A small ship doing BIG SHIP THINGS

On March 6, His Majesty Canadian Ship (HMCS) Nanaimo, HMCS Yellowknife, HMCS Edmonton, and Patrol Craft Training Vessel Wolf 59, will conduct training operations with French Ship Prarial (PRA). The training includes a photo exercise and Hoist Operation with Prarial helicopter.

SLt Phillip Schenk, 
HMCS Nanaimo 

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‘Small ship doing big ship things’ – I keep hearing this over and over. I know what the words mean, but I have no other experience to compare against.

I was posted to HMCS Nanaimo in August 2023, along with a couple of other Sub-Lieutenants from my class, after completing our Charge phase on this ship, the last sea-going phase of Naval Warfare Office Training prior to joining the fleet. Even during our Charge phase, I kept hearing ‘small ship doing big ship things’.

Since then, Lieutenants have come and gone on the Y-Jetty: to consolidate their Director Level, in preparation for the Fleet Navigator course, or posted as post-Operations Room Officer Executive Officers. They each have the same thing to say: “On the heavies [big ships], this is how we do XYZ”. Fair enough, my peers and I shrug at each other, standing by. But it does get me thinking: are we really a small ship doing big ship things? Or are we just doing what we do and doing it well?

On March 6, His Majesty Canadian Ship (HMCS) Nanaimo, HMCS Yellowknife, HMCS Edmonton, and Patrol Craft Training Vessel Wolf 59, will conduct training operations with French Ship Prarial (PRA). The training includes a photo exercise and Hoist Operation with Prarial helicopter.

During my time on this ship, I’ve had the distinct privilege of sailing to Portland as part of a multi-week Task Group sail, sailed five weeks in Search-and-Rescue (SAR) Zone North (where my peers and I were awarded our Minor War Vessel ticket), and spent most of November even further North working with the Canadian Rangers and the Gitxaala Nation. Now, I find myself in Alaska, acting as a Bridge Watchkeeper for a Charge phase, the final phase of assessments during a Junior NWO time at Venture.

A Charge phase, which I can’t help but notice, looks a lot like a Task Group sail, given the number of ships we’ve operated with these last four weeks.

Our Commanding Officer’s (CO) adamance in using tactical signals, though increasingly challenging to implement as we venture forth through the fjords of the great North, serves to prove my point. Pushing through Grenville Channel with our consorts astern of us, I have to admit prepping tactical signals to close distances between ships, manoevring around corners and making contact avoidance alterations for all three of us while juggling Bridge-to-Bridge Safety comms to warn of the proverbial minefield of logs ahead created a real air of co-ordination and big-picture thinking.

I know, I know, a freshly ticketed ‘subby’ thinks tactical signals are the height of naval sophistication. But two weeks ago myself, a cook, a Marine Systems Engineer, two NWO IV students and a NavComm from a total of four different ships (including Wolf 59) were all boat-transferred to the French Ship (FS) Prairial, where we then proceeded to conduct Manoeuvre with our friends back on our respective ships. I remember checking the photo on my phone of the Watch rotation and making a mental note to give a playful ribbing to the student who very obviously realized too late that they were not driving fast enough to get the ship where it needed to be. We were treated to lunch at the FS Prairial, swapped stories with the CO, and then boat-transferred back to our ships, where we proceeded to conduct a four-ship 50cal shoot on deployed targets. For the next hour or so, HMCS Nanaimo, Edmonton, Yellowknife and FS Prairial manoeuvred with one another in Sea State 2, taking turns firing rounds. For those keeping count, that’s two languages, three (destroyed) High Speed Inflatable Towed Targets, and four ships.

Five ships operating together, in one day. It’s pretty good for small ships. But last week, each of the three MCDVs participating in this sail was partnered with a corresponding US Coast Guard Cutter, a class of ship roughly 50 per cent our tonnage, to conduct towing serials, and SAR patterns, and Edmonton even managed to get a Helo Hoist in before supper. Now, we’re up to six ships and a helicopter. That’s pretty close to the seven-ship Manoeuvre serial we conducted on my Charge Phase.

I ask again: small ship doing big ship things, or just doing what we do and doing it well? I’m inclined to believe the latter. At the time of writing, we’ve just departed Ketchikan, Alaska, and I catch myself thinking back fondly on everything we’ve accomplished. Sure, it’s been a busy few weeks, but that’s par for the course. Soon, we’ll be home, waiting for the next big ship thing.

On March 6, His Majesty Canadian Ship (HMCS) Nanaimo, HMCS Yellowknife, HMCS Edmonton, and Patrol Craft Training Vessel Wolf 59, will conduct training operations with French Ship Prarial (PRA). The training includes a photo exercise and Hoist Operation with Prarial helicopter.