An arcticle right from CBC news reportd today.
Canada's navy cuts coast patrol fleet in half
Last Updated: Thursday, May 13, 2010 | 1:20 PM NT Comments175Recommend66.
CBC News
HMCS Saskatoon and the other coastal patrol ships were built in the mid-1990s. (DND)
A shortage of money and sailors is forcing Canada's navy to mothball half of its fleet of coastal patrol vessels.
Canada's 12 Kingston-class ships, based in Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C., are operated by the navy reserve. The 55-metre vessels are used to patrol the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific ocean coasts.
In a statement to CBC News, the navy says it made the tough choice to leave several ships at dock and strip them of their crews because it doesn't have the resources to operate all 12.
The navy says the move is necessary to continue the primary mission of defending Canada.
"Upon close examination of resources and priorities, this was deemed necessary to safeguard and optimize our operational capability, both now and in the future," wrote Denise LaViolette, a navy spokeswoman.
Three ships will remain on each coast. The others won't be scrapped, but they will be put in long-term storage.
No financial details given
The navy has not said how much money it would need to keep the whole fleet active, or how much it will save by reducing the fleet by half.
The Kingston-class ships were built in the mid-1990s to hunt for mines that could block Canadian ports. They are lightly armed and can be converted to carry a small underwater robot or even platoons of soldiers.
LaViolette said that, despite the navy's actions, the federal government is providing "stable and predictable" funding. She said the navy continues to modernize its frigates and refit its submarines.
Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/05/13/ns-navy-coastal-ships.html#ixzz0npQNccAS
Topic: Canada cuts Coastal Patrol in half (Read 1661 times)