HMCS Halifax’s road to high readiness during a pandemic
Navy News / January 29, 2021
By Lieutenant-Commander Mark Fifield
COVID-19 has impacted Canadians on both a personal and professional level. Institutionally, it has challenged the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to adapt its training, technical and personnel management processes in innovative ways.
Preparations for Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Halifax’s departure on New Year’s Day to join Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) as part of a six-month deployment to Operation REASSURANCE were no different, with the added complication of an aggressive timeline to ensure the ship was technically ready, crewed and trained to succeed in operations.
Halifax’s team met these challenges right from the beginning, having to perform major maintenance and readiness training while under various states of provincial restrictions on movements and workforce availability. This required creative solutions to ensure the program moved forward.
“This pre-deployment period presented challenges that our team had never faced before as we had to improvise and work harder to make sure we met high readiness status prior to deploying,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2) Greg Cousineau, Halifax’s Operations Room Supervisor.
“It’s not only the motivation and hard work that our sailors put in that allowed us to exceed expectations, but also the families at home who supported us and enabled us to perform to the level that we did.”
Whether it was leveraging technology to allow sailors to train from home to isolating onboard while alongside to conducting training that would normally be held at one of the schools, the Halifax team and Maritime Forces Atlantic support services worked tirelessly to successfully achieve all of the milestones needed for the ship to reach the highest state of readiness.
Similarly, technical authorities and staff from the Fleet Maintenance Facility had to work through strict precautions, sometimes limiting the amount of simultaneous work that was required, to ensure all mechanical and combat systems were in the best shape possible for a long deployment.
Throughout all of the preparations and at-sea periods leading up to the deployment, the health and safety of the crew and all outside support remained paramount. Prior to proceeding to sea for workups and the eventual deployment, the crew were put under strict quarantine requirements to reduce the risk of infection making it onboard once the ship was at sea. The support of shipmates from other fleet units during these periods was invaluable and demonstrated the team spirit inherent in today’s RCN.
“We have reached this point through the positive attitude, imagination, ingenuity and perseverance from our entire team of military and civilians here in Maritime Forces Atlantic,” said Commander Chris Rochon, Halifax’s Commanding Officer.
“Support from fleet and formation staffs, other ships’ companies, the technical teams at our Fleet Maintenance Facility, the Personnel Coordination Center, the evaluators and mentors from sea training and our fleet school, and the base support services was critical.”
These combined efforts enabled the RCN’s training system to continue to generate well-trained and equipped, globally deployable high-readiness naval forces that remain “Ready to Help, Ready to Lead and Ready to Fight” on behalf of Canadians.