Posted on 02/14/2003 9:06:33 AM PST by Loyalist
Navy sends two to sea
Iroquois, Fredericton off to Arabian Sea
CREDIT: FILE
HMCS Iroquois is shown last year.
Two Halifax-based warships will soon sail for the Middle East.
HMCS Iroquois will be ready to sail for the Arabian Sea in about 10 days. HMCS Fredericton will go once it can get a helicopter crew together.
“Fredericton, basically, is ready,” said Lt.-Cmdr. Denise LaViolette of navy public affairs.
The frigate was supposed to leave port this coming Monday. But now National Defence is giving Iroquois, a destroyer, priority, and it will get the Sea King meant originally meant for Fredericton.
“They’re basically just hopping that detachment from one ship to the other,” said Capt. Jason Proulx of CFB Shearwater.
“Then they’re going to send the Fredericton a little later, and make sure they have a qualified air detachment aboard that ship as well.”
Iroquois, commanded by Capt. Paul Maddison, needs to be stocked with provisions, LaViolette said.
Cmdr. Harry Harsch will command the Fredericton.
Both warships returned to port in late January after being battered by 10-metre seas off the coast during training exercises.
The Fredericton sustained damage to one of its three radar systems, water damage to its public address system and damage to the windshield wipers on the bridge.
The Iroquois had damage to one of its two gun-control radars.
At the time, a public affairs officer described it as minor.
More than 300 crew will sail on the Iroquois and 230 will crew Fredericton.
A senior Canadian officer is already commanding all allied naval warships, except a U.S. aircraft carrier group, in the Persian Gulf south of Kuwait and extending through the Strait of Hormuz.
Commodore Roger Girouard, who was once based in Halifax and commanded the navy’s role in the Swissair recovery operation, assumed command earlier this month of Task Force 151, which is responsible for escorting ships, intercepting and boarding suspect vessels and guarding against attacks on shipping.
Once Iroquois reaches the Gulf, Girouard will set up his command on the destroyer, which is fitted out as a flagship with the space and communications equipment needed to manage and command a far-flung group of warships.
His task force consists of up to 15 allied warships, including U.S., French, Italian, Dutch, Greek and Canadian frigates and destroyers.
HMCS Montreal and HMCS Winnipeg are in the Arabian Sea now. They will be replaced by the Iroquois and the Fredericton.
HMCS Regina, which is stationed in Esquimalt, B.C., sailed for the Arabian Sea Feb. 2.
© Copyright 2003 The Daily News
Hey, the whole darned Canadian Navy, eh?
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