Here is a ‘brain teaser’ to wrestle with over the Holidays! A recent article in the U.S. press described three different theoretical future fleet plans for the USN. One fleet was designed for major naval warfare against a peer competitor; one was principally designed for inshore constabulary work and humanitarian […]
Yearly archives: 2007
This is a very good debate, and I also believe it is long overdue. I am a naval reservist on a “Class A” contract, serving as a military occupation advisor for naval engineers. A few quick thoughts come to mind: - To me, a redefinition of the naval reserves within […]
The Canadian Forces took delivery of the first CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft in May 1980; the 18th and last CP-140 was delivered in August 1981. The original requirement for 24 aircraft was unilaterally reduced by the Trudeau government without a commensurate reduction in tasks to be performed. Consequently, the […]
I agree with my former colleague Ken Hansen that Canada has made a mistake in moving to a fully joint programme with the Command and Staff Course at the Canadian Forces College. I arrived at the college in 2001 as a sceptic but rapidly became convinced of the need to […]
On reading reports and scanning the video of the recent U.S. Navy - Iranian Revolutionary Guard incident in the Straits of Hormuz I was struck by how restrained the American forces were and how rash the Iranian. The Revolutionary Guards broadcast their hostile intent on the radio, manoeuvered to deploy […]
I would like to bring two important news items to the attention of our readers. First, a CBC report indicates that the Canadian government’s self-imposed deadline on a decision to replace the CP-140 Aurora aircraft has now been delayed from 20 November to 18 December, which is four days after […]
A recent report in the U.K. press describes the return of RN warships to the northern Arabian Gulf following the capture of 15 British sailors and marines in a ‘swarming’ attack by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval forces on 23 March. This time, boats from HMS Richmond F-239 (a 436-foot […]
I am the Standards Chief Petty Officer for marine propulsion systems at the Canadian Forces Fleet School in Esquimalt. I find the points made by the contributors to this topic are interesting but they require additional input about the technical issues. Commodore Gagliardi states that the status quo is not […]
This debate is a pleasure to read, but also somewhat frustrating. In speaking of “relevant” operational tasks, it seems to me that Eric Lerhe misses the whole point of the part-time naval reservists. When Capt. Walter Hose founded the naval reserve (NAVRES) in the 1920s, it was highly unlikely he […]
It seems to me that Airedale is expressing frustration at the lack of a comprehensive explanation by the navy about how the future fleet plans make it any better able to meet the new security demands than it is currently capable of doing. That there is a continuity in Canadian […]