At Sea with the Canadian Navy

 

            From 14 to 18 February 2005, the Canadian frigate HMCS Calgary participated in anti-submarine exercises with the US Navy.  The exercises were conducted off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.  As a member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) of Nova Scotia, I was fortunate enough to gain the rare opportunity to be aboard ship as an observer and get a taste of the Canadian navy in action.

The purpose of the exercise was to provide training to American submarine officers who were on a training course to learn how to be submarine captains.  These trainees had to take a submarine out to sea to search for “enemy” vessels.  HMCS Calgary, along with the American ship Port Royal, took on the role of that “enemy.”  The exercise was also beneficial to Calgary, as it enabled her crew to practice anti-submarine warfare.  These skills, just like the ability to play an instrument or operate a piece of equipment, grow rusty if they are not practiced.  This exercise gave Canadian sailors an opportunity to keep their abilities honed.

            It’s another world inside a ship on anti-submarine exercises.  Submarines rely on sonar to find their targets, seeking the sound of an enemy vessel.  This means that the quieter the ship is, the harder it is for the submarines to find it.  During the exercise, a “sonar quiet” state is enforced.  This means no TV or radio, no use of laundry facilities or exercise equipment, and no unnecessary noise.  Sailors walk quietly and take care not to slam doors or hatches.  (There is an even stricter quiet state, reserved for real wartime situations, in which even the use of the toilet or shower is forbidden.)

            It’s not just quiet, it’s also dark.  Bright lights can ruin the night vision of the sailors on the bridge.  Therefore, the entire ship is lit with dim red lighting that mimics night time conditions—around the clock.  Thick drapes blot out any white light spilling from cabin doors.  Very few rooms have windows; it’s often difficult to tell what time of day it is.  A ship operates around the clock, 24 hours a day.  Personnel follow a schedule of 6 hours on duty, 6 hours off—twice a day. 

            The ship turns sharply in order to evade torpedoes, or to remove itself from an area where it has betrayed its location (such as by firing a weapons system).  Bunks are equipped with seat belts so that sailors can avoid being thrown out of bed while sleeping.  It is not uncommon for objects to slide off of desks and tables; for this reason, beverages are confined to the wardroom (where meals are eaten) or private cabins.

            During the exercise, several safety precautions are in place.  The torpedoes used are a special design that does not contain explosives.  They are picked up by helicopters after they are fired.   Before one vessel fires on another, the ship has to call a range officer to ask permission.  When Calgary fired at the submarines, the range officer would order the submarine to surface.  We would then be granted permission to fire at the lower depth where the submarine had previously been located.  This procedure ensures that the dummy torpedo does not hit the hull of the submarine.  Computer tracking enabled the exercise coordinators to judge whether we would have hit the submarine in a real wartime situation.  The firing procedure for the dummy torpedoes is the same as for the real thing, allowing the crew of Calgary to practice loading and firing.

            While the ship is steered from the bridge, the captain controls his/her ship from the operations center.  This room filled with banks of computer screens and equipment.  One row of screens is devoted to personnel who gather information and plot it on displays, tracking the location of possible contacts (other vessels and aircraft).  The information they gather is transmitted to the second row, where officers interpret the data and advise the captain.  Smaller clusters of equipment are devoted to weapons systems such as torpedoes and missiles. 

There are also operators monitoring NIXIE, a defensive system that is towed behind the ship and designed to create noise and magnetic field ratings.  If an enemy vessel fires on Calgary, NIXIE’s job is to create a false reading in the enemy’s equipment.  It creates a larger, more appealing target reading which is behind the ship’s actual position.  Hopefully, a torpedo will orient on NIXIE’s reading and detonate at a distance where it will not cause any damage to Calgary itself.

The only downside to my tour on HMCS Calgary was watching Canadian sailors struggling with outdated or broken equipment.  Many of the computer systems on board ship date back to the 1980s.  Some equipment is even older than that; it was scavenged from other vessels and installed on HMCS Calgary.  Calgary has a hangar, but no helicopter was available for this exercise. 

The state of the Canadian military is a matter of concern.  Canadian vessels are responsible for both the protection of Canadian waters and acting as part of Canada’s contribution to overseas task forces, such as our recent role in the Arabian Sea to restrict the movements of Al Qaeda.  Canadian military personnel are being asked to do more with less every year.  This situation is both unfair to the sailors and dangerous to both the military personnel and the people they are tasked to protect.  In an unstable world, the Canadian military requires both adequate funding and adequate leadership to ensure its ability to “stand on guard for thee.”

 

 

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