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Old 12-26-2014, 03:26 PM   #1317
Tad Roberts
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xsbank View Post
It is a scary thought, some of our guys have been hurt and killed driving those old POS submarines we bought from the Brits. They were smart enough to know when they were obsolete. Should have sold them to North Korea.

Our navy is rusting away. The government announced huge money for a round of shipbuilding, much to-do about which yards won the contracts, now they haven't released the money so most of the yards that won are either building little patrol boats or are idle, sitting on the new equipment needed to build the ships.

Why is it, that as soon as you add a bureaucracy to something, government couldn't run a hot-dog stand?

Our Arctic Sovereignty, protect the Northwest Passage claptrap is backed up by some Inuit hunters with Lee Enfield rifles. Nothing against the Inuit, but really?

Somebody famous said "...you can't make this stuff up!"
In general I understand what you're saying. The subs were supposed to take on a Navy role in the Arctic. That hasn't happened because we can't get them operational(for a number of reasons, I believe people are as much a problem as the equipment) to a level that can do that.

That Federal money is building some new ships, the two joint support ships are under way in Vancouver. In about a year (maybe) the new Navy Arctic Patrol ships will start at Irving Shipyard in Newfoundland. Lord knows when or if the new Frigate project will get started. One new icebreaker will be built in Vancouver after the Navy support ships.

In the meantime the CCG has been playing a major role in the Arctic. Go to their website and look over the fleet and how it's being utilized. There are a lot of resources operating in the Arctic without too much fanfare and very little support. I think they deserve considerable credit for doing a huge job with a limited budget.
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