sorry all for the troll that keeps turning up on this site under ever-changing aliases. Thanks for all the legitimate comments and to Richard Gimblett for pointing out his new book
A very good article, Mr. Wark. The dilemma of inadequate air defence capabilities for the Halifax class, the preponderance of drone attacks and the consequences of a US/Israeli incursion without notification to allies has placed the RCN in an awkward position.
I have just learned more about Canada's naval vessels than I ever knew. By this account, Canada is not ready to supply vessels that care take care of themselves if attacked overhead. Are there any other non-vessel components to the Mission that Canada could supply?
By the way, I read on Rick Wilson's substack of May 8th that China signed a very recent deal with Saudi and ?Kuwait? to use its Belt and Road program for building pipelines and rail lines that would (in time) bypass the Strait of Hormuz, and run to the Red Sea. Worth investigating.
I would normally always say we should help support our Allies especially the French and British BUT...We should do our best to keep the Straight closed , hell we should blockade it ourselves or even support Iran blocking it . The reason for this is since the U.S. has economically attacked Canada via Tariffs , including 50% Tariffs on aluminum they have been ordering the bulk of there Aluminum from the U.A.E. and Bahrain which needs to travel the straight of Hormuz to get to the U.S. lol. All them Missile interceptors the U.S. has been shooting off like bottle rockets , guess what there made of ? Aluminum lol . The U.S. is out of there Aluminum stock pile , they cant manufacture any more to replace the ones they have used and trump refuses to lower tariffs on Canada , Iran has them bent over a barrel . Its in Canada National Interest to keep that straight closed NOT OPEN IT .
The same go's for every E.U. Country , they need to explain to there people why the U.S. wants the straights open , why its in there National Interest to keep them closed and that we all have to bite the bullet of higher Gas / Oil prices for as long as it takes . " Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake " , lets follow that advice . the U.S. has made a strategic error ( why is not our business ) its in EVERY COUNTRY'S who the U.S. has levied Tariffs against National Interest to back IRAN and keep the Straights closed ( cant believe we are in a situation where this is a geological fact but we did not start this trade war ) if we have to go to War with Iran at a later date to open them , then that's what we do but for now doing anything to help open that water way would be foolish and we would be working against out OWN NATIONAL INTREST . Canada , E.U. , ROK , Jap , Aus , NZ should all sail there and join Iran and keep that thing closed . If that's not on the table we should get in contact with Iran and immediately start negotiations to see what we would need to give them to BLOW every Aluminum smelter in the GCC off the face of this planet , we got to do what we got to do and this is a good move .
The irony is that in the last two Gulf Wars (1990-91 & 2001-03) the Canadian Navy (it wasn’t then Royal again yet) had significant coalition command roles because of its then-uniquely high level of interoperability with the USN. Also we had on both those occasions been able to despatch full national task groups with good-enough capabilities to look after themselves and contribute meaningfully. Not — as you observe — the case now. Link is to my article on all this in the on-line Canadian Encyclopedia:
Further shameless self-promotion: my newly-published book “Guardians of the North” (Dundurn 2025) has detailed discussion of all the ship classes you note herein. With beautiful side profile drawings by co-author Karl Gagnon.
Good comment from Brian, your reply option is not visible. Our friends are not necessarily our friends, certainly those south of the 49th. Go Princess Pats!
Where you talking about me comment buds ? What's going on with the spam crap on this page , any idea ? i just stumbled upon this article , took a look , left a reply and boom lol , Cheers
There’s someone who seems to have a huge animosity towards Wesley and enters multiple insulting comments. He keeps changing his name, presumably to prevent him from being banned. I’ve reported him multiple times. Not sure if he’s here today, I haven’t got that far.
I can assure you, I’m not park of the scam conspiracy. Some guy under always changing aliases stalks Wesley Wark. The first thing I do with Wesley’s articles is to block the idiot.
Jesus , stalking some one on the internet serves no purpose from what i can tell , Sure the nutjobs who do it face to face are crazy but at least they get to achieve there goal lol .
I am kind of new to this sub stack thing , i was wondering how you figured i was a Dirty Patricia. Then i hovered over my name and seen it comes up . Ya , they Yankees are a hostile foreign power working against His Majesty's National Interest , our government needs to start treating them that way and more so to the Canadians that collaborate with them, give them the Kings Justice ....a long drop and a sudden stop ...Cheers buds .
Thanks Mr. Wark. There is another, crucial aspect to this story:
Canada and others will be subjected to intense pressure this week to support the new US / Bahrain UN Security Council Resolution calling for more coercive measures against Iran in case of its non-compliance, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, and for a humanitarian corridor.
I have made several observations about this in Notes and in an earlier article on the risks of Canada getting ensnared in the conflict.
A humanitarian corridor is vitally needed. WFP projects that 43 million people could fall into acute food insecurity if the Strait is not re-opened to passage of aid goods, fertilizers, etc., and from continued high oil prices past the middle of the year.
But it is an exceptionally bad idea to marry humanitarian efforts to fragile political / military processes where there is no formal ceasefire to an unresolved conflict.
Iran has confirmed anew yesterday that the British / French-led effort is not perceived by Iran to be either neutral or impartial: by association, countries like Canada that have been participating in this effort & engaged in military planning risk being drawn into the conflict as combatants.
Canada should suspend its military preparations for this mission and focus diplomatic efforts on actively supporting an independent, UN-led humanitarian corridor.
Wesley. A real education in this substack - Thank You! Canada has to get a lot done in short order to be a credible partner and offer the support we should to global concerns, and this is a big one.
We can't aid with intelligence collection? Maybe we should leave the frigates home if they can easily be bombed by Shahids. Ugh. :/ The best thing might be to just send the MMM some maple syrup and stay out of it.
sorry all for the troll that keeps turning up on this site under ever-changing aliases. Thanks for all the legitimate comments and to Richard Gimblett for pointing out his new book
A very good article, Mr. Wark. The dilemma of inadequate air defence capabilities for the Halifax class, the preponderance of drone attacks and the consequences of a US/Israeli incursion without notification to allies has placed the RCN in an awkward position.
I have just learned more about Canada's naval vessels than I ever knew. By this account, Canada is not ready to supply vessels that care take care of themselves if attacked overhead. Are there any other non-vessel components to the Mission that Canada could supply?
By the way, I read on Rick Wilson's substack of May 8th that China signed a very recent deal with Saudi and ?Kuwait? to use its Belt and Road program for building pipelines and rail lines that would (in time) bypass the Strait of Hormuz, and run to the Red Sea. Worth investigating.
I would normally always say we should help support our Allies especially the French and British BUT...We should do our best to keep the Straight closed , hell we should blockade it ourselves or even support Iran blocking it . The reason for this is since the U.S. has economically attacked Canada via Tariffs , including 50% Tariffs on aluminum they have been ordering the bulk of there Aluminum from the U.A.E. and Bahrain which needs to travel the straight of Hormuz to get to the U.S. lol. All them Missile interceptors the U.S. has been shooting off like bottle rockets , guess what there made of ? Aluminum lol . The U.S. is out of there Aluminum stock pile , they cant manufacture any more to replace the ones they have used and trump refuses to lower tariffs on Canada , Iran has them bent over a barrel . Its in Canada National Interest to keep that straight closed NOT OPEN IT .
The same go's for every E.U. Country , they need to explain to there people why the U.S. wants the straights open , why its in there National Interest to keep them closed and that we all have to bite the bullet of higher Gas / Oil prices for as long as it takes . " Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake " , lets follow that advice . the U.S. has made a strategic error ( why is not our business ) its in EVERY COUNTRY'S who the U.S. has levied Tariffs against National Interest to back IRAN and keep the Straights closed ( cant believe we are in a situation where this is a geological fact but we did not start this trade war ) if we have to go to War with Iran at a later date to open them , then that's what we do but for now doing anything to help open that water way would be foolish and we would be working against out OWN NATIONAL INTREST . Canada , E.U. , ROK , Jap , Aus , NZ should all sail there and join Iran and keep that thing closed . If that's not on the table we should get in contact with Iran and immediately start negotiations to see what we would need to give them to BLOW every Aluminum smelter in the GCC off the face of this planet , we got to do what we got to do and this is a good move .
Good points about aluminum.
Good analysis and general conclusions Wes.
The irony is that in the last two Gulf Wars (1990-91 & 2001-03) the Canadian Navy (it wasn’t then Royal again yet) had significant coalition command roles because of its then-uniquely high level of interoperability with the USN. Also we had on both those occasions been able to despatch full national task groups with good-enough capabilities to look after themselves and contribute meaningfully. Not — as you observe — the case now. Link is to my article on all this in the on-line Canadian Encyclopedia:
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-naval-operations-in-the-south-west-asia-theatre
Further shameless self-promotion: my newly-published book “Guardians of the North” (Dundurn 2025) has detailed discussion of all the ship classes you note herein. With beautiful side profile drawings by co-author Karl Gagnon.
Good comment from Brian, your reply option is not visible. Our friends are not necessarily our friends, certainly those south of the 49th. Go Princess Pats!
Where you talking about me comment buds ? What's going on with the spam crap on this page , any idea ? i just stumbled upon this article , took a look , left a reply and boom lol , Cheers
There’s someone who seems to have a huge animosity towards Wesley and enters multiple insulting comments. He keeps changing his name, presumably to prevent him from being banned. I’ve reported him multiple times. Not sure if he’s here today, I haven’t got that far.
Oh, he’ll probably show up again….
Yep !
I can assure you, I’m not park of the scam conspiracy. Some guy under always changing aliases stalks Wesley Wark. The first thing I do with Wesley’s articles is to block the idiot.
Jesus , stalking some one on the internet serves no purpose from what i can tell , Sure the nutjobs who do it face to face are crazy but at least they get to achieve there goal lol .
I am kind of new to this sub stack thing , i was wondering how you figured i was a Dirty Patricia. Then i hovered over my name and seen it comes up . Ya , they Yankees are a hostile foreign power working against His Majesty's National Interest , our government needs to start treating them that way and more so to the Canadians that collaborate with them, give them the Kings Justice ....a long drop and a sudden stop ...Cheers buds .
The RCD and new Corvettes can't come fast enough.
Thanks Mr. Wark. There is another, crucial aspect to this story:
Canada and others will be subjected to intense pressure this week to support the new US / Bahrain UN Security Council Resolution calling for more coercive measures against Iran in case of its non-compliance, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, and for a humanitarian corridor.
I have made several observations about this in Notes and in an earlier article on the risks of Canada getting ensnared in the conflict.
A humanitarian corridor is vitally needed. WFP projects that 43 million people could fall into acute food insecurity if the Strait is not re-opened to passage of aid goods, fertilizers, etc., and from continued high oil prices past the middle of the year.
But it is an exceptionally bad idea to marry humanitarian efforts to fragile political / military processes where there is no formal ceasefire to an unresolved conflict.
Iran has confirmed anew yesterday that the British / French-led effort is not perceived by Iran to be either neutral or impartial: by association, countries like Canada that have been participating in this effort & engaged in military planning risk being drawn into the conflict as combatants.
Canada should suspend its military preparations for this mission and focus diplomatic efforts on actively supporting an independent, UN-led humanitarian corridor.
Wesley. A real education in this substack - Thank You! Canada has to get a lot done in short order to be a credible partner and offer the support we should to global concerns, and this is a big one.
Hon Wayne Easter
We can't aid with intelligence collection? Maybe we should leave the frigates home if they can easily be bombed by Shahids. Ugh. :/ The best thing might be to just send the MMM some maple syrup and stay out of it.