The new HMCS Protecteur was launched Dec. 13 but the Royal Canadian Navy public affairs did its best to ingore the event. (Seaspan photo).

By Newell Durnbrooke

It’s not every day a new ship is launched for the Royal Canadian Navy.

So when the new HMCS Protecteur supply/replenish/joint support ship was launched on Friday, December 13, 2024 you would think it would be a big deal. After all, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and RCN commander Vice Adm. Angus Topshee attended the event.

But it was pretty much radio silence out of Canadian Forces/DND and RCN public affairs branches. There was no news release sent out to journalists. There was no backgrounder outlining the capabilities of the new vessel sent out or put online for journalists/the public, as has been the case previously. No photos were proactively sent to reporters. No journalists were contacted to conduct interviews with senior RCN personnel about the new ship.

Now Seaspan directly contacted journalists and proactively provided them with photos and information.

But the official public affairs branch of the Canadian Armed Forces, with its hundreds of public affairs officers, was a no show when it came to what is known as the mainstream news media (ie, print, radio and TV) as well as any information on its public website. Go to the main DND/CAF page and you will page news releases about Bill Blair, etc. but nothing on the new ship.

Instead, the RCN publicity was focused on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). On late Friday, Dec. 13 it posted a photo of the new ship on Facebook. On X, it had a tweet the day before and a tweet of the day of the launch, with some photos. Maybe that is the way to go for publicity these days…who knows.

Despite the lack of RCN/CAF outreach, journalists did show up for the event.

The speeches were covered live on the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) since the prime minister was involved.

The Canadian Press news wire service, produced an article that was carried in many newspapers. TV crews, again those invited by Seaspan’s initiative, showed up and that resulted in some coverage.

The irony of course is that senior Canadian Armed Forces officers continuously complain about the lack of positive news coverage from mainstream news outlets….yet they don’t lift a finger to promote a positive news story when they have one.

By David Pugliese

National Defence and the Royal Canadian Navy heralded what they said was a successful exercise off the coast of Southern California. His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Regina was involved in Joint Littoral Targeting Exercise 2024 (JoLTEX 24) at the United States Navy’s Point Mugu Sea Range.

JoLTEX included firing a surface-to-surface missile against a simulated surface-to-surface combatant, using a Harpoon Block II missile.

“The successful launch of a Harpoon Block II missile at a littoral (or near-shore) target reinforces a critical capability for Canada’s Pacific Fleet,” claimed Commodore Dave Mazur, Commander Canadian Fleet Pacific.

Commander Jeremy Samson, Commanding Officer HMCS Regina, also highlighted the success. “His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Regina’s precise delivery of surface-to-surface kinetic effects during Joint Littoral Targeting Exercise 2024demonstrates the crew’s commitment to combat readiness and their professional excellence,” he stated.

But two days later on Oct. 25, Todd Coyne of CTV News Vancouver reported what really happened.

A RCN missile test was aborted mid-flight after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California, Coyne reported.

The Harpoon Block II missile was lost at sea after it was fired from HMCS Regina, he added in his online article.

Samson admitted to CTV, that the missile's flight was terminated approximately 30 to 60 seconds after it was launched toward a surface target situated about 55 kilometres from the ship. "Without getting into too many of the technical details, there was an issue with the first missile," Samson said in a telephone interview with Coyne.

No details were provided

"When you fire a missile on a range, there are safety procedures to make sure the missile is doing what it's supposed to, and losing that communication can cause you to order the missile to destruct," he added.

A Department of National Defence spokesperson told Coyne the precision-guided missile plunged in the ocean within the 93,000-square-kilometre sea range and was not recoverable.

HMCS Regina followed up the failed shot with a second attempt, which "reached its target and fulfilled stated mission requirements," the National Defence spokesperson explained to CTV.

National Defence did not provide a reason why it didn’t acknowledge the failed test in the first place.

HMCS Regina followed up the failed shot with a second attempt, which "reached its target and fulfilled stated mission requirements," the National Defence spokesperson said.

The Harpoon Block II missile, estimated to cost upwards of $2 million each, is not a new weapon for the Royal Canadian Navy, Coyne reported.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/canadian-warship-missile-test-aborted-mid-flight-after-communication-failure-1.7087752