CCrroowwssnneesstt Vol. 3, No. 3 Fall 2009 Chief of the Maritime Staff HMCS Ville de Québec alongside in downtown Toronto during the 2009 Great Lakes Deployment. Reaching into the For more photos and the story, see page 4. HEART of Canada Photo: Pte Dan Bard INSIDE The navy in the The Naval North: Operation Reserve: THIS NANOOK a familiar face ISSUE PAGE 6 PAGE 8 www.navy.forces.gc.ca HMCS Calgary sets sail for Central and South America Ship to participate in PANAMAX and multinational drug interdiction operations MCS Calgary set sail Aug. 17 for a three- month deployment to Central and South H America. An important stop in September will be Panama, where the ship will join other navies for PANAMAX 2009, a joint multinational exercise which runs from Sept. 13-21. PANAMAX is designed to strengthen the naval inter- operability of nations that have security interests in the Panama Canal. The annual exercise is co-sponsored by U.S. Southern Command and the Government of Panama. Crisis response scenarios will test the Acting Sub-Lieutenant Mark Fifield Photo: alliance’s ability to counter maritime-based threats to HMCS Calgary prepares to pass under the Bridge of the the Panama Canal, an invaluable international trade Americas, which spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. route. Exercise participants from 16 countries will be deployed on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama and will practice a range of joint coalition activities including command and control, surveillance and monitoring, and naval boarding operations. The deployment will also see Calgary participating in multinational drug surveillance and interdiction opera- tions led by U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S). With assistance from international partners including Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain and France, JIATF-S has stopped more than 200 metric tonnes of cocaine from entering North America since 2007. “The deployment of HMCS Calgary is a reflection of the Government of Canada’s commitment to stability and prosperity in Central and South America,” said Commodore Ron Lloyd, Commander Canadian Fleet Pacific. “Canada’s continuing involvement in exercise PANAMAX improves cooperation and interoperability between the Canadian Forces and our international partners.” Photo: Acting Sub-Lieutenant Mark Fifield Photo: In October, Calgary will conduct diplomatic visits at a Sub-Lieutenant Nicola Stankov, a bridge watch-keeper aboard number of ports in Peru, Chile and Mexico before HMCS Calgary, scans the horizon. returning to Esquimalt in November. Senior Advisor Crowsnest is published quarterly on the authority of the Commander Denise LaViolette Chief of the Maritime Staff, Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden. Director, Navy Public Affairs Comments are welcome and can be sent to: Directorate of Navy Public Affairs Senior Editor and Writer National Defence Headquarters Darlene Blakeley 10ST, 101 Colonel By Dr., K1A 0K2 Directorate of Navy Public Affairs or [email protected] For the PDF version of this publication and for more information about the Canadian Navy, visit www.navy.forces.gc.ca. Banner photo, page 1: HMCS Toronto departs St. John’s Harbour en route to Operation NANOOK in Canada’s North. Photo by Cpl Dany Veillette All articles written by Darlene Blakeley, except where otherwise noted. 2 www.navy.forces.gc.ca Home sweet home! HMCS Winnipeg returns from overseas deployment Photo: Cpl Alex Croskery Photo: Cpl t’s a scene played over and over again in the humanitarian assistance to Somalia in support of the navy, but it never gets old. Crowds of family and United Nations’ World Food Programme. I friends, who haven’t seen loved ones for months “The NATO operation Winnipeg contributed to is an on end, line the jetty to welcome sailors home. A carni- excellent example of the Canadian Navy deploying val atmosphere of expectation fills the air as music around the world to defend and advance Canada’s plays and those waiting strain to see the first glimpse of interests in a manner that should make every Canadian a warship home from a demanding overseas deploy- proud,” said Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden, Chief of the ment. Maritime Staff. “The men and women returning home As the ship finally approaches, “Welcome home” from this deployment are a priceless asset and they too signs and banners are waved in the air, children should be proud of the way they represented Canada screech when they catch sight of a parent on the deck abroad.” of the ship, and kisses are blown into the tangy salt air. In recognition of the ship’s company’s accomplish- As the lines are secured and sailors begin to cross the ments, Winnipeg was awarded the Canadian Forces gangway onto home soil, the two groups – those arriv- Unit Commendation by Chief of the Defence Staff, ing and those waiting – merge into one giant group General Walt Natynczyk. Nine servicemen were hug. individually recognized for their conspicuous perform- And so went the arrival of HMCS Winnipeg, returning ance. As a result, five pirate ships were disarmed, to her home port of Esquimalt, B.C., on Aug. 21, follow- disrupting the capacity of 25 pirates in three separate ing more than six months at sea. After leaving in incidents. February, the ship spent two months as part of a NATO “I am extremely impressed with the manner in which squadron fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden and took Winnipeg worked with warships from other NATO coun- part in two major international military exercises. tries to contribute to counter-piracy operations,” said Through April and May, the crew took part in the Rear-Admiral Tyrone Pile, Commander of Maritime NATO-led counter-piracy mission Operation Allied Forces Pacific. “On this deployment, not only did she Protector. Winnipeg, along with warships from the reach deep into the Indo-Pacific, but she also built upon United States, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, Canada’s strong relationships with countries in the interdicted pirates operating in international waters off Asia-Pacific region as well.” the Horn of Africa. In addition to maintaining a patrol Over the course of her deployment, Winnipeg sailed presence with other coalition ships, Winnipeg escorted more than 90,000 km and had stops in Japan, South numerous merchant vessels and ensured the Korea, Pakistan, as well as various ports in Africa and safe delivery of over 5,000 tonnes of life-saving Australia. www.navy.forces.gc.ca 3 HMCS Ville de Québec passes by Percé Rock on its way to Gaspé, Québec, the first port of call of the 2009 Great Lakes Deployment. VViillllee ddee QQuuéébbeecc aanndd tthhee 22000099 GGrreeaatt LLaakkeess DDeeppllooyymmeenntt By Lieutenant (Navy) Al Blondin navy to the heart of Canada.” From Aug. 26 to Oct. 9, the frigate HMCS Ville de hat is that uniform you’re wearing?” asks Québec will sail through the St. Lawrence Seaway to someone standing next to a Canadian the Great Lakes to allow citizens from these regions to “W sailor during a visit to one of central visit the warship and to meet sailors. The ports of call Canada’s urban centres. for this journey include Gaspé, Toronto, Sarnia, This is a scenario too often reported by members of Windsor, Oshawa, Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Québec Canada’s navy. Canadian warships and sailors are a City, La Malbaie, Saguenay and Matane. Since Ville de familiar sight to citizens of Victoria, Vancouver, Halifax Québec is the only French language ship in the and St. John’s, but remain a rare sight in the high den- Canadian Navy, this year’s deployment includes seven sity population centres along the St. Lawrence Seaway ports in the province of Québec. and Canada’s Golden Horseshoe region. The other major issue that the Great Lakes Although Canada boasts the world’s longest coastline Deployment (GLD) is addressing is the significant short- according to the 2006 Census, 75 per cent of the popu- age of technicians the navy is currently facing. During lation, or roughly 25 million out of some 32 million the GLD, Ville de Québec serves as a dynamic floating Canadians, live in areas that are over 1,000 km from navy recruiting centre. The ship’s helicopter hangar Halifax, Victoria or Nanisivik (the navy’s new deep contains a series of multi-media recruiting displays and water port in Arctic Bay, near the Northwest Passage). a team from Canadian Forces Recruiting Group This population distribution means that many Canadians have little awareness of the impor- tance of their maritime environment and the role the navy plays in their daily lives. “Canada is a maritime country but, because of our geography, many Canadians are unfamiliar with the maritime environment and their mar- itime forces,” says Rear-Admiral Paul Maddison, Commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic and Joint Task Force Atlantic. “It is important that Canadians know their navy and what it does for them. Since it’s not practical for us to bring cen- tral Canada to the navy, we are bringing the HMCS Ville de Québec’s Commanding Officer, Cdr Luc Cassivi, greets visitors to the ship in Gaspé, including an actor dressed as Jacques Cartier, right. Photos: Pte Dan Bard 4 www.navy.forces.gc.ca (CFRG) is accompanying the ship for the whole trip. “During Ville de Québec’s Great Lakes Deployment we plan on taking advantage of every opportunity to inform Canadians about the professional and secure jobs we currently have available,” says Commodore Dan MacKeigan, Commander of CFRG. “Our recruiters will be on hand so that potential candidates who express a desire to serve their country at sea will receive the best possible information. People applying for our top technical trades will receive priority processing.” Much of the recruiting effort during the GLD will be centred on promoting the Non-Commissioned Member Subsidized Education Plan (NCM-SEP) for naval tech- nicians.