The year 2010 marks one hundred years of Canada's Navy. Unfortunately many voting Canadians have little to no understanding of our naval history and in the role of our navy has played in the past and the role it must play in the future. I admit that I knew very little of our navy, so in celebration of this anniversary I read the book Canada's Navy, 2nd edition: The First Century, by Mark Milner. I won't try to summarize the book but to remind us why we need to invest Canadian tax dollars into this vital service (as well as the army and air force).
The Role of the Canadian Navy:
- To defend Canada
- To protect trade
- To transport, supply and support deployed troops
- To help in protecting against illegal fishing, environmental damage, drug and human smuggling
- To contribute to NATO, UN, and coalition operations
The Politics of the Navy
"The most important lesson from the first century of our naval experience is, therefore, that domestic politics trump everything else. It trumps all the logic, rhetoric, and theory of seapower, the importance of trade, length of coastline, continental shelves and the like, as important and self-affirming to some as these may be." - Mark Milner
If we are to have a navy it must always be kept modern. If ships fall behind in technology or fleet mix they will be obliterated in a conflict with a modern enemy. To maintain a modern navy takes an incredible amount of resources. Sensors, weapons systems, ship design, and training need to be kept up to date.
Thankfully we have moved ahead with the midlife upgrades for our frigates, and we will eventually get our new helicopters to replace the sea kings. The major priority is to acquire new supply ships, unfortunately DND has designed a whole new class of ship the JSS. DND is also still looking at new icebreakers so we can fulfill the mandate of a three ocean navy. On top of these investments we badly need new destroyers. We should also be preparing to acquire new subs. On two occasions we have been close to purchasing our first batch of nuclear powered subs, only to have the programs cancelled. Nuclear subs will allow us to constantly patrol our three coasts. This will come at a huge price. To rotate one sub on each coast without overworking our sailors would require us to acquire up to 12 nuclear powered subs.
The problem with strengthening our navy is that Canadian shipbuilding is pretty much dead. So we will either have to purchase ships from another NATO ally, or invest in shipyards and training of personnel, or some mix of the two. I would propose purchasing nuclear subs from the US, UK or France (if they will allow export of their top of the line subs) since we don't have experience using nuclear power for ships. We can plan for continuous build in one shipyard somewhere in Canada for the JSS, AOPV/ice breaker, and the destroyers.
Personnel issues are also a problem. A glance at the CF recruiting site's in demand jobs lists mostly navy trades. On top of personnel problems, there is an absence of a strong modern enemy. Nazi Germany isn't entering the St. Lawrence sinking ships. Soviets nuclear subs are not hiding among their fishing trawlers in the Grand Banks. The most high profile use of the Canadian navy recently has been anti-piracy work of Somalia to protect international trade. This does justify having navy, but not necessarily an ultra modern navy.
There are global developments that the navy can use to sell the idea of investing in the navy to the public. Russia is acting belligerent in the north and off Labrador. The navy could use this to their advantage by designing the new destroyers with top of the line anti-aircraft capabilities. They can also explain to the public the need to monitor foreign subs in the north and off our coasts, which we cannot really do right now. China has recently built an icebreaker and the navy should use that as a selling point for investing in strong presence in the arctic. Our reliance on trade in the Pacific and Atlantic and the new "ice bridge" from Churchill to Murmansk could also be cited for investing in a stronger fleet. The government has to their credit often cited the opening of the northwest passage as a reason for investing in navy, and the annual operation Nanook has provided the navy with valuable coverage.
