British cruisers world of warships1/31/2024 Our spare kit, bulked by yellow life jackets, was stuffed in the green sea bags that we slung over our shoulders as we boarded HMCS Winnipeg. The next stop on base was to get outfitted with the naval combat uniform and seaboots that we wore for our three days at sea. They were second-hand Royal Navy cruisers, a practice we would continue later in the purchase of our four Victoria-class submarines, two of which are now undergoing repair in the Esquimalt dry docks. The next year, Canada acquired its first warships, HMCS Rainbow, which arrived in Esquimalt in November 1910, and HMCS Niobe stationed in Halifax. Located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Esquimalt has been the West Coast home of the Royal Canadian Navy since the Crimean War, first to the Royal Navy, and since 1909, to the Royal Canadian Navy. We started with an early-morning tour of Esquimalt naval base. We were seven men and seven women, mostly educators from schools, colleges and universities along with those active in community affairs and civic government. In July, I went to sea aboard HMCS Winnipeg - a 440-ft, Halifax-class frigate that has served the Royal Canadian Navy since 1996 - as a participant in the RCN’s Leaders at Sea program. Second, the ingenuity, competence and teamwork of the men and women who adapt and improvise around that fact, and whose efforts ensure that Canada’s aging fleet can still ‘float, move and fight’, are awe-inspiring. First, despite heroic efforts at refurbishment, our marine hardware is past its best-before date. Spend time on one of Canada’s warships or submarines and you are struck by two things. The author aboard the HMCS Winnipeg (Royal Canadian Navy)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |