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CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE / COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES CSC 28 / CCEM 28 MASTER OF DEFENCE STUDIES (MDS) THESIS THE CORVETTE - A SHIP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CANADIAN NAVY LA CORVETTE - UN NAVIRE POUR LA MARINE CANADIENNE DU 21E SIÈCLE By/par LCdr/capc Pierre Bédard This paper was written by a student attending La présente étude a été rédigée par un stagiaire the Canadian Forces College in fulfilment of one du Collège des Forces canadiennes pour of the requirements of the Course of Studies. satisfaire à l'une des exigences du cours. The paper is a scholastic document, and thus L'étude est un document qui se rapporte au contains facts and opinions, which the author cours et contient donc des faits et des opinions alone considered appropriate and correct for que seul l'auteur considère appropriés et the subject. It does not necessarily reflect the convenables au sujet. Elle ne reflète pas policy or the opinion of any agency, including nécessairement la politique ou l'opinion d'un the Government of Canada and the Canadian organisme quelconque, y compris le Department of National Defence. This paper gouvernement du Canada et le ministère de la may not be released, quoted or copied except Défense nationale du Canada. Il est défendu de with the express permission of the Canadian diffuser, de citer ou de reproduire cette étude Department of National Defence. sans la permission expresse du ministère de la Défense nationale. ABSTRACT This paper examines the capabilities of modern La présente étude examine les capacités des corvettes, the functions and roles of navies, the corvettes modernes, les fonctions et les rôles de post Cold-War security environment, and the la marine, l'environnement de sécurité de renewed focus on littoral operations. The heavy l’après-guerre froide et le renouvellement des operational tempo under which the Canadian intérêts pour les opérations dans les littorales. Navy has operated in recent years has La lourde charge opérationnelle sous laquelle la highlighted the fact that it is difficult to sustain marine canadienne a fonctionné ces dernières two tasks groups made up of up to four “large” années ont mis en évidence le fait qu'il soit warships. In addition, it has been demonstrated difficile de supporter deux groupes that at least 24 warships are required to provide opérationnels composés de jusqu'à quatre appropriate coverage in our area of "grands" vaisseaux de guerre. De plus, il a été responsibility; the Canadian Navy has 16 démontré qu'au moins 24 vaisseaux de guerre destroyers and frigates. In order to address the sont requis pour fournir une protection shortfall in the number of platforms and the appropriée dans notre secteur de responsabilité; need to be able to sustain combat capable naval la marine canadienne n’a que 16 destroyers et forces, this paper recommends that corvettes be frégates. Pour adresser le déficit dans le reintroduced in the Canadian Navy’s warship nombre de plate-forme et le besoin d'être fleet mix. capable de supporter des forces navales aptes au combat, la présente étude recommande que les corvettes soit réintroduites dans le mélange de la flotte de la marine canadienne. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... ii INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1 The Situation of the Canadian Navy Today................................................................................ 5 The Corvette – A Ship for the 21st Century Canadian Navy ...................................................... 8 CORVETTES...........................................................................................................12 Origin, the Early Years of the Corvettes................................................................................... 12 World War II and the Canadian Corvettes................................................................................ 14 Modern Corvettes...................................................................................................................... 18 NAVIES ...................................................................................................................27 Functions and Roles of Navies ................................................................................................. 27 Type of Navy ............................................................................................................................ 30 Classes of Ships ........................................................................................................................ 32 New Era, the Post-Cold War Security Environment ................................................................ 37 The Littoral ............................................................................................................................... 42 THE CANADIAN CONTEXT................................................................................45 Roles of the Canadian Navy ..................................................................................................... 45 The Canadian Navy Fleet.......................................................................................................... 47 Options for the 21st Century Fleet Mix..................................................................................... 49 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................52 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................55 ii THE CORVETTE – A SHIP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CANADIAN NAVY “But this much is certain; that he that commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will.” Francis Bacon1 INTRODUCTION In the September 10, 2001 edition of Maclean’s newsmagazine, Julian Beltrame reviews the politics behind the acquisition of new helicopters for the Canadian Navy. For his article, he interviewed the Minister of National Defence. The minister explained that the East-West confrontation is behind us, and states that the Canadian Forces must look to the future, and be prepared to face new security threats. For the navy this means a new focus on asymmetric threats and littoral operations. “The Cold War is over, [Minister of Defence] Eggleton told Maclean’s. Before, we felt we had to protect ourselves against open-water submarine warfare right into the deepest parts of the ocean. Now, we’re operating mainly within 200 or 300 miles of the coast.”2 The attacks on the World Trade centre and the Pentagon on September 11th are a clear indication that the world we live in is not as safe as we thought it was. North America is not isolated from international terrorists and other security threats. In order to properly defend Canadians against current and future security threats, the navy must be able to sustain combat capable forces, which can be called to perform a wide range of tasks both at home and abroad. From a maritime perspective, as pointed out by the Minister, “In the absence of any major conventional military threat to North America, the primary sovereignty-related function of 1 James L. George, History of Warships, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1998, 282. 2 Julian Beltrame, The Chopper War, Maclean’s, Toronto, Canada, 10 September 2001, 25. 1 Canada's naval forces will continue to be patrols of our vast maritime approaches.”3 The vision of future maritime security operations, shared by many Western nations, is that most future operations will take place in the littoral. In the future, it is expected that most maritime nations will have a greater need to protect their maritime sovereignty and resources. Western nations also expect that most future naval international operations will be conducted in littoral waters against small or medium naval power. In the Canadian context the protection of our littoral waters is a shared responsibility. A number of federal, provincial, and municipal police forces and agencies contribute to the protection of our maritime sovereignty and resources. With our large continental shelf the requirement for the protection of our resources move far out to sea, into our large economic exclusion zone (EEZ) and beyond. More and more, the policing role at sea is increasing in intensity. The “Turbot Crisis” in 1995 is an example of a situation, which required