HMCS Calgary helps protect the environment during much-appreciated visit to Diego Garcia

Members of HMCS Calgary clean a portion of Diego Garcia’s beaches on June 20 in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. Photos by Cpl Lynette Ai Dang, HMCS Calgary Imagery Technician

Capt Jeff Klassen
HMCS Calgary
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After five months of being in a COVID-free social bubble, the crew of HMCS Calgary finally got a real port visit when they visited the small British Indian Ocean Territory Island of Diego Garcia, home to United States Navy Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.

The crew had visited a few foreign countries throughout the deployment, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic port visits were considered technical visits and the ship’s company could not leave a cordened off area on the jetty.

In Diego Garcia it was a time to relax, interact with crewmates and others off ship, and for some of the ship’s company it was an opportunity to help the British Forces and United States Navy protect the environment.

Diego Garcia is an isolated atoll rarely visited by outsiders. It is known for its natural beauty that includes fine white-sanded beaches, with sea turtles, coconut crabs, and a diverse and vibrant sea life surrounding it. However, plastic from the ocean ends up on its shores and can create problems for the local sea turtle population. Calgary’s crew stepped in to help clean up.

“The plastic breaks down into microplastics in the sand where sea turtles tend to nest,” explained Lieutenant Commander (LCdr) John Quay, Command Chaplain for Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. “For marine turtle eggs, incubation temperature is destiny. Sea turtles have temperature dependent sex determination, which means their sex is determined by the sand temperature. Changes in incubation temperatures can modify the sex ratios produced on these nesting beaches.”

Members of HMCS Calgary

In an activity organized by Calgary’s embarked chaplain Lieutenant (Navy) Wilson Gonese and LCdr Quay, 31 members of the ship got up at the break of dawn, drove out to the island’s Oceanside R-site Beach, and cleared washed up debris from a one-kilometre stretch. They gathered about 80 bags of trash weighing 640 lbs.

“We are very grateful for the sacrifice and hard work of the 30-plus crew of HMCS Calgary that gave up several hours of a very short liberty call on a tropical island to help beautify our beaches, and more importantly, to significantly help our sea turtle population,” said LCdr Quay.

The island of Diego Garcia provided a great rest for the ship’s company after sussessfully completing Operation Artemis where the crew set the record for the most successful interdictions by any ship on a single rotation in the history of the operation. The ship is now on Operation Projection and their next major activity will be participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre, a major biennial international exercise off the coast of Australia.

“We are very thankful to our British and American partners for providing us the opportunity to take a much-needed rest in Diego Garcia. The fact that we were also able to contribute to maintaining the island’s natural beauty is just an amazing bonus for us,” said Commander Mark O’Donohue, Calgary’s Commanding Officer.

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