The announcement on 19 September to cut four ships from the Canadian naval fleet, the destroyers Iroquois and Algonquin and the replenishment ships Protecteur and Preserver, was done quite typically, on a Friday afternoon. The news release was phrased optimistically as “[a] transition to the future fleet.” The problem is […]
Canadian Naval History
I am writing to express my concerns regarding the names announced recently for the RCN’s two future Joint Support Ships, Chateauguay and Queenston. A recent press release stated: “The names (of these two vessels) recognize the achievements and sacrifices of those early Canadian soldiers who fought and died in these […]
Canada will be recapitalizing much of the naval and coast guard surface fleets under its National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). Much of this promised $38 billion is earmarked for 15 Canadian Surface Combatants (CSCs). These ships are expected to be the new workhorse of the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN), designed […]
Fraser McKee rightly takes me to task for not crediting the sinking of the Italian Marcello-class submarine, R.Smg. Commandante Faá di Bruno, Cdr. Aldo Enrici, CO, by HMCS Ottawa, Cdr. Edmond 'Rollo' Mainguy, CO, and HMS HARVESTER (H19), (ex-Brazilian JURUA), on 6 Nov 1940. I admit that I deliberately did not […]
Far be it from me to correct my betters in historical research, but I tend to note items in research papers and commentary that are in error. In your entirely correct article on the Byers and Webb article on the submarine problems (Having, even as a naval reservist, served in two submarines, […]
Readers of this forum will know my critical position on the report “That Sinking Feeling” by Prof. Michael Byers and Mr. Stewart Webb. After serving as the lead writer for the MSPP Research Team report, published in this forum on 15 June, I wrote a fuller analysis of the Byers-Webb […]
After my recent posts describing the SC and HX eastbound convoy systems, I received an email that said, in effect, “What was the big deal about loosing one ship out a 50-ship convoy? With an average loss rate of between 0.6% (for HX convoys) and 2.1% (for SC convoys), surely […]
After my post describing the ‘slow’ SC convoys, I received many requests for information about the other series of east-bound convoys, the ‘fast’ HX series, which many Canadian warships escorted during the Second World War in the Atlantic. Here is some analysis about them. The first convoy, HX-1, was a […]
Using the term ‘Battle’ for the protracted struggle in the Atlantic during the Second World War diminishes the importance of this important series of campaigns that spanned the entire war. I prefer to call is The Atlantic War, as a counter to the often used term The Pacific War. As […]
Tim Dunne’s article on the Victoria-class submarines entitled "Journalists sub-par on sub debate" challenged journalists to get the facts straight on the Canada’s submarines. It is worthwhile advice for anyone thinking of engaging in this discussion. The current debate identifies the submarines as ‘used’, but little information was offered about […]