Maritime Forces Pacific Units

Canadian Fleet Pacific

Canadian Fleet Pacific

Canadian Fleet Pacific’s (CANFLTPAC) primary aim is the generation, operation and maintenance of combat-capable, multi-purpose maritime forces, on order from the Commander MARPAC/Commander JTFP, to meet missions and tasks emanating from Canada’s national and international defence objectives.

CANFLTPAC’s primary responsibility is to enhance Canadian and North American security by providing capable ships and highly trained personnel in support of joint maritime and multilateral operations, as well as exercises with other government departments and allied forces.

In a typical year, any CANFLTPAC ship could spend up to 150 days at sea and 175 days away from home port on vital naval activities such as sovereignty patrols, search and rescue operations, international military commitments, individual ship/multi-ship critical training and joint or multilateral exercises.

CANFLTPAC also works closely with aircraft from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Comox and 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron in Patricia Bay, B.C. With 27,000 kilometres of coastline to patrol and defend, as well as a responsibility for supporting a maritime picture that covers 840,000 square miles, the maritime air assets are critical to CANFLTPAC’s success in meeting its objectives.

CANFLTPAC is made up of a Fleet Headquarters, Coastal Division, Sea Training (Pacific), Naval Tender Section, as well as the ships of the Fleet.

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Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt is the second largest military base in Canada and home to one of the country’s three naval formations. Located just west of Victoria, B.C., CFB Esquimalt was first established as a military installation by the Royal Navy in 1855 and has been serving the Royal Canadian Navy since its inception in 1910.

The base is responsible for providing support services to all ships as well as over 6000 military and civilian personnel of both Maritime Forces Pacific, which is responsible for maintaining multi-purpose, combat-capable maritime forces, and Joint Task Force Pacific, which is focused on the defence of Canada and all civil support operations within the Pacific Region.

CFB Esquimalt houses organizations such as the headquarters of the Naval Personnel and Training Group, the Commander of the Canadian Submarine Force, Naval Fleet School (Pacific), and Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton. The base is essentially a community within a community, with its own services including police, fire, postal, legal, health, social work and chaplains to name a few. The base’s security forces, along with the Queen’s Harbour Master, are responsible for the safety and security of Esquimalt Harbour.

The Base Commander is responsible for a distributed property from Masset to Matsqui, spanning nearly 5,000 hectares, spread over 23 sites and encompassing almost 1,500 buildings. CFB Esquimalt and Maritime Forces Pacific contribute over half a billion dollars annually to the local economy, and the entire Defence Team is proud of its contributions to the local community through fundraising and volunteering.

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Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton

Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton

Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton is a strategic naval asset that exists to support the operations of Canadian Pacific Fleet (CANFLTPAC). FMF Cape Breton is responsible to the Commander Maritime Forces Pacific for the provision of effective naval engineering, repair and maintenance services to support the operational capabilities required in the Fleet and other organizations within Maritime Forces Pacific.

In addition to supporting the Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel) Group in the provision of services to the Fleet, FMF CAPE BRETON performs a variety of work for the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy as well as for other government agencies. It is the most versatile facility of its type on the Canadian west coast, with a highly skilled work force and a broad range of capabilities including submarine support.

FMF Cape Breton was formed April 1, 1996, by amalgamating the former Ship Repair Unit (Pacific), Naval Engineering Unit (Pacific), and Fleet Maintenance Group (Pacific) into one unit. The unit is organized into six departments: Production, Engineering, Operations, Management Systems, Human Resource Services, and Comptroller. The FMF Cape Breton Defence Team consists of approximately 1,100 civilians and 160 military members in a fully integrated workforce.

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Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific)

Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific)

The mission of Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) (FDU(P)) is to provide and maintain assigned warfare, seabed intervention and training capability elements to meet CF requirements as tasked by the Commander Maritime Forces Pacific (COMD MARPAC) through the Commander Canadian Fleet Pacific (COMD CANFLTPAC).

FDU(P)’s provides Commander Maritime Forces Pacific with four core warfare capabilities by conducting: Mine Countermeasures (MCM) diving, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Battle Damage Repair (BDR) and Force Protection (FP) support.

A wide variety of diving equipment is held by FDU(P), including the Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA), which is used for ship repairs and other shallow water tasks. MCM tasks are accomplished using the Canadian Clearance Diver Apparatus (CCDA) and the Canadian Underwater Mine Apparatus (CUMA), both of which are Canadian-designed re-breathers. Other equipment used includes several recompression chambers, underwater welding and cutting gear, hydraulic and pneumatic tools, underwater video and photographic equipment, hand-held and side-scan sonars, and two remotely operated vehicles (ROV): the advanced Seabotix “AURORA” deep underwater vehicle and the miniature “VIDEORAY”.

Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) is Maritime Forces Pacific’s only operational MCM, EOD and BDR unit, and it is at the forefront of diving technology. Increasing integration of Naval Reserve divers in FDU operations provides a pool of trained personnel to assist and conduct ship repair and underwater searches.

The officers and personnel of FDU(P) are ready to respond to any situation and remain true to the unit motto: “Strength in Depth”.

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443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron

443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron

443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron (443 (MH) Squadron) is the west coast Cyclone operational squadron. Although 443 (MH) Squadron is part of 12 Wing Shearwater, its home is based in Patricia Bay, B.C. The mission of 443 (MH) Squadron is to “generate deployable, combat ready personnel and maritime helicopters for employment in the defence of Canada and Canadian interests worldwide.”

The Squadron provides helicopter air detachments known as “HELAIRDETS” to high readiness ships in support of Canadian Fleet Pacific and is equipped with CH-148 Cyclone helicopters. 443 (MH) Squadron has also supported Canadian Fleet Atlantic as part of NATO deterrence and assurance measures during Operation REASSURANCE in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Naval Training Development Centre (Pacific)

Naval Training Development Centre (Pacific)

The Naval Training Development Centre (Pacific) is part of Campus Pacific.  As a new unit in the Naval Training System (NTS) as of 15 July 2016, it has the mission to rapidly establish an effective Naval Training Development Centre, able to develop and continually improve the training required for the Naval Defence Team.

Naval Training Development Centre (Pacific) [NTDC (P)] is solely responsible as curriculum control authority (CCA) for the design, development and program evaluation of all Engineering, Technician, Naval Technical Officer, and MARS (Pre-D Level and Post ORO) individual training and education (IT&E). In addition to this core mandate, NTDC(P) also oversees the curriculum for Steward Occupation IT&E, all Naval Environmental Training such as NETP, JNELP, INELP and ANELP, and acts as the RCN point of contact for the CAF BMQ and BMOQ programs in the Navy.  NTDC(P) leads the NTS Staff and Instructor Development Program.

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