Steamers

[Edward Campbell]

Well, except for 6 Jun '44

And July '43

 

[Baz]

To be fair, the Navy has been aware of being classed as a non- blue water navy ever since they lost the Bonnie. (For an example, see the tabel at Wikipedia Blue Water Navy Classification and naval hierarchy). Having a lack of power projection (aviation, amphibious, or strike) makes you green water, tier 2, or some other vague term. So it's not only the budget fights, it's having a seat at the big boys table in international ops.

I can attest to the fact that having some visibility to the ISR process (simply because of Five Eyes) and some ability to strike, not to mention the commander was Canadian, gave Canada a different role operationally during Odyssey Dawn in Libya.

I wonder if possession of Tomahawks would be enough?

 

[Baz]

And July '43

And probably in '45 by the skeleton 6th Canadian Division as part of the Commonwealth Corps in Operation Coronet, although as follow on forces maybe not as important?

 

[FSTO]

Well, except for 6 Jun '44

And Operation Husky and the Battle of the Scheldt (sp)

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Important to remember a few things here: First, all of the St. Laurent derivative classes were built to DDE standard at first, except NIP and ANN, which were built to DDH standard right from the start, and then upgraded as either DDH or IRE. Were they supposed to be the last two Mackenzie? Possible. After all, the St. Laurent were a seven ships run, as were the Restigouche's, so a run of six would make sense. Remember also that in the end, not just the Mackenzie's were not upgraded: ST. CROIX, COLUMBIA and CHAUDIERE were also never converted into either DDH or IRE's.

The General Purpose Frigate (GPF) mentioned in the Crow's Nest article above were not the IRO's, but a class that was to be built between the ANN and the first IRO. It got canned in the freeze of equipment purchase in the lead up to unification. The IRO's were also to be an 8 ship run originally, then cut to four to be able to make updates to the design for the next four. Thus, they, with the GPF (total 16 hulls), were meant to replace the St. Laurent and the old Crusader/Prestonian frigates.

Further note here: Between the new builds and the large refits and upgrade, you may notice that the RCN of the 50's to 70's was in a continuous build mode. That was because it had a central office for naval construction, made of mixed civilians and naval officers (arcs and engs) based in Montreal at the Canadian Vickers yard. It not only centralized all plans, but developed new ones and was responsible for distributing construction to various yards. This was keeping no less than 6 yards in operation that could expand and contribute warships in case of war: Canadian Vickers (Montreal), Marine Industries (Sorel), Davie Shipbuilding (Quebec), Halifax Shipyard, Victoria Machine Depot (later known as Yarrows) and Burrard Drydocks (Vancouver). Since the RCN made its own plans for ships and their replacement, had its own HQ in Ottawa to push them directly into the orbit of the government of the day to get them approved and we were close enough to WWII for people to remember how critical warships were, it worked fine.

All this came to a screeching halt with unification and naval requirements being "just another demand within NDHQ - mostly led by the Army types - from one of the various command, and it'll go in the pile."

The RCN barely managed to save the four IRO's from the grind.

 

[GR66]

And Operation Husky and the Battle of the Scheldt (sp)

And don't forget the Pacific...

The Canadian Army’s second large contribution to the Pacific Theatre came during the Aleutians Campaign where several thousand Canadians participated in the American-led landing on Kiska in August 1943. American commanders deemed this action necessary as Japanese forces occupied Kiska, and Attu, in early June 1942, shortly after the Battle of Midway.

The Canadian contribution to the landings at Kiska included the 13th Brigade of the 6th Division. The infantry battalions were the Winnipeg Grenadiers, reconstituted after their destruction at Hong Kong, the Canadian Fusiliers, and the Rocky Mountain Rangers. A machinegun company from the Saint John Fusiliers was also attached to the brigade.

And had Japan not surrendered after the dropping of the atomic bombs in 1945 Canada almost certainly would have taken part in Operation Downfall:

Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Manchuria.<a href="Operation Downfall - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a> The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kantō Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Airbases on Kyūshū captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history, surpassing D-Day.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

And July '43

Don’t forget the Aleutians….

Edit: GR66 beat me…

 

[dapaterson]

Or 39 CBG.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Or 39 CBG.

I am surprised that there are not ballads about “the battle of Comox”…

 

[dapaterson]

I am surprised that there are not ballads about “the battle of Comox”…

Comox rhymes with Roblox, so at least verse 6 writes itself.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I am surprised that there are not ballads about “the battle of Comox”…

It's OK. Apparently 'Your Army in BC' is the RCAF

 

[dapaterson]

Fighting soldiers from the sea
Refusing gravol, now you see
One hundred men
Set sail that day
All fed the fish
In the usual way

 

[FSTO]

It's OK. Apparently 'Your Army in BC' is the RCAF

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

You mean an air ported medical service.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Fighting soldiers from the sea
Refusing gravol, now you see
One hundred men
Set sail that day
All fed the fish
In the usual way

100? Are you on drugs?

30…maybe.

 

[dapaterson]

100? Are you on drugs?

30…maybe.

The Can Scot R were on the ship
Mathematics was not their trip
They claimed the count would be company plus
But in the end, barely filled the short bus

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Niiiice….

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Niiiice….

 

[quadrapiper]

The grandfather of the Big Honking Ship bastard red headed step child.

Nicely vague about it, too: transporting covers a variety of closely-packed and uncomfortable sins, and equipment is equally broad.

If we have to, we can cram a company into the less-desirable messes, less delicate stores spaces, flats, main cave, and hangar. Soldiers enjoy misery, so no special provisions will be made for their comfort, while their equipment will be jammed into the whalers and workboats, or simply secured in whatever spaces the soldiers themselves are being transported in. The RCN will not be providing waterproof stowage, nor guarantee transportees' kit will remain in any way secure.

Will also note that transportation was once a criminal sentence.