VDQ

What does the navy do?

What does a navy do during peace time? Good question. The work that the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) does illustrates the classic roles of a navy - i.e., undertaking constabulary, diplomatic and warfighting roles, the three elements of Booth’s Triangle. In defence and promotion of Canada’s national interests, the RCN deploys around the world on diverse missions. Despite the fact that there is no state-on-state war right now - and we hope that there won’t be one - navies must continue to train in case there is a war, and in peace time they provide a means of ensuring order at sea and maintaining alliances/undertaking goodwill missions.

While COVID-19 has meant the reduction or cancellation of some of the navy’s exercises and operations, it has been extremely active over the past few years, and will be again. There is a Naval Association of Canada Briefing Note that offers a snapshot of some of the RCN’s major exercises and operations in 2019. This provides a glimpse of the kinds of missions the Canadian navy undertakes and the demanding deployment schedule of the fleet.

See “What Does the RCN Do?” at https://www.navalassoc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/BN4-whatrcndoes-sept2021.pdf

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