"The sinking of the Canadian Navy" Topic

"This October, NATO is launching Trident Juncture, its largest and most ambitious military exercise in a decade. The massive land, sea and air exercise will be held in the Mediterranean and will include 36,000 troops from 30 nations. Its goal will be to help the fictitious country of Sorotan, "a non-NATO member torn by internal strife and facing an armed threat from an opportunistic neighbour." Not surprisingly, this is widely seen as an explicit response to Moscow's increasingly belligerent pressure on the alliances' eastern borders. The Canadian government, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, had planned to send its flagship destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan, as "a strong signal to the Russians," whose ships and aircraft have also been bumping up against Canada's territorial claims in the Arctic.

But, last week, it was reported by the Ottawa Citizen that the 43-year-old Athabaskan was no longer seaworthy and is being sent back to Halifax for extensive repairs. Athabaskan is a fitting symbol of the overall state of the Navy: Its engines require an overhaul, the hull is cracked, the decks need replacing, and the weapon systems are questionable. Even Rear Admiral John Newton, commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic, describes his flagship as worn and tired…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

So, sounds like it will be an even match for much of the Russian navy then.

I suspect the only losers will be any naval crews that get sent into the Arctic, and whose vessels can't withstand the rigors of operations in such a challenging theater.

Sadly ships are big ticket items and the political will to assign budget money to equipment purchases just isn't there.
Canadian voters feel pretty safe from any threats so can't see the point.
But all tha peacekeeping we're so proud of needs well equipped soldiers and sailors to go and do it!

The Canadian naval presence in the Arctic is as much a message to the USA as it is Russia, just not generally publicly spoken about.

Reading this it makes me annoyed that the British government put absolutely no effort into promoting and selling the Type 45 overseas.

Actually they did. The platform was so specialised that only a handful of countries had need of a ship of that type. And there was an effort to sell T23 variants as well.

There's a couple of Mistral-class ships going cheap in the next few months if the RCN is interested…

Surely there's still a chance of selling the T23, the contracts haven't even been awarded yet.

Sorry, thinking of the GCS not the T23

If it was up to me I think a Mistral would be perfect for peace support ops, but it isn't up to me and the purchasing process is so choked with red tape anyway

Kind of a lame story….Athabaskan is the sole remaining ship of the Iroquois class that has not been retired. Its time seems to have come. The more modern Halifax Class frigates are fine and doesn't Canada plan on a new class of ships?

The Canadian naval presence in the Arctic is as much a message to the USA as it is Russia, just not generally publicly spoken about.

Yup. The US really screwed up when nations started claiming the Arctic, and certain politicians are a bit butt-hurt about it. The Canadian Navy helps keep the butt-hurt from turning into rectal-cranial inversion.