A Tour of a Cold War O-Boat (3)

 Following up on our tour parts (1) and (2), we've now climbed the stairs and entered the forward torpedo room in HMCS Ojibwa. We're looking forward in the cavernous space. The spot of bright light near the centre of the photo is the top of the new access door through which we've entered. The size of the space can be gauged by the figure of retired Admiral Dan McNeil, who can just be made out in the lower right corner. The rear doors of the three port torpedo tubes are between him and the access door.
Also visible on the left are parts of the torpedo racks which would hold spare torpedoes to be loaded using hydraulic rams as required. Before loading, the tube rear doors would have to be opened--once it was confirmed that the bow caps were shut and no water was in the tubes. A very important step.

To the right is a closer look at the top four of the six forward torpedo tubes. The rear doors are all shut, as they would be at sea, whether there was a torpedo in the tube or not. Sometimes the tubes were empty, depending on what task the boat was on.
The myriad of pipes, valves, and controls allow firing of a torpedo and the subsequent draining down of the now flooded tube so it can be reloaded.
It was not unknown for a boat to carry beer in an empty tube.

A Tour of a Cold War O-Boat (2)

Number 1 in this series of posts showed an unusual view of HMCS Ojibwa, the gorgeous museum piece in Port Burwell, Ontario.

 

(If pressed, I'll admit that "gorgeous" when referring to a submarine is all in the eyes of the beholder.)

At left is the Ojibwa as she appeared when the Cooking Ladies and I approached from the west and crossed the bridge into Port Burwell in 2013.

The boat was not then open to the public, but nearly so.

This shot of the port side of the boat shows the steps installed to allow tourists to access the newly-cut doorway into the forward torpedo room.

Looking like an earflap at the top of the stairs is the door, and above that is the port forward hydroplane. The hydroplanes, working in concert while controlled by the helmsman, determined the boat's depth and angle of dive.

A Tour of a Cold War O-Boat (1)

Here is an unusual view of an Oberon-class submarine. To be more precise, the image is of the former HMCS Ojibwa, taken at her new home in Port Burwell, on the shore of Lake Erie, a couple of hours' drive east of Windsor.

Ojibwa is a major attraction in a rural area of Ontario. If it seems like an odd place for a submarine, you might want to talk to retired admiral Dan McNeil, who spearheaded the effort to land the Cold War boat above the Lake Erie shoreline.

This is Dan, pictured on board Ojibwa just before she opened to the public in 2013. Not exactly Dan's working uniform when he was in the Royal Canadian Navy, but more more typical of the hands-on work asked of his crew--and himself--as they laboured to restore the boat.

Watch for an ongoing series of posts about the Ojibwa and the Port Burwell project. And go see Dan--and Ojibwa--if you're in the area!

USS Ranger--Proud Ship Scrapped For a Penny

 The year I believe was 1964, and Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Ottawa (2300 tons) was fuelling off USS Ranger (66,000 tons). Ranger's career was from 1957 to 1993, and Ottawa's an almost identical 1956-1992.
The Ranger is now on her way to the scrap-heap, after attempts to turn her into a museum piece failed. She was one of four Forrestal-class supercarriers, and saw service in Vietnam, the Middle East, and elsewhere. As you can see from the "60" yard marker, Ottawa is getting squeaky close to the larger ship (the other end of the line is attached to Ranger).
We never knew how much we were tossed about in even these moderate seas until we were close to a rock-solid behemoth such as Ranger.


In this snapshot, also taken on Ottawa's bridge, as very junior sublieutenant I have as a backdrop Ranger pulling away, flanked by two  destroyers.

US-Cuba Easing the Strain

It's taken over 50 years, but President Obama's move toward normalizing affairs with Cuba has interesting sidebars. Even though Canadian naval and air forces were shoulder to shoulder with the Americans during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it was Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada who later remained in close touch with Fidel Castro.
And now Conservative PM Harper has facilitated meetings between the American and Cuban diplomats.
Meanwhile, ex-pat Cubans in Florida are at loggerheads over the issue.

Most Canadians, Americans, and Cubans were not alive in 1962. But for a look at those terrifying days in a Canadian submarine, check out "Terror on the Alert".

Days of Infamy for Canada's Government

Retired Corporal Dennis Manuge has written a guest post for David Pugliese's Defence Watch blog. He says Stephen Harper must get rid of Julian Fantino as Veterans Affairs Minister. He starts his post with these words:


 "Dear Prime Minister Harper
Subject: Call for VAC Minister Fantino’s Resignation
The time is long overdue for you to ask for, and accept, VAC minister Fantino’s resignation and for you to accept responsibility for the systemic failures with in the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada; specifically, the treatment of injured and ill service men and women and veterans who have become disabled during their service.
This last slap in the face to our veterans community, and the over one billion dollars that has been rolled over from the VAC budget, truly illustrates your government’s commitment to seeing off disabled service men and women."

He goes on to recount how Veterans Affairs have wrongly deducted ("clawed back") benefits wounded veterans should have received; paid back a trifling amount when ordered by a court; and, adding insult to injury, transferred a billion dollars back from the veterans affairs account to treasury.

In the United States, the nation has marked the Day of Infamy. These, in my opinion, are Harper's, and the Conservatives', days of infamy.

See Dennis Manuge's letter on the Defence Watch blog.

NOABC--Christimas Lunch with The Dukes

The photo at left was taken at the Beatty Street Armoury in Vancouver on December 4, 2014. The occasion was the annual Christmas fundraising luncheon put on by the BCR(DCO), the British Columbia Regiment, (Duke of Connaught's Own). "The Dukes", as their members are known, is the oldest militia regiment in British Columbia, dating back to 1883.

Recently there has been a strong supportive showing at the luncheon by the Vancouver naval community. Two tables were occupied by present or former members of the senior service.

Among them were Lloyd Williams, on the left, and King Wan. King was commanding officer of HMCS Discovery from 2001 to 2005, and Lloyd commanded a Landing Ship Infantry (Large) during World War II. He disembarked troops on beaches at Sicily and then Normandy, D-Day, 1944.