Minor warships band together for work-ups
Stephanie Burr
Staff writer
February 11, 2008
Stephanie Burr
Lookout
Aboard HMCS Nanaimo, LS Leonel Castillo watches “simulated” protestors harrass HMCS Yellowknife during work-ups for both Yellowknife and HMCS Edmonton.
Nanaimo played a few unique roles during Sea Training’s work up of the ships.
Naval reservists were put to the test by Sea Training two weeks ago during work ups of HMC Ships Edmonton and Yellowknife.
Helping hone their skills was fellow minor warship HMCS Nanaimo, which was tasked to play a few unique roles during the sea phase portion of their readiness training.
Nanaimo first posed as USS Arawana, a fictitious United States nuclear-powered vessel in need of escorts to help transit safely from Canadian waters. Edmonton and Yellowknife were tasked with providing protection for the simulated American warship until it reunited with its own fleet in international waters.
Adding a bit of tension to the scenario was a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) crewed by Nanaimo’s LS Brett Spelliscy and MS Peter Leblanc, and another from Port Security Section. They posed as dangerous protestors opposed to the presence of nuclear-powered vessels in’ Canadian waters.
The two Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels had no idea where the protesters were and whether or not they would be armed.
“We try to maintain the element of surprise to make these scenarios as real as possible in order to give the other ships the maximum training experience,” says LCdr Shawn Connelly, Commanding Officer of Nanaimo. “On a day-to-day basis we are responsible for U.S. ship port protection and we need to be prepared for anything.”
At first the protesters limited their dismay to shouting and waving signs, and were met with jets of water when they came within 25 feet of the ships.
“We follow the specific rules of engagement and try to deal with things at the lowest level. The risk of injury is much lower with the fire hoses then using any of our weapons systems,” explained Lt(N) Jeff Lee, Deck Officer with HMCS Nanaimo. “Even if the protesters escalate their actions we still remain as professional as possible as long as they keep their distance from the ship being escorted.”
The intensity increased when the protesters opened fire with rifles. The ships answered back by rapidly manoeuvring into the RHIBs’ path. “Having an MCDV turn right into your path at high speeds is obviously quite a deterrent,” says Lt(N) Lee.
The level of threat escalated when they attacked with simulated rocket propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices. The ships responded by firing “blanks” at the RHIBs with their .50 calibre machine guns.
During the course of the attack scenario, both ships sustained battle damage.
“The simulated damage from these attacks was built into the Sea Training plan to exercise their damage control organizations,” said Lt(N) Lee.
Later on that night Nanaimo played the role of the Eastern Happy, a fishing vessel run aground. Yellowknife and Edmonton tested their search and rescue and mass casualty evacuation abilities.
“Assisting on work-ups is great experience for us because we get to observe ships reacting rather than being the ones going through the exercise. We learn from watching them and seeing first hand from an outside point of view what works and what we can improve on,” said Lt(N) Lee.
PCT Renard, also assisted the workups, which was the first time an Orca class vessel has been used for this purpose.
