RCN charting a new course in command roles and the reserves

[Stoker]

That is a good point, and one that may be applied to the army reserve as well as the navy reserve. Have we ever, in the last 30 years or so, looked at a reserve unit and said -- "not sustainable, time to close it down?" I'm not talking about reroleing, or the various reorgs that have happened in the service battalions, signals, artillery and engineer worlds that still kept the same people working in the same armories, under new names. I'm talking about actually closing down a reserve unit. I remember that happening to the combat engineer unit in Flin Flon, Manitoba, but that's the only one that comes to mind.

Is there a point where a reserve unit just isn't sustainable anymore? Or is it so difficult to establish a footprint in a new town, that it is worth keeping a unit running even if it's a CO, 50 troops and a weapons vault, because once you lose it, it's probably gone forever?

Although this is probably off-topic for the reorg of the RCN. Mods, feel free to move it.

The only naval reserve unit that I know of that was paid off was HMCS Caribou in Corner Brook NL. Opened in 53 and paid off in 64, not sure why though. There were more but they were reactivated.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Not quite. HMCS Chatam also has been desestablished.

Moreover, I suggest you consult the back of the book "Citizen Sailors" that came out during the centenary year. You will see that many of the currently existing units have had a history of being stood up for a few years, then stood down for many others, then back in commission, etc. Malahat has been in and out of existence three times already.

The Navy has no qualms with opening and closing reserve units, which are not like "regiments" in the Army, but like ships so they can commission/decommission as the need arises.

 

[dapaterson]

The Fd Engr Sqn in Flin Flon Manitoba went away; urban legend has a CO who didn't quite understand the difference between the Crown's property and that of his personal business. 

 

[Old Sweat]

The Fd Engr Sqn in Flin Flon Manitoba went away; urban legend has a CO who didn't quite understand the difference between the Crown's property and that of his personal business.

Rumour also has it that once the Cold War went away the cover story for the field squadron also disappeared. A story I heard had to do with conductivity of signals of seismic events, such as subsurface nuclear detonations, through hard rock.

 

[Monsoon]

Not quite. HMCS Chatam also has been desestablished.

Moreover, I suggest you consult the back of the book "Citizen Sailors" that came out during the centenary year. You will see that many of the currently existing units have had a history of being stood up for a few years, then stood down for many others, then back in commission, etc. Malahat has been in and out of existence three times already.

The Navy has no qualms with opening and closing reserve units, which are not like "regiments" in the Army, but like ships so they can commission/decommission as the need arises.

Well said. More recently, a couple of projected NAVRES units that made it to the execution phase of the Naval Presence in Quebec expansion plan were shuttered at some point early on: planned units in Valleyfield and Sherbrooke, if I recall correctly.