By Moderator, 11 September 2024
It’s easy to get discouraged about the RCN. There are continuing personnel shortages, it takes forever to get new ships, and meanwhile the existing ships get older and older. But if that’s a glass half-empty view, there’s also the glass half-full view. If you read the latest edition of “Our Navy Today,” you’ll see that, despite our gloom and doom, RCN ships have been very active lately. In case you didn’t know, here’s what RCN ships have been doing recently.
HMCS Vancouver, HMCS Max Bernays and MV Asterix all participated in RIMPAC 2024. At RIMPAC, Vancouver participated in a surface-to-air missile-firing exercise, using an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, to shoot down a US Navy drone missile. At RIMPAC, Max Bernays embarked an allied helicopter, certifying this crucial capability. Its participation was briefly interrupted by mechanical issues, but the ship was able to rejoin the exercise. Also at RIMPAC, MV Asterix set new records with 34 replenishments at sea, and hosted joint drills with US and South Korean Special Forces.
Meanwhile, HMCS Charlottetown took over as the flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) in July and continues duties as part of Operation Reassurance. HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Glace Bay departed in mid-July for a four-month deployment in the Baltic Sea as part of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 under Operation Reassurance. Aside from surveillance, monitoring and diplomatic engagement, the ships will participate in NATO exercises alongside NATO allies, in particular focusing on ordnance disposal operations in the Baltic and North Seas.
The list goes on. On 12 August HMCS Margaret Brooke departed Halifax to join HMCS Harry DeWolf on Operation Nanook in the North. They are collaborating with the United States and Denmark, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Rangers. (As an aside, while in the area, Harry DeWolf was dispatched to assist a ship in distress, rescuing the passengers and crew, and escorting the disabled vessel back to Arctic Bay, Nunavut.)
There’s more. After an 11-week deployment on Operation Caribbe, HMCS Summerside returned home in mid-July. And on 12 August HMCS Edmonton and Yellowknife departed from Esquimalt for a seven-week deployment on Operation Caribbe in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The ships will work alongside the US Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team to conduct boarding and maritime interdiction operations to track and intercept vessels carrying illicit drugs and goods.
And more. HMCS Montréal sailed in April for a six-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as part of Operation Horizon. After RIMPAC, HMCS Vancouver headed to the Indo-Pacific to join in Operation Horizon.
Just for today, let’s picture the RCN cup as half-full.
One thought on “RCN Ships on a Roll”
Hello,
I suppose Canadians are glad to see that the Navy and its vessels are doing their jobs.
I note the recent announcement of new submarine procurement (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/first-submarine-in-new-canadian-fleet-wont-be-operational-until-2037-navy-confirms, https://www.defensenews.com/global/the-americas/2024/09/19/canada-kicks-off-submarine-tender-after-survey-of-global-vendors/), and I wonder again at the boom/bust cycles of procurement.
Simplistic for a civilian, but this all looks like a straightforward table of equipment and Gantt chart. The armed forces, CAF, RCN, RCAF, have some defined requirements and equipment list to do their jobs effectively. With a simple excel sheet, I can map out the equipment and personnel lists needed over the next 20, 30, 50 years. I can build in personnel attrition and renewal, I can build in asset lifecycle, identify on a yearly basis when equipment comes up for replacement, and thereby when the replacement planning must kick-in. I assume DND does the same and that the Minister of National Defense has a similar spreadsheet at any moment, with full understanding of when things must happen to maintain the defined job effectiveness, or at least point out how required capabilities are degraded, and impacts, etc. Simple conditional loops, if this, then that.
So why does procurement always seem to be such a surprise and crisis? Is it just a question of poor perception brought on by excitable media? Does the Minister of National Defense not have the power to keep the political class in line such that equipment is procured on time, regardless of the state of the political pendulum?
I can only assume that the Minister, and all our defense branches, know very well what and when must happen. If so, I would like to seem them ring alarm bells loudly, not just when an arbitrary spending target is not reached, but when the country is unable to provide the personnel and equipment required for effective defense.
Regards