Incoming capability gap: Canada’s last destroyer leaves service in early 2017

Ottawa Citizen ^ | August 11, 2016 | David Pugliese

[sukhoi-30mki]

OTTAWA — Canada’s last destroyer will be taken out of service in the spring, leaving the country’s navy reliant on allies for longer-range air defence for at least the next seven years.

HMCS Athabaskan, and similar destroyers, provided command and control capabilities over the years for the Royal Canadian Navy as well as what was called area air defence.

But Athabaskan, Canada’s last destroyer, will be taken out of service within the next year, most likely in the spring, Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd, the new commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, told Postmedia Wednesday.

Canada’s warships still have the capability to protect themselves from direct, incoming air threats but will have to rely mainly on U.S. ships to deal with missiles and aircraft at longer ranges.

“We won’t be able to fill that long-range air defence gap,” Lloyd said. “You would be looking at your U.S. long-range air defence platforms for that coalition support as we go forward.”

The RCN won’t have that air defence capability back until about 2024 when the first of the new Canadian Surface Combatants is expected to be in the water.

[mkjessup]

Generally speaking, the United States Navy has an excellent reputation for maintenance and upkeep, and to my knowledge has never had to resort to this, as our militarily impoverished neighbors to the North had to do (per the ‘Globe & Mail’):

“Newly released government records show that navy mechanics in Halifax had to scour the Internet and use eBay to find parts for one of its two supply ships.

But the briefing notes obtained by The Canadian Press, prepared for navy commander Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, show the technicians were fighting a losing battle to keep HMCS Preserver on duty.

The documents show many of the parts on the 45-year-old ship were “beyond acceptable limits” because corrosion issues had begun to compromise the vessel’s structural integrity.

National Defence said last year that both Preserver and its sister ship HMCS Protecteur – gutted by a dangerous at-sea fire – would be retired before replacement ships arrived.”

[JimRed]

“Newly released government records show that navy mechanics in Halifax had to scour the Internet and use eBay to find parts for one of its two supply ships.

The ship on which I served could make its own parts, save for the very largest. It was a repair ship (USS Vulcan, AR-5) and was basically a floating machine shop and factory with four 5" 38s to make it a warship.

Out of curiosity I searched WIKI for Vulcan and learned that she actually served until 1991.

[Secret Agent Man]

They have been importing muzlombies in as well.