Hello Sailorwest. I hope all is well at Tecumseh.
I just want to correct a few facts here. Before the MCDV's, the Naval Reserve never manned ships on a permanent basis as a method of operation. In the few years leading to the arrival of MCDV's, it was felt that the knowledge base and experience of all reservists had to be raised to prepare for the switch from Gate vessels and PB's. To do that, a small cadre of reservists were put on long term contracts and two ships were acquired to provide better platforms for training (mostly in minesweeping): The Moresby and Anticosti. These are the only ships that the reserve manned on a permanent basis before the MCDV's.
Otherwise, the reserve operated six ships (five Gate Vessels and Fort Steele, sometimes added to this: the fifth PB) full time for four summer months to provide MWV BWK training and trade training OJT. These same ships were used in fall, winter and spring to carry out week-end training of reserves. These ships each had regular force "custodian" who was the DA holder for all onboard materiel and a regular force chief engineer. These two seaman sailed with the ship in the summer and on week-ends unless the reserve unit using the ship was able to provide for these positions. Also, on each coast, the administrative unit in charge of the reserve ships was augmented by a certain number of officers and trades people who were on an extended contracts, usually for a year or two, who assisted and supported those functions.
For instance, I had a year free between my two university courses in the early 80's and put that year in with (then) TD3 on the West coast. From the end of one school year to the beginning of the next, it went like this: from May to August, full time manning, I acted as a ship's officer, from September to April, with TD3, I provided administrative support for the various units coming down for the week end training, and when need be augmented their crew if they were short watch keepers, then May to August, back to being ship's officer for the summer. During that time one other officer was on a contract with me for the winter and about eight-nine other trades people, working out to about three or four of us per ship.
When the MCDV's were purchased, they were to replace all six reserve ships and to replace the PB's which were manned by the regular force and used for Mars III and first phase Mars IV training. However, after the MCDV's came online, the regular force ceased manning any of the MCDV,s (even though there was a slight increase of regular force personnel assigned to the MCDV's to cover the electrical/electronics trades ) and the whole burden fell squarely on the reserve to full time man ten ships. If this made sense for a few years at the beginning, in order to create quickly a core of trained personnel in every reserve units, it has long outlived its usefulness and has now long been a detrimental drag on the reserve. And yes, all this has been done without any increase in overall number of reservists.
So, having burned the candle from both ends, the Navy and in particular, the Reserve, finds itself where it should have been about two years after the introduction of the MCDV's to the fleet. It must make some serious decisions based on its view of the need for these vessels and for a credible and sustainable reserve force:
1) Do I need some of these MCDV's for Mars III and Mars IV, first phase training? If so, take these ships, put them on the West coast and man them fully with regular force personnel, like the old PB's. (Besides, the old PB's provided the reg force with something it is now missing: junior commands that let up and coming LCdrs show their mettle in preparation for later major commands - Trust me, it would also help the reg force with retention of LCdrs).
2) Do I want a viable reserve force as a basis for expansion in case of major conflict? If so, go back to the concept of operation that was used with the Gate vessels. You may have to increase the number of regular force support personnel to five or six per ship (CERA, Custodian, Buffer, Sr ET, Sr NET and maybe a A/CERA) from the two we used to have, but it will again provide the reserve with large number of sea positions in the summer and full training week ends. This will help with part timer's retention in reserve units, increase morale and go back to sustainability levels, though it may require foregoing some of the more exotic types of operations, such as route survey or ROV operations, but not necessarily so.
If, however, the Navy decided that it NEEDS all ten MCDV's manned and ready full time, it should then man them all fully with regular force personnel and find some other way to train the reserves.
As you can see, splitting the ships between East and West to perform these two tasks would likely end up requiring eight MCDV's in Esquimalt and four in Halifax.
By the way, if the Navy intends to operate the AOPS in the arctic, or the gulf of St-Lawrence for that matter, when ice is present, the reserve will NOT be able to operate them, and in fact the regular force will find it difficult. I am originally from Quebec City, home of the largest fleet of icebreakers of the Coast-Guard , and have many friends on those ships. They reckon a watch keeper is safe to operate by herself in iced waters after acquiring about two to three years (cumulative - not calendar) of experience and a captain needs about ten to fifteen years.
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