Starshell ‘A little light on what’s going on!’ Volume VII, No. 57 Winter 2011-2012 National Magazine of the Naval Officers Association of Canada Magazine nationale de l’association des officiers de la marine du Canada www.navalassoc.ca Starshell OUR COVER ISSN 1191-1166 The Naval Officers Association of Canada HMCS Vancouver marked the end of her Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR mis- Magazine nationale de l’association des officiers du Canada sion with Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 on 10 January 2012, by flying www.navalassoc.ca the ship’s battle ensign during her transit through the Strait of Gibraltar, thus leaving the operation area of the Mediterranean Sea. She is to conduct a PATRON • HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh five-week long transit back to Esquimalt, BC, and is expected home 15 Feb- HONORARY PRESIDENT • H. R. (Harry) Steele ruary. Corporal Brandon O’Connell, MARPAC Imaging Services, Esquimalt, NS – ET2011-6066-03 PRESIDENT | Ken Summers, [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT | Jim Carruthers, [email protected] PAST PRESIDENT | Jean-Claude Michaud, [email protected] IN THIS ISSUE TREASURER | Derek Greer, [email protected] 3 Canada’s Sovereignty Over our Northernmost Region (Essay) BOARD MEMBERS | Branch Presidents 4 Liverpool Ceremony Commemorate HMCS Athabaskan NAVAL AFFAIRS | Richard Archer, [email protected] 6 All Hands to Ottawa May 31 to June 3! HISTORY & HERITAGE | Dr. Alec Douglas, [email protected] 7 From the Bridge: NAC in 2012 HONORARY COUNSEL | Donald Grant, [email protected] 8 The Front Desk ARCHIVIST | Fred Herrndorf, [email protected] 8 NOAC Regalia AUSN LIAISON | Fred F. Abbott, [email protected] 9 Mail Call (Letters to the Editor) CHAIR ENDOWMENT FUND | Brooke Campbell, [email protected] 9 The Briefing Room (News) COORD. MEMBER SUPPORT | Denny Boyle, [email protected] 10 Schober’s Quiz #56 OBIT RESEARCH | Pat Barnhouse, [email protected] 12 Days of Endeavour (Skinny Hayes’ memoirs) Conclusion WEBMASTER | Robert (Bob) Bush, [email protected] 16 The Reading Room (Book Reviews) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STARSHELL EDITOR 19 Tribute to Cdr John Francis McGuire SEC’Y / COMMUNICATIONS George A. Moore 20 Tribute to LCdr Cliff Chaulk Kenneth B. Lait 1871 Primrose Crescent 20 Obituaries & In Memoriam 308 Kennedy Lane E Kamloops BC V1S 0A5 22 Fraser McKee’s ‘The Little Known Navy’ Orleans ON K1E 3M4 Telephone 250-314-1284 23 Obscure & Offbeat Naval Oddities Telephone 613-841-4358 Facsimile 250-314-1286 [email protected] [email protected] Starshell Magazine is published quarterly by The Naval Officers Association of Canada in February, May, August and November. The editor is solely respon- ADVERTISE IN STARSHELL sible for the selection of material. Contributions are encouraged and should be sent direct to the editor. 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Moore, President $15 in Canada, $20 elsewhere for each subscription to the Executive Director. 1871 Primrose Crescent, Kamloops, BC V1S 0A5 Phone 250-314-1284 | Fax 250-314-1286 | [email protected] 2 Starshell | Winter 2011-2012 NAVAL CENTENNIAL ESSAY CONTEST | 1ST PLACE WINNER, PROVINCE OF MANITOBA Canada’s Sovereignty Over our Northernmost Region By Mitchell Green Grade XII Vincent Massey High School, Brandon, Manitoba The following essay was judged the winning but any and all resources located in the wa- entry in the NOAC National Naval Centennial ters approximately 200 nautical miles from Essay Contest for the Province of Manitoba. land associated with the country. This rule Ed. not only extends to landmasses above the wa- ter, but masses of rock under the water. If a country like Canada can prove that the ridges he Arctic Circle, a vast area at the and rock in the Arctic Ocean are connected to ‘top of the world,’ designated by a their respective continental shelf, the amount thin border running 60° north of the of territory under their dominion could be in- equator. In this area the summers are creased greatly, perhaps up to and including Tshort, with a never ending daytime during the the North Pole itself. month of July. During the seemingly eternal If Canada is to declare and maintain sov- winter, it remains pitch black, devoid of sun- ereignty over the Arctic, the Canadian Navy light. The Arctic is home to many plants and must play a large part. Critics of Canada’s animals, containing 1,700 different species claim to the Arctic make the point that Cana- of shallow-rooted plants and all manner of Ocean shows it to be a much shorter trip da does little to patrol the waters of the north- caribou, lemmings and wolves. The climate than crossing the Atlantic. Shipping routes ern Arctic. Canada will have to beef up its is harsh; temperatures during the winter aver- from Europe to Asia lose 5,000 miles by this security of the north Arctic in order to pro- age a frigid, forbidding -35°C. While the Inuit method, forgoing a long trek that takes ships tect its territorial claim to that region. While have made the Arctic their ancestral home for through the Panama Canal in Central Ameri- the Arctic might be almost frozen during the ten millennia; for the rest of civilization it re- ca — halfway around the world. winter months, submarines can traverse the mains a desolate, uninhabited place. Why is The rich oil supplies of the Arctic have depths all year round, as such, a maintained it, then, that the Arctic has been heating up as tempted more than just Canada. Several coun- submarine patrol will be essential to maintain a topic of interest in the news more recently? tries, among them Russia, the United States, dominance over the Arctic. The answer doesn’t necessarily concern Norway and Denmark all have land within the Unfortunately, this is not the case. Canada just what lies above the Arctic, but also what Arctic Circle, and all have expressed interest currently [the essay contest was held in 2010, lies below. The Arctic may hold a “potentially in controlling the untapped petroleum there. Ed] has a single submarine in active duty, the vast resource of 400 billion barrels,” as much Russia in particular has begun early aggres- HMCS Corner Brook. Meanwhile, not only as 25% of the world’s oil reserves. Experts be- sion in regard to Arctic domination: in late do the United States and Russia have far more lieve that in as few as fifteen years, the earth 2007, Russian submarines planted a flag at the submarines, they have been patrolling the wa- will have warmed up to the point that the ma- very base of the North Pole, challenging Cana- ters near Baffin Island for years, greatly threat- jority of the ice flows of the northern Arctic da’s sovereignty of the Great White North. ening Canada’s territorial rights. Reports in- will be melted during the summer. As a result At the present, the Arctic Circle is consid- dicate that countries like the United States and of this melt, transportation through the Arc- ered an international zone; no one nation can Russia have not only been sending submarines tic by ship would not only be highly feasible, control it in its entirety. However, a simple on missions, but they have been doing so se- but it could make shipment of resources from rule could change the level of a nation’s in- cretly. Canada’s current lack of northern naval continent to continent far faster; comparing fluence on the waters of the Arctic; a nation strength is a fact with unfortunate implica- the distance required to traverse the Arctic controls not just the resources on its landmass, tions; as the ice floes thaw, we are increasingly Winter 2011-2012 | Starshell 3 vulnerable to attack from our ‘northern neigh- deep-water port in Nanivisik, bour,’ if ever it should decide to invade. Nunavut, will be used with the The Harper government is not unaware of training facility at Resolute to our lacking northern naval forces. In recent reinforce Canada’s claim to the years it has implemented a series of projects Arctic, particularly the highly in the Arctic designed to improve Canada’s disputed Northwest Passage.