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There's nothing classified in the simulation, so it doesn't matter what you enter... so no. Plus, my brain is too old; I don't remember it!Did you keep the original ASN-123 log in code?
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There's nothing classified in the simulation, so it doesn't matter what you enter... so no. Plus, my brain is too old; I don't remember it!Did you keep the original ASN-123 log in code?
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‘123456’?Neither do I. But I will bet that if I sat in front of an ASN-123, closed my eyes and just let my hands move, they would punch in the correct code from muscle memory…
Nope…‘123456’?
I had a discussion with one of the well known Sea King historians late last week on how we capture some of the details of the Cyclone acquisition in a factual, non-political, and unbiased way. It wasn’t the first time we talked about it; him wanting me to write some stuff down is one of the reasons I’ve been floating thought bubbles in this thread. It also Tues into some of the Sea King decisions that were made that got us here.
I shudder to think how we capture whatever might be going on right now, given the Comd RCN’s comments.
That is true, however...Off topic somewhat:
The Sea King/EH 101/Cyclone saga would make Pentagon Wars look like a case study of proper procurement management. But this is Canada, a nation that never holds anyone to account for boondoggles, scandals, business screw-ups or even Mass Murder (Portapique) . Where other nations have a cultural industry that will write books or produce movies and or mini-series for wider awareness, Canada will just look the other way, consume US culture and tut tut about how bad things are there while our house burns down around us.
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#1240 Rogers vs. Rogers
”You've got a father who never respected you, you've got a family who doesn't respect you, and you have all of this power available to you that your family assumes you will never use.” -Michael Healey, author of Rogers vs. Rogerswww.canadaland.com
I remember getting to Fraser in 1991 and thinking “I read Hunt for Red October while hauling grain during harvest a dozen times. I now realize that Canada was sending its sailors to a needless death if the balloon went up during the height of the Cold War.”Not directly part of the Sea King story, but...
What if the RCN had a plan for HMCS Bonaventure?
As far as I can tell, when the Banshee was retired in 1962 there were never any serious attempts to find a replacement, notwithstanding the abortive looks at the A-4.. As well, there seems to have been a disconnect with the building of the St Laurent class and the reality of the evolving threat. Other classes of the time were starting to incorporate air defense, and area air defense was in full development. Self defense examples are the Charles F. Adams class with Tartar, and the Leander class with the Seacat. Area air defense vessels included the Belknap class cruiser in the USN and the County class destroyer in the RN. Canada did not acquire a point defense capability until the Iroquois class, and an area defense capability until TRUMP, in the early '90s.
Why is this significant. Around the time of Bonnie's retiremnt in 1970, Soviet Naval Aviation were starting to acquire long range maritime strike, in particular the TU-22M Backfire, carrying the 320nm range Kh-22 Storm. Operating an ASW group centered around Bonnie in that threat environment would have been suicidal. Can the argument be made that the only reason that a Canadian ASW Task Group of that era have operated in wartime conditions is because it would have been "insignificant" enough that the Backfires' attention would have been elsewhere?
Air defence requires layers: the outer layer is a fighter CAP, the middle layer area air defence, and the inner layer the point defnce systems. In the case of the Backfire, it is desirable to attrit some of them before they launch. Hence the need for the fighter.
One option would have been what was considered in some measure. Actually obtain the A-4G Skyhawk which was developed for the RAN for fleet air defence operating from HMAS Melbourne. Additionally, the Improved basic point defense missile system (IBPDMS) could have been installed in the early 70's. Finally, could the Iroquois class have been given an area air defence capability from the start. Would these measures have kept Bonnie relavant as the center of an ASW TG?
Would such a plan have possibly led to consideration of acquiring 1-2 Invincible class through deck cruisers (aircraft carriers) and Sea Harriers to operate off them?
This thought bubble is not merely "what might have been." It also informs why the decision to dispose of Bonnie "as she was" in reality was driven as much by operational need, as it was by politics, unification, and down-sizing. Which in turn speaks to how we reconfigured the Sea King in the 70's.
And all this also speaks to how we went from 20 "cadillac" derivatives of the St Laurent class (incl the St Laurents, Restigouches, Mackenzies, and Annapolis') to 8 effective ones for ASW (the DDHs) that still couldn't defend themselves from air attack...
I remember the HS Symposiums but never went. We were never encouraged to go and in hindsight that was very shortsighted thinking. It seems to me that at times the Air Det was an inconvenience to the ships company and we still treat the air asset on our ships as something to be tolerated and not exploited to its fullest.That is true, however...
As I've said, I've been doing quite a bit of primary source research on the Sea King. The problems started well before the contracts for the EH-101 were let. In particular, there was a lot of hubris around the thought that the Canadian MH "can do" attitude could mean we could make the jump to "the best Maritime Helicopter in the world." In hindsight, it was unlikely. Therefore we wrote a spec for a helicopter that didn't exist in an environment where we didn't have the skills to help create it. Hell, we didn't even have the skills to write the spec properly (I'm saying that as someone who participated in spec reviews and interpretations).
Right up to to demolition of the Officer's Mess (Wardroom!) at Shearwater a few years ago there was a sticker from an early '90s HS Symposium (we used to actually take the time to talk about doctrine, tactics, and procedures each year) that had a EH-101 nose on the left facing a Sea King nose on the right, with the caption "Can we get there... from here?" on it. Someone had wrote in pen "Hell, no." There were cracks showing right from the start.
My experience, also dated, was that was the case until:I remember the HS Symposiums but never went. We were never encouraged to go and in hindsight that was very shortsighted thinking. It seems to me that at times the Air Det was an inconvenience to the ships company and we still treat the air asset on our ships as something to be tolerated and not exploited to its fullest.
Hopefully someone more current with operations can prove my comment wrong.
Yes.So which statement is true?
The Navy has an Air Force problem. The Air Force has a maritime problem.
The CAF has an Air Power problem.
Off topic somewhat:
The Sea King/EH 101/Cyclone saga would make Pentagon Wars look like a case study of proper procurement management. But this is Canada, a nation that never holds anyone to account for boondoggles, scandals, business screw-ups or even Mass Murder (Portapique) .