A few years ago, the Royal Canadian Navy had a very, very, bad year. In August 2013, destroyer HMCS Algonquin bumped into supply ship HMCS Protecteur and was damaged.
A few months later, in February 2014, HMCS Protecteur caught fire near Hawaii. She had to be towed to Esquimalt, and that was the end of it. She was done.
Another destroyer, HMCS Iroquois, while visiting Boston in May 2014, found there were severe cracks in the hull. She hustled back home, never to sail again. Both HMCS Algonquin and HMCS Iroquois were paid off by September 2014, meaning they were written off the books. HMCS Protecteur was paid off the following year, as was her sister ship HMCS Preserver.
We lost two of three destroyers, and two of two supply ships in a single year, and not an enemy torpedo in sight to blame for it, either.
Our much-vaunted National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, supposedly free of political wrangling, was supposed to take care of this. It would essentially rebuild the entire Royal Canadian Navy, with new supply ships, and 15 new surface combatants. These would replace the 12 Halifax-class frigates that are the backbone of our navy, as well as the three destroyers (one still in service).
It was launched in 2010, and yet, we still have no new ships.
In the grand scheme of things, modern navies’ surface ships, in order of significance from top down, are aircraft carrier, assault carrier (helicopter carrier), amphibious transport dock, cruiser, destroyer, frigate, corvette. Moving up a step in each case is a significant increase in capabilities. The U.S. recently thought they could cheap out and buy a series of corvettes called littoral combat ships (LCS), but have since discovered they weren’t cheap, they can’t do things they were supposed to do, like minesweeping, they are undergunned and poorly protected. Having retired the last of their Oliver Hazzard Perry-class frigates recently, they are now once again looking at buying frigates again, or even reactivating the retired Perrys.
Our navy is primarily frigates, which are multi-purpose, but primarily meant for anti-submarine warfare. In the days after the cold war ended, the Russians mostly stopped sending subs this way, but those days have changed, and anti-sub capability may very much be in need.
Destroyers are truly multi-role, and carry a large magazine of vertical launch system missiles for a variety of purposes, from land attack to anti-ship to anti-aircraft and anti-missile. Indeed, the American Arleigh Burke-class, which they have built several versions of for the last 30-odd years, is still going strong with new construction due to its capability and flexibility. The most recent models are key components of the U.S. ballistic missile defence program. They carry missiles meant to shoot down those nuclear missiles from North Korea we’re all now so worried about. These days, an Arleigh Burke destroyer costs about US$1.8 billion apiece.
Which brings us back to the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. According to the National Post, they are now pegging 15 surface combatants – frigates, not destroyers – at C$62 billion. In other words, double the price for what a much more capable Arleigh Burke costs.
The plan is also to use an existing design, be it British, Dutch, or whomever, as opposed to developing something from scratch. Those designs were due on Nov. 30.
So why have the prices ballooned so much? And why haven’t we started construction yet?
This is where an interesting wrinkle comes in. An Italian-French consortium proposed their frigate design, the FREMM, which is in service with Italy, France, Egypt and Morocco. The total, all-in cost would be C$30 billion. Done deal.
Apparently, Australia and even the U.S., after its failed LCS experiment, are considering the design as well. The latest iteration is even capable of anti-ballistic missile defense, like the Arleigh Burkes.
We would be well-advised to take up this deal. It’s a $32 billion savings – money we can use for new submarines, icebreakers, fighter planes and the like.
After all, a few years ago we missed out on picking up those two French Mistral-class assault carriers for next to nothing. This happened after France refused to sell them to Russia, who was about to take delivery of them, since the world was rather upset about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Crimea. Egypt got the Mistrals instead, and we got nothing.
The French and Italians can have three ships to us pronto, while we tool up to build the rest.
It’s time to get moving, people. If we can get a new navy for a reasonable cost, we should do it. Now.
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.
