As a former Naval Officer, I can attest that we in fact do not have the capabilities to put together a task force. This is why we work closely with our allies. The centrepiece of any naval task force is the Aircraft carrier, which we have none. We have no ability to control the skies when our naval fleet is underway. We also do not posses battleships, just frigates and a handful of command and control platforms that are incapable of true air defence. Unless the United States deploys a task force, we are incapable of forming one ourselves.
I am not sure what the point of this was supposed to be. Sean is a professor at MilCol so no doubt he is more aware than most Canadians about the state of our forces. Was this supposed to rouse Canadians into being more interested in our naval capabilities? If so, this is a silly event to cast such a thing over. There is no reason for us to have task force capability as a navy. We do not deploy soldiers for war without the presence of our allies who have these capabilities and are willing to share. Why bother developing our own task force capabilities when we have the US right next door? What would a Canadian task force really do in this instance anyway? We can barely crew the ships we do have let alone the fleet that would be required to keep task force status. We cannot even get submarines in the water let alone manage a task force.
I was fortunate in 2006 to have been on one of the last “large” RCN training deployments (3 frigates, a command destroyer and a supply ship, when they were enroute to San Diego to join USN training). That we tend to now only send out one ship at a time is a function of having many fewer ships now than 2006 (and that was when we had a “small” navy), along with crewing and maintenance issues. The reason Sean is correct on this is — thanks to the usual Govt lack of interest and usual media bias on this issue (defence and security), it is not top of mind in the public fora — until the situation becomes very nasty — as it has so turned with the Ukrainian “problem.” There has been and will continue to be a (slight) flurry of activity with our Govt promising to sort out DND and not just for its scandals but for that which it is meant to exist (you know, defence and security) — then when the “problem” has passed, we will all go back to normal. It has been like that for decades. The last PM who took defence seriously was actually a French Canadian named Louis St Laurent — in the 1950s. Canadians deserve better. Whether they know it or not.
I agree. I think your words "It is a paralyzing combination of fear, bureaucratic stagnation, and a crippling lack of creativity that holds us back and forces us to watch our hard-won values system circle the drain" also apply to many things about Canada.
A military costs a fortune to supply and operate, and generates no revenue. Thus, it has historically been where the government goes to save money...until it's needed. Governments of both sides have starved it for funding for decades.....you can't get elected by spending money on things that don't create "goodies" for the voters. It's part of the massive vacuum of leadership that has kneecapped Canada in every way, shape and form. It's far too late to do anything to help with Russia's absurd invasion. But is there a leader...anywhere, with a vision and a plan for the country and how to start fixing the things that seem irreparably broken? Currently, no. We have to demand more from our leaders, but our divisions paralyse that thinking so things will continue to decay....sadly.
The problem wiuht taking any navala action in the Black Sea is the Montruex Convention which limits the passage of warships into the Black Sea with the exception of riparian nations and ships based inthe Black Sea (in Russia's case. Anay major force would have to be multinational and probaly under UN auspices.
The basic premise of this *entire piece* is wrong. Turkey has invoked the Montreux Convention and closed the Bosporus to all military vessels which are not from Black Sea states and not returning to their home port. This is why Russia hasn't flooded the Black Sea with vessels from their Northern Fleet - they aren't allowed to transit. Even if Canada were to have the means to launch such an expedition (which we don't) we'd be blocked from entering the Black Sea. I struggle to see why someone with an apparent background in Naval matters would totally miss that fundamental point.
Well said Mr. Maloney. Our nation is led by a spineless idiot who is content to see our country go down the sewer as long as its 'inclusive', and everybody goes equally.
Sean, I see you "teach" at RMC. Have you ever "served" in your countries' military? I have - 32 years in the RCN (that's the Royal Canadian Navy). If you want Canada to sail a TF (that's a Task Force) out there to police the sea lines of communication (that's SLOC to you), understand that none of our ships would fare any better from an "accidental" missile hit than the Russian MOSKOVA did.
So, if you're still all Gung-ho about sending sailors and ships out there, how about starting off by signing up your own kids to that adventure, or at least advocating for decent defense spending. Failing that, I'll see you at your nearest recruitment center. Tell me where it is, and I'll be there at your swearing in ceremony.
I would be happy with Canada having a navy that could conduct this kind of operation, but this particular operation would be nuts.
We should have been arguing for the obvious compromise peace from day 1: Ukraine remains independent but out of NATO, Russia gets some land, sanctions lifted. After the bloody nose Russia got at the start, this would have been achievable without incentivizing Russia to try again.
But the US and Ukraine got greedy, and now look at the mess we are in. We'll be lucky to get what we could have had, and we have massively damaged NATO solidarity and Western economies.
Advocating nuclear war to hide political embarrassment is a mistake.
It is not related to the capabilities of the ships or willness to act. The RCN has two Halifax class frigates deployed with Standing NATO forces, and ready to act as escorts should those forces be deployed in that role.
As Mr E.J. James noted, we do not act without our allies.
The Author failed to note Turkey has exercised their rights under the Montreaux convention and closed the Dardanelles to Warships notbbasedbin the Black sea. Therefore HMC Ships have no way of entering the Black Sea.
Does the author also feel Canada should assume the unilateral responsibility for protecting the Odessa from Russian amphibious action? Ukraine will require some protection be in place before removing the mines guarding the port.
That said should there be a UN or NATO mission to escort grain ships out of the Ukraine, I would strongly support RCN participation.
I think Canadians are going to understand more in the coming years how little we matter. Our actions compared to our bragging has always bugged me. When we took in 25,000 Syrians you would have thought we had solved the whole civil war the way we brayed about it. If we had taken in the same proportion of our population as Germany it would have been 680,000 refugees. This has been a problem for decades. It doesn’t help that we have the worlds biggest blowhard as our PM right now. No government in history has talked more and delivered less.
Starvation in Afghanistan is already here, ongoing. Not being discussed, perhaps because fixing it would provide the military with no new work?
The people who can really win the Ukraine war, I think, are the good folks of western Europe that are not in the streets chanting "don't drive, don't fly, turn down your thermostat". If they can't be bothered to do that to impoverish the Russian war machine, I can't be bothered to get some Canadians shot trying to risk, ah "Toe-to-toe nuclear combat with the Russkies" [Slim Pickens, Dr. Strangelove]
First off, this is an excellent (but immensely distressing) column. It is immensely distressing simply because of it's truth.
The comments to this column pretty uniformly agree with the incredibly awful state of Canadian forces. Really, the only reason for the state of the forces is the selfishness of the Canadian electorate which always demands more and more bribes that must be financed somewhere, which means, of course, money from defense.
I started making notes to prepare my own comments along the above lines but I gave up. I will simply say that our navy, despite its many fine personnel, really has the real world capability of bath tub toys. That is to say, it has no real capability. As for the monies to be given to Irving? Well, how much will ultimately be spent (see latest demand for extra 300 million, etc.) and whether any new ships will be delivered in our grandchildren's lifetimes ....
Anyway, the whole state of Canada's defense infrastructure is so woeful that we might as well simply abolish the armed forces and put up a sign saying that anyone who wants (which sane country would?) can have this wretched country.
As a former Naval Officer, I can attest that we in fact do not have the capabilities to put together a task force. This is why we work closely with our allies. The centrepiece of any naval task force is the Aircraft carrier, which we have none. We have no ability to control the skies when our naval fleet is underway. We also do not posses battleships, just frigates and a handful of command and control platforms that are incapable of true air defence. Unless the United States deploys a task force, we are incapable of forming one ourselves.
I am not sure what the point of this was supposed to be. Sean is a professor at MilCol so no doubt he is more aware than most Canadians about the state of our forces. Was this supposed to rouse Canadians into being more interested in our naval capabilities? If so, this is a silly event to cast such a thing over. There is no reason for us to have task force capability as a navy. We do not deploy soldiers for war without the presence of our allies who have these capabilities and are willing to share. Why bother developing our own task force capabilities when we have the US right next door? What would a Canadian task force really do in this instance anyway? We can barely crew the ships we do have let alone the fleet that would be required to keep task force status. We cannot even get submarines in the water let alone manage a task force.
I was fortunate in 2006 to have been on one of the last “large” RCN training deployments (3 frigates, a command destroyer and a supply ship, when they were enroute to San Diego to join USN training). That we tend to now only send out one ship at a time is a function of having many fewer ships now than 2006 (and that was when we had a “small” navy), along with crewing and maintenance issues. The reason Sean is correct on this is — thanks to the usual Govt lack of interest and usual media bias on this issue (defence and security), it is not top of mind in the public fora — until the situation becomes very nasty — as it has so turned with the Ukrainian “problem.” There has been and will continue to be a (slight) flurry of activity with our Govt promising to sort out DND and not just for its scandals but for that which it is meant to exist (you know, defence and security) — then when the “problem” has passed, we will all go back to normal. It has been like that for decades. The last PM who took defence seriously was actually a French Canadian named Louis St Laurent — in the 1950s. Canadians deserve better. Whether they know it or not.
I agree. I think your words "It is a paralyzing combination of fear, bureaucratic stagnation, and a crippling lack of creativity that holds us back and forces us to watch our hard-won values system circle the drain" also apply to many things about Canada.
A military costs a fortune to supply and operate, and generates no revenue. Thus, it has historically been where the government goes to save money...until it's needed. Governments of both sides have starved it for funding for decades.....you can't get elected by spending money on things that don't create "goodies" for the voters. It's part of the massive vacuum of leadership that has kneecapped Canada in every way, shape and form. It's far too late to do anything to help with Russia's absurd invasion. But is there a leader...anywhere, with a vision and a plan for the country and how to start fixing the things that seem irreparably broken? Currently, no. We have to demand more from our leaders, but our divisions paralyse that thinking so things will continue to decay....sadly.
The problem wiuht taking any navala action in the Black Sea is the Montruex Convention which limits the passage of warships into the Black Sea with the exception of riparian nations and ships based inthe Black Sea (in Russia's case. Anay major force would have to be multinational and probaly under UN auspices.
The basic premise of this *entire piece* is wrong. Turkey has invoked the Montreux Convention and closed the Bosporus to all military vessels which are not from Black Sea states and not returning to their home port. This is why Russia hasn't flooded the Black Sea with vessels from their Northern Fleet - they aren't allowed to transit. Even if Canada were to have the means to launch such an expedition (which we don't) we'd be blocked from entering the Black Sea. I struggle to see why someone with an apparent background in Naval matters would totally miss that fundamental point.
Well said Mr. Maloney. Our nation is led by a spineless idiot who is content to see our country go down the sewer as long as its 'inclusive', and everybody goes equally.
"Sean M. Maloney, PhD is a professor of history at Royal Military College. His views do not reflect those of the Department of National Defence."
His point, exactly.
Sean, I see you "teach" at RMC. Have you ever "served" in your countries' military? I have - 32 years in the RCN (that's the Royal Canadian Navy). If you want Canada to sail a TF (that's a Task Force) out there to police the sea lines of communication (that's SLOC to you), understand that none of our ships would fare any better from an "accidental" missile hit than the Russian MOSKOVA did.
So, if you're still all Gung-ho about sending sailors and ships out there, how about starting off by signing up your own kids to that adventure, or at least advocating for decent defense spending. Failing that, I'll see you at your nearest recruitment center. Tell me where it is, and I'll be there at your swearing in ceremony.
I would be happy with Canada having a navy that could conduct this kind of operation, but this particular operation would be nuts.
We should have been arguing for the obvious compromise peace from day 1: Ukraine remains independent but out of NATO, Russia gets some land, sanctions lifted. After the bloody nose Russia got at the start, this would have been achievable without incentivizing Russia to try again.
But the US and Ukraine got greedy, and now look at the mess we are in. We'll be lucky to get what we could have had, and we have massively damaged NATO solidarity and Western economies.
Advocating nuclear war to hide political embarrassment is a mistake.
Sanctions have the ports shut down, even if food is exempt from sanctions, it can't get out. Plus Odessa is mined.
Long term there's the issue of fertilizer; even if sanctions stopped tomorrow the damage to that supply risks causing starvation.
Broader than just Canada. Any successful effort would require an international effort.
It is not related to the capabilities of the ships or willness to act. The RCN has two Halifax class frigates deployed with Standing NATO forces, and ready to act as escorts should those forces be deployed in that role.
As Mr E.J. James noted, we do not act without our allies.
The Author failed to note Turkey has exercised their rights under the Montreaux convention and closed the Dardanelles to Warships notbbasedbin the Black sea. Therefore HMC Ships have no way of entering the Black Sea.
Does the author also feel Canada should assume the unilateral responsibility for protecting the Odessa from Russian amphibious action? Ukraine will require some protection be in place before removing the mines guarding the port.
That said should there be a UN or NATO mission to escort grain ships out of the Ukraine, I would strongly support RCN participation.
I think Canadians are going to understand more in the coming years how little we matter. Our actions compared to our bragging has always bugged me. When we took in 25,000 Syrians you would have thought we had solved the whole civil war the way we brayed about it. If we had taken in the same proportion of our population as Germany it would have been 680,000 refugees. This has been a problem for decades. It doesn’t help that we have the worlds biggest blowhard as our PM right now. No government in history has talked more and delivered less.
Starvation in Afghanistan is already here, ongoing. Not being discussed, perhaps because fixing it would provide the military with no new work?
The people who can really win the Ukraine war, I think, are the good folks of western Europe that are not in the streets chanting "don't drive, don't fly, turn down your thermostat". If they can't be bothered to do that to impoverish the Russian war machine, I can't be bothered to get some Canadians shot trying to risk, ah "Toe-to-toe nuclear combat with the Russkies" [Slim Pickens, Dr. Strangelove]
First off, this is an excellent (but immensely distressing) column. It is immensely distressing simply because of it's truth.
The comments to this column pretty uniformly agree with the incredibly awful state of Canadian forces. Really, the only reason for the state of the forces is the selfishness of the Canadian electorate which always demands more and more bribes that must be financed somewhere, which means, of course, money from defense.
I started making notes to prepare my own comments along the above lines but I gave up. I will simply say that our navy, despite its many fine personnel, really has the real world capability of bath tub toys. That is to say, it has no real capability. As for the monies to be given to Irving? Well, how much will ultimately be spent (see latest demand for extra 300 million, etc.) and whether any new ships will be delivered in our grandchildren's lifetimes ....
Anyway, the whole state of Canada's defense infrastructure is so woeful that we might as well simply abolish the armed forces and put up a sign saying that anyone who wants (which sane country would?) can have this wretched country.