Maritime Forces Atlantic
![]() | This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (October 2011) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2007) |
Maritime Forces Atlantic | |
---|---|
File:Mf-atlantic-600.png | |
Country | Canada |
Branch | Royal Canadian Navy |
Size | 10,700 |
Garrison/HQ | Canadian Forces Base Halifax |
Motto(s) | Warden of the North Atlantic |
Commanders | |
Commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic | RAdm Brian Santarpia |
Commander of Canadian Fleet Atlantic | Cmdre Trevor MacLean |
Commodore-in-Chief (Atlantic Fleet) | King Charles III |
In the Canadian Forces, Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) is responsible for the fleet training and operational readiness of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. It was once referred to as Canadian Atlantic Station.
Structure
Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic (COMMARLANT) is also the Commander Joint Task Force Atlantic (COMMJTFA), holding the rank of rear admiral.
Reporting to the commander is the commander of Canadian Fleet Atlantic (COMCANFLTLANT), holding the rank of commodore. This officer commands Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), and is responsible for the operation and readiness of all warships, auxiliaries and support vessels.[1] COMCANFLTLANT is also the Canadian task group commander for any CANFLTLANT deployment of ships to exercises or operations.
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis:[2]
the operational commander in Halifax, Rear Admiral Kenneth Dyer, was not prepared to take any chances in the nuclear age, and the scope of the Canadian Navy’s actions capture the seriousness of the crisis: ships and aircraft were dispersed with wartime payloads and provisions; secondary headquarters and bases were prepared; vessels in maintenance were rushed to sea; and Bonaventure and its escorts were ordered home from a NATO exercise in the eastern Atlantic. Of the 136 “contact events” made in or near Canada’s WESTLANT (western Atlantic) zone – without Soviet archival corroboration the number that were actual submarines remains a mystery – there is little doubt that HMCS Kootenay was firmly tracking a Foxtrot off Georges Bank in early November.
Previously the commander of RCN forces in the Atlantic was the flag officer, Atlantic coast, from 1948 Rear Admiral Rollo Mainguy; Roger Bidwell in the 1950s;[3] Rear Admiral Kenneth Dyer in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis; Commodore Ralph Henessy (August 1963–October 1964)[4] in August 1964 Rear-Admiral Jeffrey Brock (to November 1964);[5] Rear Admiral William Landymore by 1965; (p.9); Rear Admiral John O'Brien by 1966 (p.14); thereafter the position may have been amalgamated with commander Maritime Command for several years; Rear Admiral Greg Maddison (1 July 1997, p.133); Rear Admiral Duncan Miller (in post 1 October 1997, still in post 1 July 1999, p.150).
Units and facilities
MARLANT headquarters is located at CFB Halifax in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Other facilities include:
- CANFLTLANT HQ (Building D-166)
- Fifth Maritime Operations Group (Building D-165/166)
- Sea Training Atlantic (Building D-166)
- CFAD Bedford
- CFS St. John's
- Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic
- NRS Newport Corner
- NRS Mill Cove
- Shearwater Heliport
- HMC Dockyard
- HMCS Trinity
- Stadacona
- Stadacona Band of Maritime Forces Atlantic
Prior to Unification the Atlantic Command assignments were:
- HMCS Bonaventure
- First Canadian Escort Squadron – assigned WWII-era destroyers
- First Canadian Minesweeping Squadron
- Third Canadian Escort Squadron – assigned WWII-era destroyers
- Special Duties – escort maintenance ship, diving depot ship, gate vessel (A/S boom and training ship), 3 harbour patrol craft
- Fifth Canadian Escort Squadron – assigned post-WWII destroyers
- Sixth Submarine Squadron – a Royal Navy squadron based in Halifax with 2 WWII-era Amphion-class submarines to monitor Soviet activity in Caribbean especially during Cuban Missile Crisis. Both boats had been in Canada in the 1950s for brief anti-submarine training.
- Seventh Canadian Escort Squadron – assigned WWII-era frigates
- Ninth Canadian Escort Squadron – assigned WWII-era frigates
- Naval air squadrons
- VF-870 Naval Air Squadron – Banshees assigned to HMCS Bonaventure
- VS-880 Anti-Submarine Squadron – CS2F1 Tracker A/S patrol
- VU-32 Utility Air Squadron – Silver Star Jet trainers and Grumman Tracker A/S patrol
- HS-50 Helicopter Strike Squadron – Sikorsky Sea King (A/S) and H04S (rescue)
- HU-21 Helicopter Utility Squadron – Bell and Sikorsky Sea King and H04S
- VX-10 Experimental Squadron – Various aircraft for experimental purposes (Grumman Avenger, Beechcraft Expeditor, Fairey Firefly, Bell HTL-4, Hawker Sea Fury, Sikorsky H04S, Grumman Sentinel (AEW), Grumman Tracker, McDonnell Douglas Banshee, Sikorsky Sea King)
MARLANT ships
Frigates
- HMCS Halifax (FFH 330)
- HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332)
- HMCS Toronto (FFH 333)
- HMCS Montréal (FFH 336)
- HMCS Fredericton (FFH 337)
- HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339)
- HMCS St. John's (FFH 340)
Coastal defence vessels
- HMCS Kingston (MM 700)
- HMCS Glace Bay (MM 701)
- HMCS Shawinigan (MM 704)
- HMCS Goose Bay (MM 707)
- HMCS Moncton (MM 708)
- HMCS Summerside (MM 711)
Arctic offshore patrol vessels
Submarines
See also
References
- ^ Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Fleet Atlantic Archived 2011-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, accessed October 2011
- ^ Canadian Forces, The Canadian Navy in the 1960s: Years of Crisis
- ^ "Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Officers 1939-1945". www.unithistories.com. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
- ^ "Royal Canadian Navy Flag Officers WWII Service" (PDF). blatherwick.net. p. 19. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ p.5
External links
- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Military articles needing translation from French Wikipedia
- Articles needing additional references from January 2007
- All articles needing additional references
- Articles with short description
- Official website missing URL
- Naval units and formations of Canada
- Atlantic Ocean
- Military in the Arctic
- All stub articles
- Canadian military stubs