NAC News – Edition MTB 462
Your weekly national and international naval news for the week of May 20th, 2022
Edition HMCS MTB 462 (72 feet-type class Motor Torpedo Boat)
Quote of the week: “[D]on’t blame NATO enlargement for Putin’s desires to destroy Ukraine’s existence as an independent country and his willingness to kill civilians indiscriminately, as he did previously in Grozny and Aleppo, two cities that had nothing to do with NATO or its enlargement.” 19 April 2022, James Goldgeier, Foreign Affairs
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
NEW Naval Reserve 100th Anniversary 2023. There are celebrations either planned, proposed, or yet to be considered for the 100th anniversary of the Naval Reserve in 2023. If you are aware of any such event, please let the ED know so he can develop a list.
NEW Time to Get Involved in Your National and Branch Organizations. If you have an interest in becoming more involved with your Branch or with National level programmes either as a potential member for the Board of Directors, part of our naval affairs team or can offer other talents such marketing our “products” and brand to increase our membership numbers please contact me or your branch president/representative. We need your talent and NAC always needs a fresh pool of willing volunteers. So why not step forward and get more involved in some very worthwhile endeavours. We need you!
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 29 May.
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
Finland and Sweden formally submit NATO membership applications and Ukraine conflict: What is Nato and how could Finland and Sweden join? but Why Turkey doesn’t want Finland, Sweden in NATO and just to add to the complexity Ukraine war: US fully backs Sweden and Finland Nato bids, Biden says
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CANADA
MARPAC/JTF(P) Change Of Command Ceremony (Editor – I haven’t found this 1:12:14 hr recording of the MARPAC Change of Command anywhere besides Facebook)
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships Saskatoon and Yellowknife return from Operation CARIBBE
Canada to send 4 warships, 800 military personnel to world’s largest naval exercise
New Zealand navy frigate to leave Canada after 8 years and Victoria Shipyards’ New Zealand warships lawsuit delayed by document review
Russia Sanctions 61 Canadian citizens including CAF personnel
HMCS Harry DeWolf’s drug busts add to smuggler blues
HMCS Nanaimo celebrates 25 years
HMCS Sackville hosts committal of ashes ceremony on Battle of the Atlantic Sunday
COVID-19 outbreak hits HMCS Winnipeg crew
Scientists claim to have solved mystery of Gulf War illness (Editor – if confirmed, explains a lot)
The Spring 2022 edition of Actions Stations is now available and Sackville Return to Sackville Landing May 12, 2022 – Doug Struthers (smugmug.com)
Military failing to remove barriers to diversifying ranks: ombudsman
Does the CAF’s current dress code undermine inclusion and diversity? and “More inclusive” military to permit face tattoos, fake nails, dyed hair on soldiers
Two Non-Combatants on 2022 Recruiting Campaign
Build 3 Peter Chance (Editor – Juno Beach Centre interview in a 17:398 min video)
Naval Reserve 100th Anniversary Tulip Bulbs
Legion Service Officers are here to help (Editor – not just for Legion members, a 4:45 min video) plus one can sign up (you can always unsubscribe) for RCL Veterans Benefits Guide 2022
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USA & AMERICAS
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 16, 2022
World War II Mariners Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
Keel-Laying for Columbia SSBN Set for June 4
U.S. Navy Commissions Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG 121)
Navy’s Cancellation of Littoral Combat Ship ASW Mission Package Triggers Nunn-McCurdy Breach
Cruiser USS Vicksburg Nearly Finished with Modernization Program, Set For Decommissioning
U.S. Pacific Fleet Establishes USV Division
VIDEO: LCS USS Montgomery Fires Hellfire Missiles in Land Attack Test
Pappano: Studying ‘Shortish’ Life Extension of Ohio SSBNs as Risk Mitigator
VIDEO: Navy Commissions Destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (Editor – 1:33:21 hr video included)
Navy Predicts Challenging Future Recruiting Environment, On Target to Hit Retention Goals
Coast Guard offloads $5.6 million dollars in seized cocaine in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Panama Canal Ship Queue Reflects Shipping Bottlenecks
Port of Long Beach Continues Record-Setting Streak and Warns of Cargo Surge When China Reopens and Port of Savannah Reports Third Busiest Month On Record in April
Global shipping companies reduced speeds off California coast to protect blue whales and blue skies
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INDO-PACIFIC
Seapower conference’s Indo-Pacific focus
Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group Conducts Joint, Dynamic Deterrence Missions in Philippine Sea
Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group trains with Japan Maritime Self Defense Force
Satellite reveals China’s new nuclear attack sub
South Korea To Deploy Its Largest Vessel To RIMPAC 2022
Australia ‘Concerned’ By Chinese Spy Ship Off Its Coast
China Builds Taiwanese Port, Ship Mockups for Missile Testing: Report
PLA bombers hold drills in West Pacific ‘in coordination with carrier group’
Satellite photo shows possible new Chinese nuclear submarine able to launch cruise missiles
CIMSEC: Sea Control 346 – China’s gray zone tactics with Cristina Garafola (Editor – 34:16 min podcast)
Tamar and Spey underline UK’s renewed commitment to the Indo-Pacific
India halts Ka-31 helicopter deal with Russia
New Navy Unmanned Command Will Send 4 Experimental Large USVs to RIMPAC
Australia, US and UK Joint Mission Tests Autonomous Naval Technologies
India’s New $3-Billion Aircraft Carrier is Going Active this Year
India conducts maiden flight test of indigenous naval anti-ship missile
Need for Decomplicating Acquisition of Six Submarines under Project 75(I) Program
Indo Pacific 2022 – Day 3: Weapon systems, Mine Warfare and Seabed Warfare (Editor – a packed 14:49 min video) Kongsberg at Indo Pacific 2022: NSM for Royal Australian Navy (Editor – 9:12 min video)
Australia To Upgrade Collins Submarines With Tomahawk Missiles
PCG to deploy BRP Teresa Magbanua for its first-ever mission
New Details Emerge On Australia’s Future Joint Support Ship
New Agalega satellite imagery: Hangars to house submarine hunting aircraft
Darwin fuel-tank farm under way and Warning of defence shipbuilding skills shortage amid uncertainty over local submarine build (Editor – much more to navies than just ships at sea)
‘Straw Owner’ Hides $1 Billion Worth of Russian Yachts
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EUROPE
Ukraine:
Russia poised to take control of Mariupol as Ukraine surrenders steel plant and What Does Russia’s “Capture” of Mariupol Mean for the War in Ukraine? (Editor – useful explanation in a 10:51 min video)
RUSI: Operation Z The Death Throes of an Imperial Delusion (Editor – a long paper but worth a read)
Just beyond Ukraine’s battlefields, NATO’s elite forces prepare for what could come next
Russian Sub Fired Missiles at Lviv Training Center, Ukraine Says
Russian Hypersonic Missiles Underperforming in Ukraine Conflict, NORTHCOM Says and Russian Navy ready to launch 24 Kalibr cruise missiles on Ukraine from Black Sea
The Russian Grab | Peter Zeihan (Editor – 5 years ago yet a timely 3:34 min video)
Russia Denies Ukraine Forces Damaged Navy Ship In Black Sea and Despite Ukrainian Claims, Russian Navy Support Ship Appears Unharmed
Snake Island becomes focal point in Black Sea between Russia and Ukraine | DW News (Editor – 5:56 min video)
Ukraine Asks Turkey to Ban Stolen Grain Cargoes From the Bosporus
Despite Ukrainian Claims, Russian Navy Support Ship Appears Unharmed
Europe:
NATO Begins Vigilance Activity NEPTUNE SHIELD 22
Swedish Officials Ask Pentagon to Increase U.S. Naval Presence in Baltic Sea
CIMSEC: Sea Control 345 – reconsidering Russian maritime warfare with Dr. Michael Petersen (Editor – 36:19 min podcast)
Harry S. Truman Strike Group Back Under NATO Command for Neptune Shield Drills
Ukraine War Spreads to Turkey – The Sea Mine Threat
In focus: the Bofors 57mm Mk 3 gun that will equip the Type 31 frigates
USS Hershel “Woody” Williams BLUE MILCREW Begins Deployment
Greece Emerging as Hub for Russian Ship-to-Ship Fuel Oil Transfers and
More Russian Oil Heading East Squeezes Iranian Crude Sales to China
Biggest construction sites in Arctic Russia could turn into ghost towns
Russia Seeks to Keep Water Transit Between Caspian and Azov Seas Open Year Round
Romanian Port Races Against Clock to Move Ukrainian Grain
Protesters Block Tanker with Russian Cargo from Entering UK Port
United Heavy Lift Orders Two More Eco-Lifter Newbuildings
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MIDDLE EAST
U.S. Navy in middle east seizes $39 million in drugs
Iran’s IRGC Turns a Panamax Boxship Into a Warship
Historic unmanned robot boat drop-off as Navy resupplies on Gulf operations
Fincantieri Lays Keel Of Qatar’s Air Defense LPD (Editor – this is different)
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GLOBAL INTERESTS
Flotilla of Tankers Takes Russian Oil Through Suez Canal to Asia
ILO Adopts New Minimum Wage for Seafarers
Today Marks the First International Day for Women in Maritime
Nigerian Navy makes giant strides in Gulf of Guinea operations
Navy adds first MMIPV to fleet inventory on Wednesday (Editor – Multi-Mission Inshore Patrol Vessels)
Proposed Ship Would Create Hydrogen Fuel by Collecting Ocean Plastics
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SCUTTLEBUTT
“Pirate of the Adriatic” wreaked havoc during Second World War
Swordfish crews recall their torpedo attacks on Bismarck (Editor – amazing details of such brave aviators making an attack in a 33:57 min video)
German G7e torpedo with FAT (Federapparat), 1943 (Editor – 12:24 min animated video) and Close look inside a G7e Torpedo configured for training by WWII U-Boat Submarines (Editor – 4:59 min video of museum displayed torpedo)
RNTF 21 inch Mark 2 torpedo, 1915 (Editor – 11:14 min animated video)
The Lusitania Disaster: Part 1 – An Introduction to the Eyewitness Accounts
The Lusitania Disaster: Part 2 – The Eyewitness Accounts
The Lusitania Disaster: Part 3 The Ship and the Sinking
The Lusitania Disaster: Part 4 The Exhibition (Editor – total of 1:45 Hr of podcasts)
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THIS WEEK IN RCN/MARITIME HISTORY
20 May 1941 – The freighter SS Rothermere (Anglo- Newfoundland Steam Ship Co., St. John’s) was manned by a British crew (including Royal Navy and Royal Artillery DEMS gunners). The ship’s wartime home port had become Botwood, further up the coast from St. John’s. The small town had become a strategic RCAF maritime air base and a major deep-water port for shipping iron ore, paper products and other war materials to the United Kingdom. The air base was also situated on the great circle route between London and New York. The ship departed Botwood on 3 May 1941, on her 9th wartime crossing with a cargo of steel, newsprint, and paper pulp. She joined convoy HX-126 in Halifax. The convoy of 33 merchant ships departed Halifax on 10 May eastbound for Liverpool. The sole mid-ocean escort was the armed merchant cruiser HMS Artifex (formerly the Cunard passenger liner RMS Aurania). The convoy was being stalked by a wolfpack of six submarines (U-94 Herbert Kuppisch, U-556 Herbert Wohlfarth, U-98 Robert Gysae, U-109 Hans-Georg Fischer, U-93 Claus Korth, and U-111 Wilhelm Klenschmidt). The single escort was overwhelmed by the attacks which commenced on 20 May. Seven merchant ships (including the Rothermere by U-98) were sunk on 20 May about 140 nautical miles SE of Greenland. Another two ships were sunk before the Royal Navy 12th Escort Group arrived on the 22nd to engage the enemy submarines. The Rothermere 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 were landed at Reykjavik.
21 May 1917 The Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) is established by Royal Charter.
21 May 1939 King George VI unveils the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
21 May 1942 – The Great Lakes freighter SS Torondoc (Paterson Steamships Ltd., Fort William, Ontario) was pressed into wartime service in September 1941. A month later she arrived in Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana. She would be steaming independently, and her cargo would become bauxite needed by North American aluminum smelters. In February 1942, one load of Demerara bauxite was delivered directly to an Alcoa smelter in Mobile Alabama. However, all other deliveries were to either Port of Spain, Trinidad or to St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, for onward shipping to aluminum smelters. After that 6th delivery, the Torondoc departed St. Thomas on 18 May 1942 southbound for Demerara via Trinidad. On 21 May at 07:53, the ship was steaming southward when she was torpedoed by U-69 (Ulrich Graf). The ship sank about 245 nm north of Trinidad and 60 nm west of Martinique. The Germans questioned the survivors on four lifeboats and two rafts, but the master and 21 crew members were never seen again.
21 May 1942 – SS Troisdoc had no casualties after being torpedoed by U-558 fired while unescorted and unarmed. The submarine heard a hit but no explosion, so it surfaced and shelled the ship that sank by the bow about 55 miles west of Jamaica.
22 May 1931 HMCS SAGUENAY is commissioned at Portsmouth – one of the first ships built for the RCN.
22 May 1942 – SS Frank B. Baird had no casualties after being sunk by the gunfire of U-158 near Bermuda.
24 May 1941 HMS Hood is sunk by the Bismarck in the Denmark Straits: three Canadian Midshipmen Christopher Norman (Victoria BC), Francis Jones (Revelstoke BC), Thomas Beard (Victoria BC), serving in the battle cruiser are killed. All three midshipman were sons of RCN and Canadian Army officers)
24 May 1963 Sea King helicopters enter service with the RCN.
25 May 1941 The first seven corvettes for the Newfoundland Escort Force arrive in St. John’s.
25 May 1941 – MV Canadolite had no casualties during her capture by the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran; she was sent with a prize crew to Bordeaux. Converted into blockade runner Sudetenland, she was bombed and sunk by RAF aircraft at Brest.
25 May 1945 HMCS Ontario was a Minotaur-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy as HMS Minotaur. She was laid down on 20 November 1941 by Harland & Wolff of Belfast and launched on 29 July 1943. She was transferred to the RCN in July 1944 and completed and commissioned as HMCS Ontario, 25 May 1945.
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)
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