NAC News - Edition MTB 461 - Naval Association of Canada

NAC News – Edition MTB 461

Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of May 13th, 2022

Edition MTB 461 (WWII “G” Type Motor Torpedo Boat). Crew Photo May 1944 just before supporting the D-Day landings. She was destroyed by fire at Ostend, Belgium, 14 Feb 1945 with the loss of 9 of her crew.

Quote of the week: “Such preparations began in 1935, but with the government’s ability to provide protection against the coming storm was restricted by the divided state of public opinion. An examination of the newspaper press during this critical period of 1935 to 1939 clearly reveals the failure of the community as a whole to reach and substantial agreement concerning the nature of the danger and what was best to be done.” The Naval Service of Canada, Its Official History Vol 1, Origins and Early Years. pg 344. Gilbert Norman Tucker, PH.D. Director of Naval History Section 1952

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

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 16 June 2022 0900-1500 (Ottawa time) Submarines: Canada’s Strategic Requirement. NAC on-line conference will examine the strategic factors influencing a future Canadian submarine procurement project. This event is open to the public and NAC welcomes everyone with an interest in maritime security. Registration is limited to 240 participants, filling fast. Register now

NEW Monday 27 June 1200 (Ottawa) NAC National AGM – postponed from 15 Jun. Details to be posted by 26 June.

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.

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THIS WEEK’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLES

Canada’s defence minister says the world is ‘growing darker’ and ‘more chaotic’ (Editor – 2:59 min video monologue with President Zelenskyy included)

Message from the VCDS: An important milestone in the Victims’ Rights and Summary Hearing Implementation

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CANADA

A solemn remembrance in Vancouver for Battle of the Atlantic (Editor – wonderful bugler pic)

New ships raise issue of missile defence

Defence Team News | 12 May 2022 (Editor – RCN mentioned in 2:30 min video)

U.S. Senator: Canada’s a freeloader on defence and it’s getting tiring

The Queen – Last WW2 Veteran Head-of-State (Editor – 5:26 min video)

James Phillips, Irving Shipyard Test and Trials Manager (Editor – I’m experimenting with a Twitter link in a 1:59 min video. Video audio can be turned on) 51 new Red Seals celebrated at Irving Shipbuilding

Canada directs military to take more ‘assertive’ stance in cyberspace (Editor – US 2:06 min video included)

Naval officer continues top marks on FORCE test

Military sexual assault victims threatened with legal action

Release of 2021 Report on Suicide Mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces

Former top commander accused of sexual misconduct returns prestigious military decoration and Gen. Jonathan Vance expelled from Royal Military College alumni group over guilty plea

First Nations’ role in marine rescues highlighted in B.C.-filmed docuseries

Seaspan Shipyards Named Canada’s Top Defence Company for 2022

From seminary to sailor: it’s all about the routine

Maersk Ice-Class Feeders Redeployed on N. Europe-Canada Trade

Nunavut hunters urge Baffinland mine to stop icebreaking, citing narwhal decline

Assessing shipping risk in Canada (Editor – report can be downloaded for free)

Donna Skelly announces $8.7 million for Heddle Shipyards

HMCS Uganda: the ship that voted its way home

The last of the Allied convoys to the Soviet Union

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USA & AMERICAS

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 9, 2022

Senate Approves First Female Commandant for Coast Guard

Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress

CIMSEC: 20 years of naval trends guarantee a FY23 shipbuilding plan failure

Congress Wants Potential 15 Hull, 5-year Destroyer Deal at 3 Ships a Year

US Navy Stonewalls Congress In Working Ship Reports

Navy’s submarine builders ‘over cost’, ‘under performing’: Top admiral

Why Retire a 2-Year Old Warship? (Editor – (9:44 min video; one wonders who will they give them too?) then Navy to Christen Future Littoral Combat Ship Beloit yet The littoral combat ship’s latest problem: Class-wide structural defects leading to hull cracks

Navy Cost Estimates on Shipyard Modernization ‘Wildly Off,’ GAO Tells Congress

The Navy Still Punishes Talented Risk-Takers

US Navy christens Orca XL Unmanned Undersea Vehicle and Report on Navy Large Unmanned Surface and Undersea Vehicles

CIMSEC: Distributed Maritime Operations – becoming hard-to-find

Navy Nearing 1,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Denial Separations

Missile Explodes Over German Frigate (Editor – older story but good look at the Standard Missile and a few “problems” in a 10:20 min video) and a complementary and topical 35:47 min Australian Podcast SPOTLIGHT: Unpacking the Aegis combat weapons system, with Lockheed Martin Australia’s Neale Prescott and Rob Milligan

Report to Congress on Navy Shipboard Lasers

Focus NNS MAY 2022 Breakout: Enterprise (CVN 80) COMES TO LIFE (Editor – 6:33 min video)

House Bill Backs Marines’ 31 Amphibious Ship Requirement, Over Navy’s 25 Ship Level

Could New Quicksink Weapon Stop 5,500 Armed Merchant Ships?

US Coast Guard proposes purchase of existing icebreaker as Arctic ‘bridging strategy’ and Lack of Icebreakers Hinders Great Lakes Shipping

Senate Confirms Rear Admiral Ann Phillips as U.S. Maritime Administrator

Top Navy Admiral Quietly Removes ‘Woke’ Books From CNO Reading List

High Reward and Low Cost: The U.S. Navy Must Not Abandon the Patrol Boat

Port of Charleston Reduces Backlog and Sets Latest Monthly Cargo Record

Oil Tanker Owner and Operator to Pay $3 Million Criminal Fine for Obstructing Justice and Concealing Pollution

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INDO-PACIFIC

U.S. Cruiser Transits Taiwan Strait Days After Chinese Naval, Air Exercises

Quad Navies Gear up for Indo-Pacific Challenge

Sea Power: Nations share common vision on Indo-Pacific security

Navy hosts largest international exercise in its history

PLA encircles Taiwan island with carrier drills amid US, Japanese provocations and Chinese Carrier Strike Group Continues Drills Near Japan and what the Chinese say Naval task groups carry out combat training exercises (Editor – 2:24 min video included, lots of weapons firing, note DC and FF gear in drill)

China’s next-generation nuclear carrier floating into view (Editor – big steps considering they haven’t really got an effective carrier yet) then again Over 100 aircraft drill sorties from carrier Liaoning in 6 days near Japan, Taiwan island ‘demonstrate readiness’

PLA Navy holds 1st dual amphibious assault ship drills, ‘gains powerful new instrument in reunification’

Foreign reports on PLA Navy’s new submarine ‘speculative and biased’

Great Wall of Naval Targets Discovered in Chinese Desert

Philippine Coast Guard commissions patrol vessel Teresa Magbanua

HJSC Launches 4 New PKMR Boats For The ROK Navy

North Korea Fires Suspected SLBM

Australia PM to ‘ensure’ no Chinese base on Solomon Islands

Australia to purchase 12 new MH-60R Romeo maritime helicopters

Royal Australian Navy to Host Indo Pacific Sea Power Conference 2022 and Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Base East in Sydney – May 2022 then Indo Pacific 2022 – Day 1: AUKUS, Submarines and ASW and Indo Pacific 2022 – Day 2: Surface Vessels

The RAN’s future frigates – we are where we are and Government earmarks $1bn for Garden Island

Austal to Convert Decommissioned RAN Patrol Boat into USV

Carriers Blank More Sailings as China’s COVID Lockdowns Continue

Vietnam protests as China declares annual South China Sea fishing ban

Megayachts Racing Across Oceans Show Oligarchs’ Desperation

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EUROPE

Ukraine:

How The Russian Navy Is Losing Dominance: The Curse Of Snake Island and Russian Serna-Class LCU Becomes The New Victim Of TB2 Drone and The Turkish drones winning the Ukraine war

Ukraine Reportedly Attacks Russian Navy Logistics Ship ‘Vsevolod Bobrov’ in Black Sea

Viewpoint: Putin now faces only different kinds of defeat and War in Ukraine: why is Russia’s army so weak? | The Economist (Editor – not directly naval but still significant) plus NCOs: America Has Them, China Wants Them, Russia is Struggling Without Them

The Black Sea Is The Next Front In The Ukraine War (Editor – Note the joke in the second Moskva pic)

Russian Navy’s oldest submarine Alrosa to re-enter service

The mystery of the Moskva and Makarov

Fossil fuel as warfare’s weak link (Editor – not a maritime article but a noteworthy observation)

Italy Impounds Luxury Yacht Linked To Russian President

U.S. Sanctions Seven More Russian Shipping Companies

Greek Shipowners Kill EU’s Russian Oil Tanker Ban

Europe:

Are Sweden and Finland going from neutral to Nato? and UK agrees mutual security deals with Finland and Sweden (Editor – Interesting implications should the UK go to aid Sweden, would NATO follow?) The Russians leaving their country for Finland – BBC News (Editor – 2:26 min video) Finland Nato: Russia threatens to retaliate over membership move

NATO Eyes ‘Heightened Presence’ Around Sweden, Baltic and The US Navy’s newest fleet is keeping an eye on the North Atlantic with a first-of-its-kind deployment

US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Truman arrives in Italy

Royal send-off for HMS Prince of Wales

UK allocates more than £2 billion for “the most significant stage” of Dreadnought submarine program

RFA Tidesurge conducts RAS trials with commercial tanker

Belgian frigate Leopold I launches Harpoon missile for first time

British destroyer returns to sea for first time since 2019

Finnish Navy Completes Upgrade Of 4th And Final Hamina-Class FAC

French Navy Receives 7th Upgraded ATL2 Maritime Patrol Aircraft

Cruise industry working group seeks to adopt Seahaven, the world’s largest inflatable lifeboat

Walrus SSK Sub Brief (Editor – 42:39 min video)

Years Behind Schedule, Russian Icebreaker Finally Begins Ice Trials

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MIDDLE EAST

Montrose strikes drug traffickers again with £1.8m heroin bust

Royal Navy sends two ships to join Red Sea international task force

A ‘time bomb’ in the Red Sea could cause a catastrophic oil spill without global help: UN then UN Raises a Third of the Money Needed to Remove Oil from FSO Safer

US and Bahrain conduct naval exercise Neon Defender

ICS and Suez Canal Authority Formalize Agreement for Greater Cooperation

Littoral Combat Ship USS Sioux City Headed to Middle East After European Tour

Indian Navy, Coast Guard Ships from 1st Training Squadron visit Saudi Arabia on Overseas Deployment

Iran’s Navy to Launch Two Indigenous Destroyers

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GLOBAL INTERESTS

2022 Allianz Ship Insurance Report Highlights War, Fires, COVID, Climate Change, And Congestion (Editor – interesting stats throughout)

Why the volatile price of aluminium matters (Editor – ripples will last for years)

Piracy Plummets in Gulf of Guinea

On Our FORUM: Uncontrollable monsters on the high seas

What We Are Getting Wrong About the Indian Ocean

Cote d’Ivoire getting P400 patrol vessel

NATO ships conduct exercise with Tunisian Navy to enhance interoperability

Nigeria and Angola Responsible for Nearly Half of OPEC+ Oil Supply Gap

Over 600 Stranded I-Kiribati Seafarers Repatriated, Some After Two Years

Report: Recycling is Doing Little to Stop Ocean Plastic Pollution

LNG Carriers Account for a Quarter of Shipping Emissions in the Arctic

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SCUTTLEBUTT

ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY: Photos & History by the Men &Women Who Were There. (Editor – here’s a website that draws you in)

The Worst Disaster To Strike a Ship You Never Heard Of – MV Wilhelm Gustloff (Editor – horrific war time story in a 10:08 min video)

Leander-class frigate | The legendary warrior of Her Majesty (Editor – 14:49 min video)

The Zeebrugge Raid – A Vindictive Operation (Editor – a 36:04 video. In a similar raid just down the coast at Ostend while commanding ML276, Canadian Lt (RNVR) Roland Bourke won his Victoria Cross (9 May 1918). This is one of only four naval VC’s won by Canadians, all were won by Canadian serving in or with the RN. Bourke died in 1958 and is buried at Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria, BC)

KMS Gneisenau – Guide 282 (Editor – a busy but ill-fated ship in 7:05 min video)

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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY

Editor – An important event not captured last week but worthy of attention:

9 May 1941 – The SS Esmond (Anglo-Newfoundland S.S. Company Ltd., St John’s) was in ballast, and she was westbound from Liverpool to Sydney NS in convoy OB-318 (43 merchant ships). On 7 May, the Western Approaches escorts were relieved by nine mid-ocean escorts (HM Ships Ranpura, Bulldog, Amazon, Broadway, Aubrietia, Hollyhock and Nigella; and HM Trawlers Daneman and St Apollo). The convoy was being stalked by a wolfpack (U-110 Fritz-Julius Lemp, U-94 Herbert Kuppisch, U-201 Adalbert Schnee, and U-556 Herbert Wohlfarth). The attack commenced on the evening of the 7th. A total of 7 ships were sunk before the convoy was dispersed on 11 May. The SS Esmond had been sunk by the U-110 on 9 May. The Master, crew and DEMS gunners were all rescued. One of the most important allied signal intelligence successes during the entire Battle of the Atlantic occurred only hours after the sinking of the SS Esmond. HMS Bulldog (Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell) captured U-110. The boarding party, led by Sub-Lieutenant David Balme, removed codebooks, charts, ciphers and most significantly, a complete and undamaged Enigma machine. Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp was killed during the engagement and his U-110 sank while under tow by HMS Bulldog.

14 May 1917 Lieutenant R. Leckie (eventual Chief of Air Staff of the RCAF), but at the time was Royal Naval Air Service, flying a Curtiss H-12 flying boat shoots down the German Zeppelin L.22 over England.

15 May 1940 HMCS Prince Henry (ex-North Star, ex-Prince Henry) purchased from Clarke Steamship Company for $606,740, and preparations were begun to convert her to an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC). The Washington and London Naval Treaties placed limits on the number of cruisers that could be built by the participating nations. Canada was governed by the limits placed on the Royal Navy. An important role of heavy cruisers was service on distant stations and as the ‘patrolman on the beat,’ keeping watch over the trade routes of the world. By late ’42 to early ’43, the AMC’s were being withdrawn from escort service and converted to troopships, a vastly less costly and complicated process as well as a more important role.

15 May 1941 Ten corvettes in UK shipyards are formally commissioned as RCN ships. HMC Ships; Trillium, Arrowhead, Mayflower, Fennel, Spikenard, Hepatica, Quesnel, Snowberry, Bittersweet, and Windflower. The transfers were part of an exchange that eventually never happened but Canada retained the ships.

16 May 1945 HMCS Matane is sent to escort 14 surrendered U-Boats from Trondheim to Loch Eriboll.

17 May 1963 Approval is given for the RCN to begin work on the first Canadian military hydrofoil, HMCS Bras D’Or.

18 May 1914 The Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR) is authorized as part of the RCN.

19 May 1845 John Franklin begins the doomed voyage in search of the Northwest Passage.

19 May 1943 – SV Angelus sailed under the French tricolor for 19 years until on 11 May 1942 the ship was captured by the Canadian warship HMCS Prescott (K 161) whilst on the Grand Banks. She was sunk by shellfire from U-161 south of Nova Scotia. 8 crew were killed. (K161 captured her, and U-161 sank her)

20 May 1941 – The unescorted Rothermere was hit in the engine room by one torpedo from U-98 southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland. The ship sank by the stern after being hit for a second time. SS Rothermere (Newfoundland registry) had 18 crew members and three gunners killed. 32 crew members, one gunner and one passenger were picked up by the Icelandic steam merchant Bruarfoss and landed at Reykjavik.

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)