ITEMS FOUND IN A SMALL BLACK CASE WITH A CROWN ON IT

 

A small black case with a crown on it, inside two military medals and a faded picture.

The First World War British War Medal was authorized on 26 July 1919. It was awarded to all ranks of Canadian overseas military forces who came from Canada between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918, or who had served in a theatre of war. Naval personnel were required to have 28 days of mobilized service or to have lost their lives before this period of service was complete. The recipient's name, number and rank are engraved on the rim.

The Victory Medal was a First World War medal was agreed to by all allies in March 1919. The medal was awarded to all ranks of the fighting forces, to civilians under contract, and others employed with military hospitals who actually served on the establishment of a unit in a theatre of war between 05 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. As with the War Medal the recipient's name, number and rank are engraved on the rim.

The name engraved on the rim of these medals is F G Peters Boy VR7016, RNCVR

RNCVR stands for Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve. It was a naval reserve that was established in Canada in May 1914 and existed until 1923. During the war, 8,000 officers and ratings joined the RNCVR for service at home or overseas, including those in the Overseas Division. The RNCVR crewed 160 vessels, mainly patrol vessels protecting the shores around Canada and convoy escort duty. The RNCVR rose to prominence during the war, but, along with the Royal Canadian Navy, was neglected after the war drew to a close in 1918. Reservists were demobilized, and the organization of the RNCVR was allowed to lapse due to cuts to the Royal Canadian Navy's budget.

As for “Boy” from its inception in 1910 as the Canadian Naval Service, until July, 1941, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) had a category of sailor known as “Boy.” They could join as young as age fourteen. This designation was inherited from the Royal Navy (RN), where it was used as a recruitment device to attract boys, often from poorer homes or even orphanages, who were too young to meet the normal entry age of eighteen.

During the hostilities of 1914-1918 the Navy was fighting a submarine war off its coasts and desperately needed Boys in the Seaman branch – “Men of Good Character and Physique” – who were sixteen years of age or older. Any boy approaching the RCN to enlist as a Boy was given only one option, the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve. Many would serve in Canada in whalers, anti-minesweeping and anti-submarine trawlers and a host of other patrol vessels.

At home, four Boys were lost out of a crew of thirty-eight when, in October, 1918, HMCS GALIANO, a patrol vessel, disappeared during a severe storm in Queen Charlotte Sound.

The service number on the medal leads to the only records available;

 

	Frederick George Peters   Boy Seaman, VR7016, RNCVR   Died: 30 Oct 1918 at sea

 

 “PETERS, Frederick George, Boy Seaman, VR7016, RNCVR, MPK - 30 Oct 1918, HMCS GALIANO - Son of C. W. Peters, of 239, 18th Avenue West, East Calgary, AB.”

HMCS GALIANO was the only Canadian naval vessel lost in the First World War. She foundered on October 30, just weeks before the Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918.

HMCS GALIANO had been sent with supplies to the light house at Triangle Island off Cape Scott at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. Her sister ship MALASPINA had been tasked to re-supply West Coast lighthouses and wireless stations, in particular the one on Triangle Island that was running perilously short of fuel. Before MALASPINA could sail, however, she crushed her bow on the jetty, creating the need for GALIANO to take on the stores and sail in her stead.

GALIANO arrived in a timely fashion at Triangle Island and thus accomplished her first task despite a green crew whose numbers had been reduced by the 1918 flu pandemic and a troublesome boiler. At 5 PM on October 29th, she set sail, bound for stations in the Queen Charlottes.

When she made her only distress call at 3 am the next morning, she was estimated to be within visual range of the light at Cape St. James 95 miles from Triangle Island.

 “HOLDS FULL OF WATER – SEND HELP”

The message was sent by GALIANO’s wireless operator Michael Neary, and received by his brother W.C. Neary, one of the operators on Triangle Island. She was never heard from again and went down with the loss of all hands.

There is no picture of Fred Peters attached to his records. We don’t know his date of birth or age, there is no mention of Mother or siblings, we know from inscription on the back of the picture found in the small black case that he must have had a brother. There must have been a family to receive the medals from a grateful nation, medals to passed down through the generations until they lost all meaning and were sold for scrap.

But Fred Peters is more than just a name on the Galiano memorial in Ross Bay Cemetery, more than a line in the book of remembrance in the Peace Tower in Ottawa. He was a young man, a son, a brother and one of those few who stood with the long line of those who really did “stand on guard for thee”.

               LEST WE FORGET

The medals of Frederick George Peters will be donated to the Naden Naval Museum in Esquimalt.

 

 

At The Cenotaph

 Lest we forget,

At The Cenotaph

I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,

Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:

Unostentatious and respectful, there

He stood, and offered up the following prayer.

'Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial

Means; their discredited ideas revive;

Breed new belief that War is purgatorial

Proof of the pride and power of being alive;

Men's biologic urge to readjust

The Map of Europe, Lord of Hosts, increase;

Lift up their hearts in large destructive lust;

And crown their heads with blind vindictive Peace.'

The Prince of Darkness to the Cenotaph

Bowed. As he walked away I heard him laugh

by Siegfried Sassoon

Remember and Honour

 

Remember and Honour

The Remembrance Day Ceremony has played a major role in Remembrance since 1931. Every year, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Canadians gather to stand in honour of all who have fallen. Together, we observe a moment of silence to mark the sacrifice of the many who have fallen in the service of their country, and to acknowledge the courage of those who still serve. 

But not this year, this year ‘officials’ are asking residents to “remember in place” at home and watch the public service online.

The places where hundreds usually gather every year to remember those who fought for Canada will be closed and there will be no parade or screens for viewing the ceremony on site.

A limited number of official wreaths will be placed at Cenotaphs and the public is asked not to gather to place poppies on memorials. For the most there will be no Veteran’s parade, no Canadian Armed Forces parade, a reduced colour party with wreaths pre-positioned such that no wreath bearers or assistants will be required and no members of the Cadets or Junior Rangers will be present.

None of that matters. The size and scope of our yearly public acknowledgment of the debt we owe our veterans is not the issue.  What does matter is what we do every other day, as a society, as a country and as individuals to recognise and honour our veterans. It’s easy to wear a poppy and go to the cenotaph once a year and then forget. We do it all the time. Maybe this year we can forgo the public display and replace it with a full time commitment to remember.

 

The Act of Remembrance

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
We will remember them.

 

REMEMBERING THE FALLEN

Remembrance Day, as the Canadian War Museum observes at its’ website, has gone through periods of both decline and increased observation over the years of its existence.

The 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995, as well as Canada’s participation in the Afghan wars, marked a noticeable upsurge of public interest, which has not ebbed in recent years.  Large ceremonies are attended in major cities by tens of thousands. The ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa is nationally televised, while most media outlets, including newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, and internet sources , run special features, interviews, or investigative reports on military history or remembrance-related themes.

For some, Remembrance Day is a federal statutory holiday, a paid day off work for federal employees and a statutory holiday in some, but not all, of the provinces and territories.

For others, Remembrance Day is a yearly memorial day, observed in many Commonwealth countries including Canada, to remember those who died in military service, and honour those who served in wartime.

For veterans, Remembrance Day has a long history. Canadians memorialized fallen soldiers on Decoration Day and Paardeberg Day for many years before Remembrance Day was first observed, as Armistice Day, in 1919.

Veterans have always led the way in commemorating our war dead. It can be argued that, for Canadians, Remembrance Day started in 1890 when veterans of the Battle of Ridgeway held a protest at the Canadian Volunteers Monument at Queen’s Park, in Toronto, by laying flowers at the foot of the monument on the 24th anniversary of the battle.

The Battle of Ridgeway was fought on the morning of 2 June 1866, near the village of Ridgeway and the town of Fort Erie. That episode has always been muted in Canadian military heritage and history, and the Canadian government has always been reluctant to acknowledge the veterans of the battle.

In the skirmish that day approximately 850 Canadian soldiers clashed with some 750 to 800 Fenians, Irish American insurgents who had crossed the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York. It was the first industrial-era battle to be fought by Canadians, the first to be fought exclusively by Canadian troops and led entirely by Canadian officers.

The Canadian losses that day were 9 killed in action (known today as the “The Ridgeway Nine) and 33 wounded, some severely enough to require amputation of their limbs. Four more Canadian militia volunteers eventually died in the months following the battle, either of wounds sustained or disease contracted at Ridgeway.

Fenian casualties are more difficult to determine, but it is estimated that approximately 14 Fenians were killed at Ridgeway and in Fort Erie.

While the Canadians were well deployed and arrived in the vicinity of the Fenians within several hours of their incursion they were no match for the Fenians, who were well-armed and supplied Civil War veterans.

The Canadians were unable to hold their positions and the Fenians took and briefly held the town of Ridgeway. Then, expecting to be overwhelmed by British reinforcements, they quickly turned back to Fort Erie where they fought a second battle against a small but determined detachment of Canadians holding the town.

A tactical failure the battle can be considered a strategic success as the Fenians ultimately withdrew back to the United States.

In the aftermath of the battle the inefficiency of the militia department under Canada West’s attorney general and minister of militia, John A. McDonald was whitewashed by military courts of inquiry who found that, notwithstanding the facts that Canadian Forces were poorly trained and unprepared for combat with scarce ammunition, no food or field kitchens, no proper maps, no provisions for medical care, no canteens for water, no tools for the proper care of their rifles and only half of the troops had previously practised firing their rifles with live ammunition, the blame  lay with inexperienced frontline troops, who panicked and broke, and not with the officers who led them or the government who undersupplied and undertrained them.

That attitude toward appropriate support for the military and responsibility for the consequences of that support continue to set a standard to which generations of Canadian politicians have aspired.

The Battle of Ridgeway veterans’ protest became an annual memorial event known as Decoration Day. Graves and monuments of Canadian soldiers were decorated in flowers and for the next 30 years, Decoration Day, commemorated on the weekend nearest to 2 June, was one of Canada’s popular military memorial days. As well as  remembering Canadians who died in the Battle of Ridgeway soon expanded to those killed during the North-West Rebellion, the  South African War and the First World War as well.

The horror and mass slaughter of the First World War changed Canadian perceptions of war. A Celebration of victory was replaced by solemn commemoration, and a sense that the country owed a collective national debt to the ordinary soldiers, mostly young men, who had lost their lives in battle. It was felt that this debt could be paid, in perpetuity by successive generations, by the simple act of remembering the soldiers’ sacrifice.

In April 1919, after the First World War ended a motion was introduced in the House of Commons to institute an annual “Armistice Day “to be held on the second Monday of November each year and in May 1921, an Act of Canada’s Parliament declared that an annual Armistice Day would be held on the Monday of the week in which 11 November fell. Oddly, the day was joined with the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, a day featuring sports, turkey dinners and light recreation.

This incongruity, which confused the public and angered veterans of the First World War, came to an end on 18 March 1931, a motion to have Armistice Day observed on 11 November and “on no other date” was approved.

Another veteran who sat in parliament, C.W. Dickie, moved to change the name from Armistice Day to Remembrance Day. This renaming placed the emphasis more upon the soldiers whose deaths were being remembered. Parliament adopted these resolutions as an amendment to the Armistice Day Act, and Canada held its first Remembrance Day by that name on 11 November 1931.

In Canada, as the Canadian Encyclopedia notes, Remembrance Day has become a flexible and enduring observance. It has grown to include the remembrance of war dead from the Second World War, the Korean War and the War in Afghanistan, as well as from peacekeeping missions and other international military engagements. In all, more than 1.6 million Canadians have served in Canada’s Armed Forces and more than 118,000 have died in foreign conflicts.

However after the Armistice Day Act was passed in 1931, the casualties of Ridgeway and the North-West Rebellion were no longer found in national memorialization, limiting Remembrance Day to Canadian casualties overseas, starting from the South African War.

Petitions to the federal government in 2013, from the City of Toronto and from the Town of Fort Erie, to restore the Ridgeway Nine to Canadian military memorial heritage by including them in national Books of Remembrance in Ottawa, were not heeded.

On this Remembrance Day we attempt to pay our debt by remembering the ‘Ridgeway Nine’ who died in the Battle of Ridgeway on June 2, 1866.

Ensign Malcolm McEachren,

Sergeant Hugh Matheson,

Corporal Francis Lackey, 

Lance Corporal Mark Defries,

Private Christopher Alderson,

Private Malcolm McKenzie,

Private John Harriman Mewburn,

Private William Smith,

Private William Fairbanks Tempest.

“Their names liveth for evermore”

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

We will remember them.

CANADA’S NEW FIGHTER, THE LONG DRAWN OUT CATASTROPHE

 Public reaction to the Government's response to Lockheed-Martin’s complaints about the process being used to find a new fighter has been swift.  Although the government was forced to acknowledgement of the validity of those complaints it did little to assuage the irritation voiced by some.

 Much of the reaction has revolved around the assumption that the maker of the F-35 is trying to enhance the chances of their aircraft being chosen as Canada’s new fighter by unfair means. In fact Lockheed-Martin’s complaint and the ensuing changes made by the government mainly serve to illustrate the complete bankruptcy of the entire procurement process.

 The selection process for the “Future fighter capability project” was supposed to be based on a three category scoring system. The first, and in theory most important, is technical capabilities. The second category is cost and the third is creating and sustaining a highly skilled work force within our own borders, a goal enshrined in Canada’s industrial trade benefits (ITB) policy, which requires a winning bid to guarantee it will make investments in Canada equal to the value of the contract. Each bid is scored by these three categories, weighed 60-20-20, respectively.

Like many others, Elinor Sloan has pointed out that the Joint Strike Fighter program, which Canada has spent millions to join, does not fit neatly into the ITB policy.

 As Richard Shimooka outlined in a 2016 paper “Canada joined the JSF Program System Development and Demonstration phase in 2001 with agreement from the Chrétien government, primarily to secure work for Canadian industry and gain access to advancing technologies. In December 2006, the Conservative government signed the PSFD MOU to extend and expand its participation in the JSF Program. Later, in 2009, the government decided that, given the vast benefit advantage in what the JSF partnership offered compared to what the ITB requirement would entail, an exception from the guaranteed offset regime was appropriate. This was affirmed by several legal opinions and analyses undertaken within the Department of National Defence (DND), Public Works and Government Services Canada, and Industry Canada”

The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have been forced to point out that Canada’s ITB terms are inconsistent with – and indeed prohibited by – the memorandum of understanding Canada signed in 2006, which says partners cannot impose industrial compensation measures. It is not clear if the current government was ever aware of this fundamental incompatibility with their procurement program.

A ‘solution’, which allows for a more flexible approach in determining the value of the benefits bidders offer to Canadian defence firms,  has been reached that allows the memorandum to be obeyed, but since Canada will still give higher grades to bids that follow its ITB policy, questions remain as to whether the playing field has really been levelled.

While bidders like Boeing’s Super Hornet, the Eurofighter  Typhoon and Saab’s Gripen can still guarantee that they will re-invest back into Canada if their jet wins the competition and get all 20 points, those bidders that can’t make such a commitment, that is Lockheed Martins’ F-35, will be asked to establish “industrial targets” and lay out a plan for achieving those targets and sign a non-binding agreement promising to make all efforts to achieve them.

The government position is that they will study those plans and assign points based on risk.

This immediately raised an issue with other competitors wondering why the F-35 should get points if the company can’t guarantee re-investment back into Canada. There are also concerns about how the government will decide how risky plans to achieve “industrial targets” actually are, with at least one industry source saying that question is entirely subjective.

Most of these new headlines and much of the governments rule changes have been triggered by a report, aptly named The Catastrophe, by Richard Shimooka. Written for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute it outlines the long sad story that is Canada’s Future fighter capability project.

In that report Shimooka makes the all-important point that reciprocal investments, such as Canada’s industrial trade benefits (ITB) policy have long been seen as an inefficient method for delivering economic benefits. In fact several countries, including Australia, have moved away from them to more flexible cooperation approaches. In reality offset agreements are referred to in most studies as “traditional and inefficient”. The decision to avoid such agreements in relation to F-35 production was one of the fundamental choices made early in the program in an attempt to keep the price of the fighter as low as possible for all participants.

 At this point it should be noted that Canada has done very well financially from the current F-35 agreement. Having spent a little over $500 million to remain part of the F-35 program Canadian companies have so far won more than $1.3 billion in contracts related to the F-35, according to the government. At one time it was estimated that businesses in this country could land as much as $9.9 billion in contracts to construct and sustain parts for the Lockheed Martin-built stealth fighter.

The government likes to talk about the number of “good middle class jobs” there policies will create but in fact defense spending is the most expensive way to create jobs.

 What the government does not like to talk about is how money that could be better spent to create jobs, infrastructure and social capital is being wasted in by paying too much for bloated defence procurement programs that actually create very few jobs in relation to the amounts being spent.

 What nobody, including the media who cover these stories and the opposition parties who are supposed to hold the government to account, want to consider is the idea that defence spending should be used for defence, not as a glorified public works program.  Until and unless the concept of value for money in defence spending is defined by the amount of military benefit derived from that spending then all of Canada’s defence procurement programs, not just those spent on new fighters, will continue to be accurately described as a “catastrophe”.

After U.S. complaint, Canada to soften rules for jet competition to allow Lockheed Martin bid: source

https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1SF2RP-OCATP

LOCKMART THROWS TANTRUM... GETS RULES CHANGED... SLIGHTLY.

http://bestfighter4canada.blogspot.com/2019/05/lockmart-throws-tantrum-gets-rules.html

Future fighter capability project

https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/app-acq/amd-dp/air/snac-nfps/CF-18-eng.html

The U.S. needs to be a key part of Canada’s next-gen jet procurement process

ELINOR SLOAN

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-us-needs-to-be-a-key-part-of-canadas-next-gen-jet-procurement/

THE FOURTH DIMENSION: The F-35 Program, Defence Procurement, and the Conservative

Government, 2006-2015, Richard Shimooka

http://rcafassociation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vimy_Paper_33.pdf

Controversial F-35 purchase could bank Canadian businesses $9.9B

https://globalnews.ca/news/1022291/controversial-f-35-purchase-could-bank-canadian-businesses-9-9-billion/

Canada changing rules of competition for $19B fighter jet fleet to allow consideration of F-35: sources

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-changing-rules-of-competition-for-19b-fighter-jet-fleet-to-allow-consideration-of-f-35-sources

The Catastrophe: Assessing the Damage from Canada’s Fighter Replacement Fiasco

Richard Shimooka

http://macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/20190502_MLI_COMMENTARY_Shimooka_FWeb.pdf

Defence Industrial Policy Approaches and Instruments

http://aerospacereview.ca/eic/site/060.nsf/vwapj/Def_Ind_Pol_Approaches_-_Final_Draft_-_July_13.pdf/$FILE/Def_Ind_Pol_Approaches_-_Final_Draft_-_July_13.pdf

Defense Spending Is the Most Expensive Way to Create Jobs

https://prospect.org/article/defense-spending-most-expensive-way-create-jobs

THE VALUE OF SILVER IN TODAY'S MARKET

Found among the silver debris of another sterling purchase. Forgotten and discarded treasures, battered rings, souvenir spoons, broken chains, single earrings and a dull grey cross.  That one stands out a little; it’s about an inch and a half wide and tall with the royal cipher of George VI in the center, on the back the number “K.66542” and a name “Pte T.C. Craig”.

What is it worth? Value and price, as we so often have to explain to customers, are two entirely different things. It’s easy enough to calculate the price of the silver. The spot price for an ounce of pure silver is about $20.50 in Canadian dollars. Of course sterling is only 92.5% pure so that makes sterling silver worth about $19.05 per ounce and this cross weighs 14.93 grams giving it a silver value of $9.11. But what is it worth?

The Memorial Cross (more often referred to as the Silver Cross) was instituted on December 1, 1919. It is granted by Her Majesty’s Canadian Government as a memento of personal loss and sacrifice in respect of military personnel who lay down their lives for their country and is engraved with the name and service number of the individual commemorated. During the Second World War the crosses were sent automatically to mothers and wives of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty or whose death was consequently attributed to such duty.

K.66542, as it turns out, is one of a block of numbers allocated to the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's), a distinguished infantry regiment bearing 42 battle honours, some close to a century old, and with its regimental headquarters still at the historic Bay Street Armoury in Victoria.

With the name and service number and regiment it isn’t hard to find his name at Veterans Affairs in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. Private Thomas Charles Craig, the son of Sam D. and Grace Craig, the husband of Violet Craig, he came from Victoria, British Columbia and he died on November 26, 1944. He is buried at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. If one cares to look, his name is inscribed on page 282 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. One can even find a picture of his grave.

A little amateur research soon finds an obituary for Violet Craig, published by the Times Colonist, who died on June 17, of 2007 and which notes that she was "predeceased by her first husband, Thomas Craig in 1944, serving overseas". There is probably more to this story but the amateur researcher begins to run out of resources at this point. Nothing is discovered about of “Sam D. and Grace Craig”. It would appear that such searches have been monetized. Even government web sites lead to commercial genealogy sites advertising “First Month Free!” It’s hard to know what this information is worth, but it would appear that a price has been determined.

One resource that is available is the book “Ready for the Fray” by R.H. Roy; it’s a history of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) from 1920 to 1955. A surprisingly enjoyable book it has a wealth of information on how a reserve regiment survived during the period between the world wars.  The latter part of the book covers the regiment’s active service in WWII. It is on page 355, in the chapter covering the fighting from the Leopold Canal through to the Scheldt, that you find;

One such patrol – a fighting patrol led by Lieut. M. C. MacKenzie from “C” Company – ran into the sort of trouble that can happen all too easily at the front. Lieut. MacKenzie took his 15-man patrol out into no-man’s-land in the hope of ambushing the enemy. No Germans fell into their trap, so before first light the patrol started to return. While doing so it ran into a stronger German patrol and a battle ensued. The Canadian Scottish patrol split up as it retired from the enemy force. Six of the men found their way back to “C” Company’s lines. The others crept cautiously back alongside a low ridge. By this time they were lost and moving only by instinct toward their own front. Unknowingly they crossed to the front of the Regina Rifles’ positions and walked through a protective minefield. A burst of fire from a Reginas’ Bren gun was the first warning they had of their location. This machine gun fire killed Lieut. MacKenzie, L/Cpl. B. Mawer and fatally wounded Cpl. T. C. Craig.  Pte. J. Nimcan recognized the sound of the Canadian weapon, shouted to the Reginas and rushed to their lines to let them know it was a friendly patrol.

There is little more to be discovered about this medal, or its namesake, at least by this investigator. The only other thing learned in passing is that there is an active market for objects such as these. A Canadian Memorial Cross can sell for as much as $200.00 on eBay. The market place it would seem has set a price for these bits of silver. Still, I am not sure if this constitutes its real worth. This Memorial Cross will go to the Canadian Scottish regimental museum where perhaps a different standard of value will be applied.

MV. ASTERIX

Following a debilitating fire on HMCS Protecteur and because her sister ship, HMCS Preserver, was deemed unfit to sail due to advanced corrosion, the Royal Canadian Navy had been operating without supply ships, or AOR’s as underway replenishment ships are known, since 2014.

Built in the late 1960s these ships were the support backbone of the RCN, so their loss significantly impacted the navy’s ability to deploy abroad. Since then, Canada has relied on Chile to support the Navy on the West Coast for 40 days in 2015, and Spain to support the Navy on the East Coast for 40 days in 2016. Of course these vessels are really only available in peace time.

In a November 2014 internal document the Navy outlined the requirements of an interim supply ship noting that the Joint Support Ship being built at Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver “remains a critical component for achieving success in both international and domestic” Canadian military missions.

That Joint Support Ship was supposed to be delivered by Seaspan in 2017 but that  schedule slipped and the latest delivery date for the first of two ships is now 2022-2023 .

Recognizing Canada’s AOR deficit Federal Fleet Services Inc. (a sister company to Davie Shipbuilding) submitted an unsolicited bid to the Canadian Government proposing an interim AOR solution dubbed Project Resolve. On 30 November 2015, the Government of Canada announced the signing of a contract with Federal Fleet Services to develop the interim AOR capability. The contract entailed the conversion of a commercial container ship (MV Asterix) into an AOR, the provision of the ship’s crew, its overall operational management, and all maintenance. The initial Provision of Services Agreement (PSA) outlines a lease to Canada, which means a fixed, transparent cost to the Canadian taxpayer. The PSA is for five years, with options to extend that period for another five years and also an option for Canada to purchase the vessel.

The ship was delivered on time and on budget to the RCN in late 2017, and was formally accepted by the RCN on 6 March 2018 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, following an intensive period of at-sea trials and testing. It is the first new supply ship for Canada in almost 50 years.

With a Deadweight tonnage of 23,792 DWT (DWT is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew) and a length of 182.5 metres long Asterix features include four STREAM-type RAS masts. Each of these stations is able to deliver fuel oil, aviation fuel (JP5), and water. This means Asterix is able to refuel two ships at a time (one on each side of the ship), and can also do dual-point RAS forward and aft on the same side to provide liquids and solids simultaneously, the latter via heavy jackstay. Asterix is also designed to carry two Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclones and has 2 hangars capable of holding Chinook size helicopters.

The ship was designed to carry 15,500 cubic metres of F76 (Marine Diesel); 1,500 cubic metres of F44 (Aviation Fuel - also known as JP5); and 600 cubic metres of fresh water. Asterix also has the capacity to carry sea containers in two separate locations at the forward part of the ship. One location has the capacity to carry 20 standard-size sea containers of general cargo (which can also be refrigerated), many of which can be accessed from below decks. The second location can accommodate 18 sea containers of hazardous goods, including ammunition. These areas are protected from the elements, and are serviced by cargo elevators.

Elsewhere on the ship’s Tween deck are spaces where equipment and vehicles can be carried via Lift-on/lift-off (LoLo). Such vehicles can include LAVs, trucks, jeeps and other light vehicles. To facilitate this, Asterix is fitted with two large cranes, each of which can lift up to 30 tonnes.

Federal Fleet Services Inc. and Davie Shipbuilding have offered to build a second supply ship at a reduced price. Asterix was built on time and on budget in a deal worth $659 million, a second ship was priced, at the time, at $500 million in order to entice the government to go ahead with such a purchase.

On Dec. 12 the government was asked in the House of Commons why it was not moving ahead with acquiring a second ship, to be called Obelix. At that time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quoted as saying “The armed forces did an assessment,” Trudeau said. “They don’t need the Obelix.”

Asked about the assessment, the Royal Canadian Navy referenced a November 2014 internal document which outlined the requirements of a interim supply ship. The document was produced before a deal was reached on Asterix. The navy’s statement noted that the Joint Support Ship being built at Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver “remains a critical component for achieving success in both international and domestic” Canadian military missions.

In fact statements from the Navy make it clear that two support ships are being procured and that two ships are number considered necessary to “renew the capabilities of the two current Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment Ships that are approaching the end of their service lives and need to be replaced”

Those joint supply ships were supposed to be delivered by Seaspan in 2017. That schedule slipped and the 2019 and 2020 delivery dates were proposed. The latest delivery date for the first of two ships is now 2022-2023 but with the caveat attached “with risk”,  which means, government officials have confirmed, that they could fall further behind schedule, government officials confirmed to Postmedia.

It clear to any observer that the Royal Canadian Navy needs at least two supply vessels. Without a second supply ship in the interim, the Navy will only be able to sustain operations offshore on one coast for a matter of days. With two supply ship, it can sustain operations for months.

In fact it could be argued that in the long-term Navy needs four supply ships, two on each coast. Four vessels would allow the Navy to have one vessel on high readiness on each coast, while one was undergoing maintenance or on foreign deployments, another could be standing by or on operations on both coasts.

What is not clear is why the government failed to procure another Asterix class vessel. Those reasons would appear to have as much to do with politics as they do with a broken procurement system.

ADDENDA,
It has been pointed out that the proper name for the ship is  MV Asterix.  NRU Asterix is the land-based unit (Naval Replenishment-At-Sea Unit) that generates the detachment of naval personnel who man selected equipment onboard, alongside the ship's civil crew.



Quebec's Davie offers second supply ship at reduced cost to entice Liberal government to buy

https://nationalpost.com/news/quebecs-davie-offers-to-build-second-supply-ship-at-reduced-cost-to-entice-liberal-government-to-buy

Joint Support Ship Design Decision

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/news/article.page?doc=joint-support-ship-design-decision/hie8w9bu