By Mikael Perron, 24 July 2024
In terms of organisation, how could the Vigilance-class fit the RCN? First, the Kingston-class was originally supposed to be operated by the Naval Reserve members. This has now changed, and the ships are now operated by a mix of regular and reserve sailors. I believe that a reorganization of the Naval Reserve is much overdue. We need two kinds of Naval Reservist. We need some as we know them now, meaning direct entry people but we need them only in specific trades that can be easily and quickly trained to go on any class of ships -- trades like Boatswain, clerk and supply technicians. I would then create a new type of naval reservist. It would be a bit like the Air reserve. It would be people who are minimum QL5 qualified and that are retired from the Regular Forces. They would be from all trades (I am thinking here Marine Engineer Technician, Combat System Marine Technician but others also). They would work so many days per month on A class and could do B or C class contract if they chose to do so. Like in the RCAF, they would work during business days alongside the Regular Forces counterparts. They could share their expertise through support of our training facilities. They could also support maintenance teams ashore while the crew takes rest and conducts refresher training. A lot of expertise could be kept and shared this way. I found this to work well in the RCAF. I believe that the Naval Reserve holds much more potential that is being actually used.
But that does not solve it all. The addition of 18 or so Vigilance-class vessels over 12 Kingston-class would be a great retention tool; not only by the quick purchase of modern platforms but by the many promotion and transfer opportunities. The RCN needs many positions to develop leadership at the NCM and officer level. It is no secret the naval leadership is under-represented at NDHQ and that we need to develop more individuals if we want to see a sailor for CDS more regularly!
Then you ask me where we would find so many sailors? Well I dare say the River-class! I propose to build all 15 ships but only to man 12 ships at a time. So as the 13th, 14th and 15th ships are delivered to the Navy, we would set aside the 1st, second and third ship. They would be mothballed or used for shore training but more important they could be used at some point for a third-of-life refit and technology insertion program and rejoin the fleet so the 4th, 5th and 6th could be mothballed at the end of the cycle and so on so forth. We would always have 12 state-of-the-art ships and 4 at high readiness regardless of the age of the class until we replace them.
I know all of this seem very optimistic! But we need optimism now days. Naval forces are a very effective way to support our allies worldwide. Sometimes you need something more discrete than a fully armed destroyer. Naval forces can remain on station for a very long time and with a very limited logistic footstep compared to other contributions. At the very least, this proposal seems like a fair one for one replacement for the Kingston-class. Out of the box thinking is required.
