NAC News - Edition MTB 460 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition MTB 460

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of May 6th, 2022

Edition MTB 460 (WWII British Power Boat 72 feet-type class with a brief violent life)

Quote of the week: “Britain, thank God, is a democracy and therefore governed by the will of her people. But when you are faced with a total war this form of government may well prove a handicap. For a country as a whole is slow in peacetime to realise the full extent of any menace to their existence, and therefore the country lags behind in its preparations for war.” A Midshipman’s War – A young man in the Mediterranean Naval war 1941-1943, page 229, Frank Wade, 1994

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

11-13 May 2022 Nautical Institute of British Columbia will be hosting their 2022 Conference – Maritime Arctic, Changing Opportunities and Challenges, at the Marriott Inner Harbour Victoria. This conference will discuss opportunities and challenges associated with the maritime sphere in the Arctic with focus is on Maritime Security, including a panel with speakers from the Canadian Navy and USCG. Register at this Link or the NIBC website.

17-19 May 2022 Niagara Falls, ON. Mari-Tech 2022 Conference and Exhibition titled Industrial Revolution Making Waves. Mari-Tech was created by the Canadian Institute of Marine Engineering (CIMarE) in 1976 and is the premier event for the marine engineering community in Canada. The 2022 event is Co-Hosted by CIMarE Great Lake Branch and SNAME Great Lakes/Great Rivers Section.

NEW Monday 27 June 1200 (Ottawa) NAC National AGM – postponed from 15 Jun. Details to follow in the coming week

14-16 November 2022 Originally scheduled for March 2022., this event will be held in-person in Victoria, BC. The draft program for this November’s MSC22 is now posted on the MSC website and is available on other MSC social media channels.

Navy Bike Ride 2022 (Editor – This virtual edition is open to all. Registration is open for this free event, which will run from 12 June – 7 August. If you’re keen, the “Naval Association of Canada” Bike Team is reforming under Barry Walker’s direction. All events are available at early bird rates until midnight 30 April 2022.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

What happened to the Admiral Makarov? Ukraine claims missile strike on Russian frigate in Black Sea (Editor –breaking news in an unconfirmed reports of Makarov burning) and Russian warship reportedly ‘on fire’ after Ukrainian attack

Global military expenditures eclipse US$2 trillion in 2021 for first time

Norway closes seaports and border to Russian traffic and The end of Nordic neutrality

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CANADA

Tradition returns to Battle of the Atlantic ceremony (Editor – BOA ceremonies restored across the country – Halifax’s in a 2:37 min video) and Second World War veteran honoured in Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly plus Remembering the Battle of the Atlantic 77 Years Later (Editor – 3:24 video included)

Remembering the Fallen of Stalker 22 on the 2nd Anniversary

From Sea-to-Shore: preparing for the Joint Support Ships

Latest Canadian Defence Review (CDR) (Editor – note Seaspan article on pg. 13)

Canada’s top soldier says defence industry needs to ramp up production to ‘wartime footing’ (Editor – 12:08 min video, I’m not sure just asking industry to ramp up will do much, industry responds to contracts linked to the timeless law of supply and demand)

Ombudsman Publishes Report on the Administration of Contingency Cost Moves for Personal Reasons, Compassionate Status and Compassionate Postings and Military must better accommodate troops with exceptional family needs: watchdog

HMCS Brandon Day Sail: person overboard and other demonstrations

Canadian Halifax frigate HMCS Toronto to undergo major docking work

Military dealing with gap in search and rescue services due to procurement delay

Canada’s Record Oil Exports Test Trudeau’s Climate-Change Ambitions

Gale Force Winds and the RCN embark on a mission called “Force 8 Home Towners” to conduct full in-person conversations with 39 sailors aboard HMCS Montreal while deployed to the Mediterranean in support of Operation REASSURANCE, as well as 16 sailors aboard HMCS Harry DeWolf deployed to the Caribbean in support of Operation CARIBBE. (Editor – here is an example with a 4:14 min interview with Montreal’s XO, LCdr April Blackwood)

Victoria Shipyards workers narrowly ratify new 4-year contract

When Assiniboine brought word processing to the RCN

[4K] WALK CANADA. Rain Walk. The Royal Canadian Navy. North Vancouver. April 30 2022. Editor – candid 23:34 min video at Burrard Dry Dock Pier in North Vancouver that featured HMC Ships Vancouver, Winnipeg, Brandon, Edmonton, and three Orca Class Patrol Training Vessels)

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 2, 2022

Huntington Ingalls Launches The Newest Virginia-Class Submarine

AFRL technology makes new weapon for sinking ships a reality

CIMSEC: rightsizing the fleet: why the navy’s new shipbuilding plan is not enough

Crew Blameless for 2021 MH-60S Crash Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, New Investigation Finds

Letter to a Midshipman By Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Ret.) | May 2, 2022

Listen to Junior Leaders to Prevent Accidents in the Fleet

Report to Congress on the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (Editor – Canada mentioned as a project member but not yet as a customer)

Dutch Navy Walrus-class submarine HNLMS Dolfijn visits US

USS Tripoli Quietly Leaves on Maiden Deployment

Report on Virginia-class Attack Submarine Program

Keel laying ceremony for future ESB USS John L. Canley

USNS John Lewis Replenishment Oiler Conducts Acceptance Trials

Delay hits Brazil’s $1.7 billion frigate program

After Outcry, 260 Sailors From USS George Washington Will Move Ashore and Carrier USS George Washington Mid-Life Overhaul Will Extend into 2023

Video: Salvage of WWII Destroyer USS The Sullivans Completed (Editor – 15 sec video included)

US Navy Awards Leonardo DRS $73M Shipboard Energy Magazine Contract

Mapping the Seafloor – Innovations In Forward Looking Sonar (FLS)

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INDO-PACIFIC

U.S. Navy Can Demonstrate the Freedom to Operate in the Taiwan Strait (Editor – a good refresher)

Chinese Carrier Liaoning Strike Group Steaming Near Japan, Says MoD and PLAN says PLAN aircraft carrier battle group trains in west Pacific

Progress visible on China’s latest aircraft carrier

China amphibious assault ship held live-fire drills in South China Sea

Chinese Navy ship enters Japanese waters near Kagoshima islands

Japanese MoD increases its Defense Budget for 2022

Navy Hospital Ship Departs for Pacific Partnership 2022

Six Soviet naval mines found in Azerbaijani sector of Caspian — Defense Ministry (Editor – Azerbaijani straddles the divide between Europe and Asia, mostly in Asia)

Defence announces $2bn RAN missile order

Defence expedites Schiebel Camcopter order

Supply critical to keeping ships at sea (Editor – a good look at a RAS in 2:02 min video included)

Anduril and ADF to enter commercial negotiations for XL-AUVs

South Korea’s Next Defense Minister Expresses Reservations On CVX Program

Taiwan Scraps Deal to Buy US Anti-Submarine Helicopters

Collins Class fleet to receive tech upgrade

China drone giant grounds Russia, Ukraine sales (Editor – wrinkle in the relationships)

India’s Submarine Plans in Deep Water

Australian Anzac class frigate Toowoomba completes modernization program

Fiji Agrees to Let U.S. Seize Russian-Owned Megayacht

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

Watch Ukrainian TB2 drone destroyed two Russian ‘Raptor’ patrol boats (Editor – 14 sec video)

Report: U.S. Intelligence Played a Role in the Sinking of the Moskva and some observations about the sinking Bad design can kill: Missile defense and user fatigue (Editor – a new analysis of the Moskva sinking in a 17:04 min video) another analysis Antiship Missile Lessons from Sinking of the Moskva and yet another Warship Moskva was Blind to Ukrainian Missile Attack, Analysis Shows (Editor – someday, years from now, we will eventually know the truth)

Russian troops destroy 2,817 armored vehicles in Ukraine operation — top brass (Editor – here is what Russia says it has done…startling fantasy?)

Russia’s cyber warfare against Ukraine more nuanced than expected (Editor – just FYI a 8:53 min video included)

Russian Navy’s 5 Significant Losses in The Ukraine War So Far

Russian troops held me captive at gunpoint for two weeks in Ukraine. Here’s what I learned. (Editor – not a naval story but a window into Russian army looting, rape, murder, and military failure)

Russia Struggles to Turn Black Sea Rule into Amphibious Attack (Editor – I wonder if the author knew he was showing the fo’c’sle of a [sunken] Slava Class Cruiser?)

Russian defense ministry says it has hit Ukrainian targets with submarine strikes and with a misleading headline Russia Threatens NATO Convoys With Submarine Strike

UK to provide Ukraine with cargo drones

Turkey says no warship has passed Bosporus since Ukraine war

Russia says its warship downed Ukrainian UAV. Why Indian Navy could take note

Report: European Commission Drafts a Phased Ban on Russian Oil but As Moscow prepared for war, Gazprom sold Arctic gas worth almost €140 billion

Ukraine Formally Closes Captured Ports Of Mariupol, Berdiansk, and Skadovsk

Shipping Industry Pushes to Rescue Remaining Seafarers Trapped in Ukraine

Europe General:

NATO’s maritime search and rescue exercise kicks off in the Atlantic

NATO warships visit Swedish capital city (Editor – R&R for HMCS Halifax)

Russian Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier to go for repairs in May – sources

From concept to reality – the next generation of naval subsea technologies

Swedish Navy’s increased readiness and future programs (Editor – Interview with Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum, chief of the Royal Swedish Navy 6:07 min video)

USS Paul Ignatius Departs Mayport for Inaugural Patrol, Homeport Shift

In Late Test for the Freedom-Class LCS, USS Sioux City Heads to Europe

Here Is How UAVs Will Be Recovered Aboard TCG Anadolu

Second CAE Mission Simulator for German Naval Helicopter Training

Irish naval vessel visits City of Glasgow

SM-2 Block IIIA comes aboard Danish corvette

Netherlands To Upgrade Only 2 LCF Frigates With ESSM Block 2

French Nazvy launches first logistic support ship for French Navy

French and American nuclear submarines visiting Scotland

Thank you Roger, hello Sarah as new CO takes over Britannia Royal Naval College

Dutch Dock Workers Refuse to Unload Tanker Carrying Russia Oil

Belgian Ports of Antwerp and Zeebruge Officially Combine

Archaeologists Discover 14th-Century Wreck on Tallinn’s Waterfront

Dutch Liquid Hydrogen Tanker Concept to Develop Europe Market

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MIDDLE EAST

NAVCENT head on why a new Red Sea task force was needed

Japan deploys Murasame-class destroyer Samidare to Djibouti

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

USNI: The International Commanders Respond to the question “How is your nation’s maritime security environment changing?”

CIMSEC: Brazilian navy participates in exercise Obangame Express 2022

Nigerian Navy tank landing ship visiting Cape Town

Op Atalanta strikes on “Hash Highway” and “Smack Track”

Port call of the French Mission Jeanne d’Arc in Cape Town

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SCUTTLEBUTT

The record-breaking dive under the Arctic ice

Morgan Freeman reads If by Rudyard Kipling (Editor – 2:38 reading of a poem still applicable for these turbulent times)

Rubis Sub Brief (Includes a look why Canada didn’t acquire Rubis in a 35:32 min video)

The shipwrecks rewriting ancient history

Inside The World’s First Great Ocean Liner | SS Great Britain With Dan Snow (Editor – 9:40 min video)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

7 May 1945 – The SS Avondale Park was built by Foundation Marine in Pictou, Nova Scotia and was delivered to the Government of Canada (Park Steamship Co.) on 15 May 1944. With a British crew and a cargo of timber and pulpwood, her first sailing was eastbound in convoy HX-292 (132 merchant ships and 27 escorts) which departed Halifax on 22 May. Shortly after her arrival in the Tyne coal mining port, on 10 June the ownership of the ship was transferred to the UK Ministry of War Transport “C. & S.S. Division, for Coastal Services” as a “coaster” collier to be managed by the Witherington & Etheridge Company. — A year later, in the early evening hours of 7 May 1945, with DEMS gunners manning her aft gun, the Avondale Park departed Methil (near Edinburgh, Scotland). She was bound for Belfast in convoy EN-491 (5 merchant ships and 3 Royal Navy armed trawler escorts). The convoy was only about 17 miles from Methil when the Avondale Park was sunk by the second of two torpedoes fired by U-2336. A few moments later, the U-boat then sunk the Norwegian SS Sneland I with a single torpedo. The only casualties were 2 crew members from the Avondale Park. The Canadian SS Avondale Park and the Norwegian SS Sneland I were the final merchant ships sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic. A signal had been sent to all U-boats on 4 May 1945 ordering them to surrender but U-2336 had not received the signal.

8 May 1942 – The SS Mont Louis (Hall Corporation of Canada, Montreal) was in transit from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana (now Suriname) bound for Trinidad, with a cargo of bauxite for onward shipping to American and Canadian aluminum smelters. Over the past two months, the Mont Louis had made six such round-trip deliveries of bauxite to Trinidad. U-162 sighted the Mont Louis steaming without running lights. The U-boat stalked the unescorted ship for about two hours until achieving the optimum range and aspect for targeting and fired a single torpedo which slammed into the engine room. The U-boat commander’s log recorded that the explosion was followed by “dark black cloud development, which immediately enveloped the entire ship’s length”. When the heavy smoke cleared, “nothing was seen of the steamer”. She was sunk about halfway between Paramaribo and Trinidad. Thirteen crewmembers were killed. While obscured by the smoke, the master and seven crewmembers had successfully abandoned ship. They were rescued by the Canadian two-masted schooner SV Mona Marie which landed them at Georgetown, British Guiana on 10 May.

8 May 1942 U Boat 553 is the first enemy submarine to enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence to attack Canadian shipping.

8 May 1967 The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act is given Royal assent and begins the process of unification of the previously-separate RCN, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force.

9 May 1918 Lieutenant (RNVR) Rowland Bourke was commanding Motor Launch 276 when the events that would earn him a Victoria Cross occurred. The British had attempted an operation to block the port of Ostend, Belgium so it could not be used by the Germans who were occupying it. In the aftermath of the overnight daring but bloody naval assault, Bourke took his ship into the enemy harbour to look for any remaining survivors of the raid. Lt Bourke was born in London, England and emigrated to Canada in 1902. A naturalized Canadian he was the only Canadian Naval VC winner during WW1, and one of only four Canadian born Naval VC recipients ever. He is buried in Royal Oak cemetery Victoria BC.

9 May 1941 – SS Esmond (Newfoundland registry) no casualties after being torpedoed by U-110 and sank between Iceland and Greenland.

9 May 1942 – MV Calgarolite had nobody killed after being torpedoed by U-125 50 miles southwest of Grand Cayman Island, Caribbean.

10 May 1942 – SS Kitty’s Brook (Newfoundland registry) – 9 crew killed when hit by one torpedo from U-588 and sank 35 miles southeast of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

11 May 1898 Canadian brothers Harry and Willard Miller born in Noel Shore, Nova Scotia. while serving as USN sailors on board the U.S.S. Nashville in Cuban waters, both earned the US Medal of Honour. During a ship’s boat undersea cable-cutting operation and facing the heavy fire of the enemy they both displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout the action.

11 May 1922 the Royal Naval College of Canada was closed, and for the next twenty years the training pf the Dominion’s professional naval officers was carried out in the Royal Navy. The reduction of naval strength during the 1920’s made a separate Canadian institution impracticable, and the small need of officers for a minor force was satisfied by periodically sending a handful of candidates to the United Kingdom as “special entry” cadets. This policy persisted until the fall of 1942, when the training of naval cadets was resumed at the Royal Canadian Naval College.

12 May 1940 HMCS Ypres while operating the harbour entrance “gate” was accidently rundown by HMS Revenge. She was the first loss of the RCN during WW2. There were no casualties, it is said that the next time HMS Revenge passed through the boom the crews of both gate vessels took up abandon-ship stations. Ypres was a one of 6 Battle-class trawlers built during WWI that were employed as gate vessels in the Halifax area. The gate was back in operation by the 16th. Another old Battle-class trawler, HMS Arleux, replaced Ypres. She was also rammed later in the war by the giant liner RMS Queen Mary, although she was not sunk.

12 May 1942 The German submarine U-553 sinks the steamers Nicoya and Leto between Gaspe and Anticosti island.

12 May 1945 HMCS Victoriaville (frigate) escorts the surrendered U-Boat 190 into Bay Bulls, Newfoundland.

13 May 1943 HMCS Drumheller commanded by Lt Leslie P. Denny, RCNR, HMS Lagan, and an aircraft from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 423 Squadron combine to sink the German submarine U-753 in the Atlantic Ocean.

13 May 1945 German submarine U-899 officially surrendered to the RCN near Shelburne, N. S. becomes the only German sub to surrender in Canadian waters during Second World War. Canadian ships, alone or in company with other ships and planes, sank a total of twenty-seven U-boats during the Second World War. Despite the undoubted and ongoing U-boat successes during the 2,060 days of war, 25,353 merchant ship voyages carried 181,643,180 tons of cargo from North American ports to the United Kingdom under Canadian escort. Over the bridge which the navy helped to build and maintain 90,000 tons passed daily towards the battlefields of Europe. In the Canadian ships lost, there were 1,797 Canadians who lost their lives, 319 were wounded, and 95 became POW’s. They paid a price yet created an achievement which would have been flatly dismissed as impossible before the war.

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)