By Dr. Ann Griffiths, 22 January 2023
Another issue of Canadian Naval Review is almost ready to print. The winter issue won’t make winter weather go away, but it will give you something interesting to read on snow days.
The issue begins with an Editorial entitled “Preparing for the Future” by editor Ann Griffiths. In the editorial, Griffiths asks if the RCN is prepared for the future of conflict at sea. Our first article is the winner of the 2022 Canadian Naval Maritime Trust essay contest, hosted every year by CNR. The was won by Jacob Benjamin with “Making the Case for the Sōryū-class as a Canadian Procurement Option.” The second article in this issue is entitled “NORPLOY ’74: A Case Study in Northern Operations.” In this article authors Cate Belbin and Adam Lajeunesse look at the NORPLOY Exercise in 1974 to see what’s changed/not changed since then and what the RCN has learned about operations in the North. The third piece in this issue is an interview with CPO1 Alena Mondelli. In this interview we learn about education and training of Non-Commissioned Members in the RCN, as well as other interesting considerations that relate to the NCM team.
We also include some very interesting commentaries in this issue -- Making Waves is particularly feisty. We have several commentaries about Canada’s glacial procurement process, and one about how to achieve a more affordable and balanced RCN fleet. We include a quick look at the Auditor General’s 2022 report “Arctic Waters Surveillance,” and a discussion of the implications for Canadian security of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. We also have a brief examination of Canada’s new Indo-Pacific strategy. And Dave Perry unravels the tangled knot of NORAD modernization funding. This is just a taste of the material in the winter issue.
And, of course, there are the amazing photos! All of this is coming soon. See the Table of Contents below. And stay tuned for the issue to appear!
Table of Contents
Vol. 18, No. 3 (2023)
Editorial: Preparing for the Future
Ann Griffiths
Winner of the 2022 CNMT Essay Competition
Making the Case for the Sōryū-class as a Canadian Procurement Option
Jacob Benjamin
NORPLOY ’74: A Case Study in Northern Operations
Cate Belbin and Adam Lajeunesse
Non-Commissioned Members and the RCN
Interview with CPO1 Alena Mondelli
Making Waves
Addressing the Naval Procurement Problem
Hugh Segal
Achieving a More Balanced and Affordable Fleet
Roger Cyr
Moving Canadian Defence Procurement to a ‘Wartime Footing’?
Dan Middlemiss
Arctic Waters Surveillance: Auditor General Report 2022
Bill E. Featherstone
In Praise of the LSI(A)
Major (Ret’d) Les Mader
Putin’s War: Implications for Canadian Security
Peter T. Haydon
Response to “Reserve Military Forces Should be Under Provincial Jurisdiction”
Colonel (Ret’d) Brian K. Wentzell
A View from the West: Canada’s Future in the Indo-Pacific Region
Jocelyn Sandhu
Dollars and Sense: NORAD Modernization: Trudeau’s Defence Policy, Part 2
Dave Perry
Warship Developments: Aircraft Carrier News
Doug Thomas
Book Reviews
2 thoughts on “Preview: Canadian Naval Review Vol. 18 No. 3”
With respect to Jacob Benjamin here, he does write a great article and in principle I do agree to some of his points, however, he pushes a little too hard on the Soryu class. Yes they are fantastic submarines and yes they are very capable operationally and are capable of long endurance being specifically designed for trans Pacific operations. However there are many other factors at play that he hasn’t touched on in his article. I am also curious as to how he came by figures of maximum diving depth, speed and range. Japan (and others) have always been tight on keeping those figures a secret and from what I have seen there maybe some error in this statement.
The biggest flaws in the Soryu or even Japan acquisition that I can see is that Japanese submarines rarely make a life span of 30 years. In fact most boats retire under the age of 25 years, Canada would not want to be re-doing this whole process again in 25 years time. They are going to be looking for a platform with a 30+ year life span minimum.
Soryu production has also ended and you’re unlikely to get that restarted as the Taigei class now have come into production. But even so these boats again I’m very sure are good but they too likely wont meet Canadian requirements.
What are Canadian requirements? Simply put it must have range, capable of operating in the Arctic as per Naval strategy / doctrine, compatibility with our NATO Allies, and be cost effective. That’s just some in a nut shell, the Soryu is around $540 million USD per boat as of 2018 figures so well over $2bn USD not accounting for inflation. To give you a cost comparison Norway signed a contract in 2019 for four type 212CD submarines total cost $1.81bn USD.
Type 212A submarines have operated in the Northern regions where there is ice and also in the Baltic where you get first year ice (ice differs in different regions). With regards to endurance specifically submerged endurance a type 212A left port in Germany and transited fully submerged to Lisbon Portugal via Scotland a journey that took 3 weeks and if you calculate a direct run their average speed submerged was around 9 knots.
According to Benjamin’s article the Soryu can make 6,100nm at 6,5 knots, this is under perfect conditions.
The problem with some Soryu is during the transit it would have to snort reducing their transit speed and making them vulnerable to detection, the AIP versions would also have to at some point vent out.
What that means is under ice capability is severely impacted meaning unlikely they could be used in the Arctic region at all. The 212A has already proven it can operate in ice covered regions, and remain submerged totally independent for at least 3 weeks gives you the confidence to take the platform under the ice.
The proposed type 212CD is much larger with much more fuel reserves therefore it’s not too farfetched to state it will have more range. It is also a design our NATO partners will be using with Norway and Germany already confirmed orders, we also have the Dutch and Italians looking at the boats and others are interested in derivatives including India.
While Soryu did garner a lot of interest early on nearly all of it has now cooled off. India and Australia are no longer pursuing acquisition, Morocco is looking more towards France & Spain the Netherlands is more favoring the type 212CD indeed as of 2022 the Soryu was not even in consideration. This leaves only Taiwan as a potential export opportunity.
That means the offering of the Soryu or the Taigei will be limited if at all. I would take a hunch and say Taiwan may acquire a few Soryu class boats when they reach their paying off date as second hand.
In terms of building TKMS is building an entire new facility to handle additional orders to speed up production, ultimately if we placed an order today it’s not unreasonable that we would see a hull hit the water in around 2033/4 or possibly sooner! With Japan that time frame could be questionable as Japan will always put Japan first, export orders come after national ones so you could see a delay in acquisition here.
In brief the Soryu / Taigei will have some short comings. They are fantastic submarines in their environment and for what they are designed to do which is purely to transit the Pacific, this is the only prime concern of Japan. Canada however has to consider that we have three operational theatres and while the Soryu may excel in the Pacific it likely won’t do so well in the Arctic nor in the Atlantic.
Hello Blair. I believe you have missed the point of Jacob’s CNMT award winning article. He seems to have made a strong case for, if not the Soryu class, then perhaps the Taigei class or its follow on future submarine class as a solid replacement for Canada’s aging Victoria class SSK fleet. If you believe the German TKMS Type 212CD class would be a better option for Canada, perhaps you should write an essay for the 2023 CNMT competition to explain the reasons for your views. In my own opinion, I am torn between the Japanese LIB class and the German TKMS Type 216 class. The 212CD CLASS would also be a good option for Canada, but I personally would go with the Type 216 if it had an AIP component. Another future option would be a Canadian led Small Modular Reactors (SMR) Hybrid design with either AIP or LIB technologies. Just a thought. Cheers!