# Life on a Royal Canadian Navy Ship (Compared to American)



## Teen_Cadet (7 Jul 2013)

http://youtu.be/SYrX5PYEtYE

I've been trying to find YouTube videos about life on a naval vessel (specifically Canadian) because of my interest in the Navy. I did find this video of a tour of an American ship, and was wondering if any sailors on here could comment on how Canada's ships compare to the one in this video? (E.g. Size, qaulity, how crowded it is, utilities on board, etc) 
Also if anyone could link videos of tours of Canadian warships that would be appreciated. 
Thanks in advance  

P.S. I've done lots of research on this site about navy life, I'm just now scouring YouTube for the visual component. Also, if the title is misleading and an admin can think of a better feel free to change it.


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## yoman (7 Jul 2013)

Here's a little mini series on the FREDERICTON.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzZ6HWR2IJU

There's 5 episodes with each being around 5 minutes.


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## Teen_Cadet (7 Jul 2013)

Thanks for that link. I watched the series and it was very informative


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## Lumber (6 Aug 2013)

We wake up at 7 am, have comfortable lounges with lots of entertainment like movies and video games. We have booze on board.

US warships wake up at 6 am ( or earlier), you pay for all your meals on board, their eating messes dont have couches, no beer on board, and they stand WAY more duty watches and have fewer port visits. 

Mind you, this is all from the perspective of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. OHPs, Ticos and Carriers night be a little different.


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## Teen_Cadet (6 Aug 2013)

Lumber said:
			
		

> We wake up at 7 am, have comfortable lounges with lots of entertainment like movies and video games. We have booze on board.
> 
> US warships wake up at 6 am ( or earlier), you pay for all your meals on board, their eating messes dont have couches, no beer on board, and they stand WAY more duty watches and have fewer port visits.
> 
> Mind you, this is all from the perspective of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. OHPs, Ticos and Carriers night be a little different.



Thanks for the info!! Through these responses and other research I'm getting a pretty good mental picture of what shipboard life is like in the RCN. Makes me very excited and hopeful


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## Navy_Pete (6 Aug 2013)

My impression from touring a Tico and a carrier was that our ships were generally just more relaxed.  Aside from couches and beer, struck me as generally less formal.  Not air force informal, but also not standing at attention while having routine conversations.  Each time I've been in common port visits they've also always had curfews, varying between 10 pm and 2 am (sometimes varying by rank as well), where in my relatively limited time on ship as long as you were back onboard before 7 am, or at least called in with an address, you were okay.  Personally think that's a result of their dry ship policy resulting in the guys completely blowing their heads off the first chance they get.

Their ships are much better supported though, so are in better shape generally.  Not sure if cleaner is the right word, but definitely seemed a bit brighter or otherwise less worn.  Carrier had a food court with fast food, which was kind of weird.  Accommodations seemed comparable though, when you looked at the era the ships were built in.  I think it's pretty safe to say we use very common design specifications to a number of navies so we all have the same rock hard mattresses and plastic pillows that manage to be hard and lumpy at the same time.

Not complaining though; don't have to sleep in a trench or carry my own gear, meals don't come in an shiny pouch and can normally get a hot shower daily.

The USN crew is more specialized though, so although it's handy to have someone who is an expert at one piece of kit, they are moderately useless at other things, whereas our sailors are more of jack of all trades with a wider range of shallower knowledge.  Doesn't have anything to do with the accommodations, but did seem to make a big difference in the day to day life for the average sailor and what they do at sea.  Not really sure if that means they get more or less time working on an average day then our folks, probably fairly trade dependent.

Not sure where you are, but ships frequently do a Great Lakes run and make numerous port visits along the way.  Even easier on the coasts;  wouldn't hurt to ask at the recruiting centre if they know of any similar opportunities.  I've had cadet groups or other small tours come by while on duty on a weekend in Halifax for an hour or so as well as come out for the family day sails.  Good luck!


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