains Severely Disrupted
70 Ships Trapped in Persian Gulf as Iran-U.S. Conflict Nears Six Months
GLOBAL INTERESTS
Every Major Naval Vessel Launched in 2026 (So Far) (Editor – 9:38 min video)
Ocean hits highest-ever-recorded temperature in July
SCUTTLEBUTT
Why One British Submarine Kept Argentina’s Entire Navy In Port For The Whole War (Editor – 29:18 min video) and the corollary Why The Belgrano Couldn’t Escape The Nuclear Submarine That Stalked Her Across The South Atlantic (Editor – 21:40 min video)
1968 | The Year of Lost Submarines (Editor – 2:58 min video)
(Full Episode) War at Sea | Ep 1: The Dreadnoughts of Scapa Flow | BBC Select (Editor – 49:21 min video)
Nelson’s Battles in 3D: Cape St. Vincent (Editor – 26:11 min video)
Nelson’s Battles in 3D: The Nile (Editor – 29:43 min video)
Nelson’s Battles in 3D: Copenhagen (Editor – 30:30 min video)
Nelson’s Battles in 3D: Trafalgar (Editor – 34:39 min video)
Why it took 1000 men to run a Warship (Editor – great look at HMS Belfast in a 15:28 min video)
Floating Military Base in Texas (Editor – 2:23 min video)
THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
15 August 1827 Captain (RN) John Franklin lands at the entrance of the Rideau Canal, on his return down the Ottawa River from the Arctic, welcomed by Colonel By, he is escorted up to Barracks Hill (what is now Parliament Hill), then the encampment of the 71st Regiment. The following day, 16 August, he will lay the foundation stone of the Ottawa Locks being built by Thomas Mackay. A reporter from the Montreal Herald witnessed the event: “I have this evening to communicate to you one of the most important events that ever occurred in the Canadas — an event which will doubtless form an era in the history of this country for ages to come. It was no less than the depositing of the first stone of the locks of the Rideau Canal… to the tap of MacKay’s trowel young Capt. Franklin put the one-and-one-quarter ton stone to bed while the garrison band played and loud “huzzas” went up from the excavation in a strange and wild setting.”
15 August 1914 The Panama Canal was opened to traffic. During WW1, Canada’s first submarines CC-1 and CC-2 spent the first three years of the war patrolling the Pacific; however, the lack of German threat saw them reposted to Halifax in 1917. With their tender, HMCS Shearwater, they became the first warships to transit the Panama Canal flying the White Ensign (the RCN’s service flag). Arriving in Halifax on 17 October 1917.
15 August 1940 Convoy SC1 sailed. SC series of convoys were introduced to provide a system of protection for slow merchant ships (7.5 knots minimum, often not achieved) which had previously been sailing independently, with disastrous consequences. Sydney, Cape Breton, was chosen as the western terminus to help ease congestion on the port of Halifax. During the winters of 41 and 42 the SC convoys were shifted to Halifax, due to ice in Sydney harbour and its approaches. In Aug 42, when the terminus for the HX series of convoys was shifted to New York City, the SC convoys were moved to Halifax, with an interval originating from New York between Sep 42 and Mar 43. Of the 177 SC convoys, only three failed to reach their destination. SC52 lost 4 of its 34 ships to U-boats in Oct 41 and with the prospects for continued heavy opposition, was returned to Sydney by a tortuous circumnavigation of Newfoundland. SC62 and 63 were scattered by bad weather in Jan 42 and completed their voyages as independently routed ships. In all, only 29 of the 177 SC convoys were attacked, mainly made possible by signals intelligence and evasive routing, and only 145 ships were lost from the total of 6,806 (2.1%). This number is somewhat misleading as many ‘stragglers’ were sunk when they dropped out of convoy that were not counted against convoy losses. Likewise, a few ‘rompers’, ships that detached from the convoy to move ahead independently, were lost, and not counted.
15 August 1944 HMC Ships Prince David and Prince Henry participate in the Allied landing in southern France, codenamed Operation Dragoon.
15 August 1945 VJ-Day ends WWII.
16 August 1956 HMCS Assiniboine was commissioned into the RCN as the second of the new St. Laurent class of destroyer escorts. She was the first to be converted to a DDH reaching the fleet in 1963.
16 Aug 1977 HMCS Venture, the Naval Officer Training Centre (NOTC), was established and transferred the “MARS” and “MARE” officer training duties from the Officers Training Division (OTD) of Canadian Forces Fleet School Esquimalt in Naden and welcomed its first students on 16 August 1977 into the old site of HMCS Givenchy building in the dockyard. In October of 1994, Venture moved to Work Point Barracks, in CFB Esquimalt, formerly the home of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
16 August 2011 Government announces that the name “Air Command” is being changed to the air force’s original historic name: Royal Canadian Air Force, and the name of Maritime Command to RCN to better reflect Canada’s military heritage and align Canada with other key Commonwealth countries whose military units use the royal designation.
17 August 1809 Construction of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Monument begins at the top of Jacques Cartier Square, Montréal, Québec
17 August 1940 Mackenzie King meets Franklin D. Roosevelt for two-day conference at Ogdensburg to discuss North American Defence; will sign Ogdensburg Agreement 18 August and the parties will discuss modifying cash and carry principle for delivery of arms from US factories to Canadian forces; on August 18, the parties will agree to set up a Canadian-American Permanent Joint Board of Defence (PJBD), composed of senior officials from both countries. To this day the PJBD is the senior advisory body on continental military defence of North America.
17 August 1943 The first Quebec Conference (codenamed “Quadrant”) – Mackenzie King hosts Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the sixth Anglo-American War Conference, held at the Citadelle and in the Chateau Frontenac hotel; ends August 24, 1943; plans developed for Overlord, the 1944 landings in France; Churchill and Roosevelt also secretly signed the Quebec Agreement to share nuclear technology.
18 August 1833 Steamship Royal William leaves Pictou NS; will arrive in Gravesend England 11 September; the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under steam power.
18 August 1944 HMC Ships Ottawa II commanded by Cdr James D. Prentice, DSO, RCN, HMCS Kootenay commanded by A/LCdr William H. Willson, DSC, RCN, and HMCS Chaudière commanded by A/LCdr C. Patrick Nixon, RCN sank the German submarine U-621 while on patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
18 August 2005 HMCS Fredericton (FFH 337) deployed to the Canadian Arctic to prohibit illegal fishing and to reassert sovereignty in the North.
19 August 1914 Canada officially went to war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1914, Canada was a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, but it did not control its own foreign affairs. As during the South African War (1899-1902), the Canadian government would decide the nature and extent of Canada’s war effort, but legally Canada the was at war the instant Britain declared one. In 1914, most, but by no means all, Canadians would have agreed with the 1910 statement of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier that “when Britain is at war, Canada is at war. There is no distinction.” They nevertheless debated vigorously the size and nature of Canada’s war effort and, increasingly, its relationship with Britain.
20 August 1942 HMC Ships Prince Robert, Prince Henry, Prince David, Dawson, and Vancouver leave Esquimalt, British Columbia, to commence operations under USN control around Aleutians. The Armed Merchant Cruisers were kept away from the battle area and tasked instead with the escort of convoys taking supplies and personnel between Kodiak and the American base at Dutch Harbour. For all ships their worst enemy was the weather which featured dense fog, high winds, and rough seas. The deployment ended on 30 October 1942.
20 August 1944 HMC Ships Ottawa commanded by CDR James D. Prentice, DSO, RCN, HMCS Kootenay commanded by A/LCDR William H. Willson, RCN, and HMCS Chaudière commanded by A/LCdr C. Patrick Nixon, RCN sank the German submarine U-984 while on patrol in the English Channel – their second combined victory in three days.
21 August 1853 HMS Breadalbane was anchored to an ice floe half a mile south of Beechey Island in Lancaster Bay, some 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and was surrounded by slow-moving ice. Shortly after midnight, a slab of ice penetrated the starboard bow. The vessel sank in Barrow Strait within fifteen minutes, and all 21 crew members were rescued. Joseph B. MacInnis found the ship in Aug 1980 using side-scan sonar towed by CCGS John A. Macdonald. She lays on the seafloor intact with two of her three masts still standing and her bow pointing east, in the cold Arctic water, at 330 feet. The Wreck of HMS Breadalbane was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1983 because the vessel was involved in the search for the missing expedition of Captain John Franklin.
21 August 1872 Chebucto Head Lighthouse starts operations, Halifax, Nova Scotia
21 August 1918 HMCS Hochelaga has the dubious distinction as being the only HMC Ship to encounter the enemy during WW1, only to refuse combat. On sighting the better-armed U-156 and without a radio her captain turned away to seek reinforcements, for which he was court-martialled and dismissed from the RCN. Her name was later revived in the RCN (1955-66) as that of the naval supply depot near Montreal.
21 August 1940 The Permanent Joint Board of Defence is established to co-ordinate Canadian and American activities relating to the defence of North America.
21 August 1944 HMCS Alberni was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-480 in the English Channel. 59 of her ship’s company are lost.
21 August 1969 Canadian Naval Auxiliary Vessel (later CFAV) Quest entered service. Quest was built at the Burrard Shipyard in Vancouver and like her sister ship CFAV Endeavour she was an underwater research ship. She was built with an ice strengthen hull for work in the Arctic and she went on to provide valuable service until disposed of in 2017.
Significant RCN Dates – If you notice any omissions or errors please inform me. Pointing out any more modern significant dates is encouraged. 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. Recently “Guardians of the North” written by NAC members Rich Gimblett & Karl Gagnon. 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) Last and far from least Garry Weir’s For Prosperity’s Sake RCN historical project site.
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